Andy Duffy The man who led the militant group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) through 18 months of brutal conflict with Cape Flats gangsters has broken ranks with the organisation. Aslam Toefy, who quit as Pagad’s national co-ordinator last month, says it is time to stop marching on drug dealers’ houses and to start […]

Christopher Zinn in Sydney While Australia mourned the death of rocker Michael Hutchence at a funeral described as akin to a state event, police retracted their statement that it was a “straight case” of suicide in the light of the Sydney coroner’s report. Hutchence was found naked, hanging by a belt from a door’s self-closing […]

FRIDAY, 11.30AM: IT was all smiles on Thursday night after the announcement of Bafana Bafana’s opponents in next year’s World Cup finals. South Africa were drawn against Group C leaders and hosts France, Denmark and Saudi Arabia. South Africa will play their opening game against France at Stade Municipal in Marseilles on June 12, Denmark […]

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 […]

Interactive films may have finally found the plot, writes Jim McClellan There are two words guaranteed to reduce the average games player to a whimpering heap in the corner. Not “game over” but “interactive movie”. Back in the early 1990s, sections of the games industry thought mixing up full- motion video and linear narrative with […]

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 […]

FRIDAY, 5.00PM: The ongoing bearish sentiment on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, compounded by the continuing crash of the gold price and disappointing economic data, saw 2% wiped off the all share index on Friday, while the gold index followed bullion’s woe’s to lose 3%. At the close the all gold index had fallen 20,7 points […]

Mukoni T Ratshitanga During December 1993, I was one of a dozen students at Liivha School in the Northern Province town of Thohoyandou who built a classroom with materials donated by local businessman Omar Ahmed. There was excitement when the idea of building the classroom was first mooted and our enthusiasm didn’t wane as we […]

The septuplets born in November brought joy to Iowa, but doctors in Britain are not pleased by the news. Why? Because of fertility drugs, report Chris Mihill and Sarah Boseley The seven little McCaugheys would not have known, but they were making good-news headlines across the world last month: the second-known set of septuplets ever […]

Neil Manthorp : Cricket South Africa’s coach Bob Woolmer is getting closer and closer to achieving his “dream team”. “If I could I would have all the all-rounders in the one-day side. Why not? Ten bowlers and 11 batsmen able to adapt to different requirements. The more options the better. The more bowling depth the […]