Madeleine Wackernagel : Taking Stock When Alec Erwin presented his document on competition policy to the trade and industry chamber of Nedlac last week, the only surprise was in the timing. After three years of broken promises, one had almost given up on it. As if to make up for its tardiness, the policy is […]

FRIDAY, 2.30PM: ERNIE ELS is among four players who are within one shot of overnight leader American Phil Mickelson in the second round of the Nedbank Million Dollar Golf Challenge on the Gary Player Country Club golf course at Sun City on Friday. Germany’s Bernhard Langer, Jesper Parnevik of Switzerland and USPGA champion Davis Love […]

NDABANINGI SITHOLE GUILTY VETERAN Zimbabwean opposition leader Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole was found guilty in the Harare High Court on Friday of plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe. He was also convicted of sending men for military training with the purpose of overthrowing the government, and of possessing arms of war. The 78-year-old Methodist cleric, a […]

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 […]

Barney Spender : Rugby Four down and now just Scotland to go which, with all due respect to the Murrayfield faithful, ought to be at the Italian end of the difficulty scale. The Scots were well beaten by Australia a fortnight ago and are struggling with injuries to key players. Lions heroes Tom Smith and […]

Gustav Thiel The Director General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Rusty Evans, leaves the department he has served for 30 years at the end of the month with a retirement package rumoured to be worth R10-million. He would not disclose how many millions he would get in his golden handshake, except to say it […]

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 […]

Maria McCloy : In your ear How much local music do you want to listen to? The Independent Broadcasting Authority has decided that 20% of the music on radio must be South African. But the local music industry is baying for more and more, with some even suggesting a 50% local content quota. As of […]

Times In his book, Ascent and Dissent, Ken Vernon asks the unanswerable question: why did the country’s top newspaper never check on the credentials of team leader Ian Woodall? In a review last week, Brian Pottinger, editor of the Sunday Times, fired off a series of missiles at the reporter he assigned to cover the […]