Steve Morris Rugby We would have to take Springbok coach Nick Mallett’s word on the fact that disgraced prop Toks van der Linde intended no deliberate harm during his unsavoury tap dance on the head of French Barbarian David Dantiacq. The French centre and his Gallic counterpart, referee Joel Dume, had different perspectives on the […]

The mining debate has raised its ugly head again, writes Nicky Barker It was described as “the conservation fight of the century”. The battle to save Lake St Lucia, a unique wetland system on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, began in 1989. That is when Richard’s Bay Minerals applied for mining rights inside the Greater St […]

Amanda Wright Soccer Argentina has a new, and most unusual, football hero, a man who is challenging the very essence of their approach to the game and to society. Taut, chiselled, and emotionless, the stone face of Javier Castrilli could hardly be more at odds with the fading symbol of the nation’s footballing aspirations, that […]

Lorraine Pace It should have been a media coup. A case that has grabbed print headlines internationally and been beamed to television screens worldwide was due to set a Web precedent last Monday. But a minute before the decision was to be issued, the Web service provider had a power failure. Ironically, this resulted in […]

Peta Thornycroft Glen Goosen, former director of investigations at the truth commission, has formally complained about a programme broadcast on SAfm last week which contained an interview with his former boss, Dumisa Ntsebeza. In the programme, TRC in Review, Ntsebeza accused Goosen of being part of an incompetent investigation and suggested race played a part […]

Nkosazana Zuma and Louis Luyt are taking pep-up pills from spin doctors Ferial Haffajee It cost a lot, but the R2,8-million which Minister of Health Nkosazana Zuma splashed out on improving her image and that of her department is paying dividends. Watch her: there’s a softer touch; less defensive and more confident. The three Bills […]

Opposition parties are preparing to use the death penalty to whip the ANC. Will the ANC be able to withstand the pressure, asks Marion Edmunds A political fight over the death penalty is brewing between the African National Congress and opposition parties – one in which ANC leadership finds itself at odds with majority opinion. […]

Ann Eveleth A Northern Cape pastor evicted 11 relatives – including two septuagenarian female cousins – from the only home they had ever known late last month after they fell behind on their rent in the midst of an ownership dispute. The farm Uitkomst has been in the Jansen family for more than a century, […]

The inventor who gave the world the pollution sniffer and the microwave oven has also made a brilliant contribution to the world of ideas – the Gaia theory. Fred Pearce reports James Lovelock, independent British inventor and Gaia guru, added to his trophy cabinet this month when he went to Japan to claim the Blue […]

Julian Drew Swimming The pool which was the final staging post for Penny Heyns before her date with Olympic destiny again proved something of an omen for the double Olympic champion. After a lacklustre season which had already seen her talk about the possibility of failure at January’s Perth world championships, Heyns returned to the […]