Coup in the Comoros: Mercenary Colonel Bob Denard=20 makes his final try for an island retirement — but=20 his comfort is short-lived as French troops arrive.=20 For South African tourists, the Comoros are a=20 pleasure-seeker’s paradise but, outside the hotel=20 precincts, an explosive mix of poverty and=20 political infighting threatens constant crisis,=20 writes Eddie Koch=20 […]

Ann Eveleth A WOODEN ladder fashioned from tree branches leans across the trunk of the old gum tree where the lifeless bodies of Vitalis Mthembu and Muzikawubanga Sitholi dangled until the police arrived on Wednesday last The branch above bears no scars from the ordeal, but three rivulets of dried blood down a rock shaded […]

Parliamentary questioning of Kwazulu-Natal Attorney- General Tim McNally started off looking like a wild west duel, but ended in a stand-off, writes David It was 12 midday exactly — “high noon” in gunfighter parlance — when Tim McNally took his seat in Room 153 at the Union Buildings on Wednesday. A slight, grey- haired figure […]

How do we see ourselves in our fledgling democracy? NEVILLE DUBOW looks at the SA National Gallery’s exhibition of People’s Portraits PEOPLE’S Portraits — a photographic project sponsored by the South African National Gallery and the Mail & Guardian — carried the following guidelines: “Entrants have complete freedom to express the spirit of humanity in […]

SOCCER: Lungile Madywabe ONLY two of the 11 foreign-based South African internationals will be available for selection when the locals take on Mozambique in a friendly at the FNB stadium on Saturday. Doctor Khumalo of Ferrocarril Oeste in Argentina and Augustine Makalakalane, who plays for first division FC Zurich in Switzerland, are the only two […]

Health care can cost an arm and a leg and is a grave concern for the employers of today, reports Karen The cost of health care has been identified as the priority issue facing employers in the 1995 health care benefits survey undertaken by Old Mutual. Yet the survey also revealed that more than 70 […]

SOCCER: Lungile Madywabe EMBATTLED, directionless, em-broiled in a players’ pay dispute, disagreement about the ownership of the team, and trophyless for many seasons. Orlando Pirates have now shed this dark past to emerge with pride and dignity, to carry the hopes of many in South Africa. It is just over two years since Irvin Khoza […]

Outside Johannesburg, Cecil John Rhodes is conquering the Matabele all over again. JUSTIN PEARCE visited the set of the BBC mini-series OUTSIDE the old petrol station near Lanseria airport, they’re making Matabele shields. Fifty shield-shaped plywood cut-outs are spread out on the grass, and four men armed with industrial spraypaint equipment advance to give them […]

Justin Pearce THE Department of Foreign Affairs insists that South Africa this week became a world leader in the move away from the use of landmines — but human rights activists are outraged at the government’s failure to support an outright ban on these weapons. South Africa’s position came as a surprise to many who […]

Itumeleng oa Mahabane MeMBERS of the small community of Kagiso will no longer have to taxi-hop if they want some entertainment. They have just had Hollywood delivered to their doorstep, courtesy of Amos Zwane, and the Right Reverend Joseph Mabuela. Zwane (48) and Mabuela (42) are the owners of a Maxi Movies franchise, in Kagiso […]