Gustav Thiel Mojalefa Murphy, one of South Africa’s most senior black nuclear physicists, has won the first round in a dispute with the Atomic Energy Corporation (AEC). This week, the Pretoria High Court ruled that Murphy was entitled to have an independent mediator preside over a disciplinary hearing the AEC is holding against him. The […]

Donald McNeil reports on one of the greatest ostrich-smuggling scams of all time Timotheus Voges says he has gone straight these days, but there was a time when he was the most devious ostrich smuggler in Africa. He’s just another businessman now – like any other who owns 8 000 birds that dress like model […]

Stefaans Brmmer A United States-based human rights organisation claims that South Africans have been deeply involved in the underground supply of arms and military assistance to warring parties in Burundi. It says senior government and African National Congress officials may have given the “green light” to such transactions, without actively participating. The allegations are contained […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi General Bantu Holomisa’s newly formed United Democratic Movement (UDM) this week held an intense meeting with former Transkei ruler Chief Kaizer Mantanzima and his brothers George and Ngangomhlaba in the rural village of Qamata to solicit their support as the party begins its preparations for the 1999 rural elections. The meeting forms part […]

An impressive South African collection of Buddhist art is to be sold off, writes Lorraine Pace A collection of irreplaceable Buddhist art, dating from the third century to the present day, is in danger of being broken up and lost to South Africa. Were these Christian artefacts, there would probably be an uproar. But there […]

Anton Harber : A Second Look Anyone concerned with the issues of good governance should take note of last week’s departure from office of the Director General of the Department of Welfare, Leila Patel. Patel finished work last Friday with little media attention. But when a director general with a solid reputation departs prematurely from […]

years Kurt Shillinger and Peta Thornycroft The state has had sufficient evidence for nine years to charge Winnie Madikizela- Mandela with kidnapping Soweto youth Lolo Sono. Michael Seakamela, the former driver who took the badly beaten boy in the company of Madikizela-Mandela to his parent’s home, made a statement about the alleged kidnapping shortly after […]

The TRC Special Report is slim on resources but big on ideas, writes Gustav Thiel The team responsible for television’s award-winning TRC Special Report is watching the latest edition of their programme at the Brixton, Johannesburg home of one of the producers. Situated just under the SABC’s huge transmission tower, the room is quiet as […]

Eze Anaba Since Sani Abacha, head of Nigeria’s military government, dissolved his Cabinet and announced the impending release of some political detainees last month, the mood in his country has changed from elation to anxiety. Instead of releases, there has been a spate of new detentions, among them the wife of a journalist who fled […]

Al J Venter They are making guns in bush factories in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands and on both sides of the Umzimkulu River further south. And while none of them would pass muster with the South African Bureau of Standards, they’re pretty nifty when it comes to killing. The slaughter they cause can be intense: eight […]