Rehana Rossouw A teachers’ strike in protest against the withdrawal of security at Excelsior Senior Secondary School in Belhar, Cape Town, where schooling has been severely disrupted by gangsterism, ended on Monday when the education department arranged for police to protect the “We were told the police are here as a temporary measure, so we […]
Rehana Rossouw MALAYSIA’S Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Bin Mohamad, acknowledged Malaysian roots in South Africa when he and a powerful business delegation swept into the country on a four-day visit this week. “The people of Malay descent in Cape Town are of some interest to us — it is good to re-establish the linkages broken […]
Marion Edmunds The Department of Foreign Affairs is to adapt its definition of the ”family” to suit the new South Africa. Before 1994, diplomats living in overseas missions received certain allowances for their ”dependents” or children. Now Foreign Affairs wants to change the definition of ”dependents” to make it possible to include members of the […]
Aspasia Karras looks at the innovative parastatal that’s trying hard not to be a typical parastatal Intersite managing director Dirk Ackerman has been instrumental in ensuring the property-management arm of the South African Rail Commuters’ Corporation has not become a typical parastatal. Instead, he has created a state organ that can stand as a model […]
They are the remnants of an ancient hunter-gatherer society — and they’re still on the move, in carts that carry their homes. Sheep-shearing is their livelihood, and their life is often harsh and violent. But it is also gradually disappearing. Eddie Koch visited the Something about the word “verge” best defines the life that Johanna […]
Anne Eveleth The former State Security Council’s dirty-tricks operation Stratcom (Strategic Communications), was not disbanded in 1991, a former security policeman has Suspended security policeman Sergeant Gary Pollack claims Stratcom became a top-secret structure known by its Afrikaans acronym “Trewits” (Teenrevolusionere Strategie — Counter-revolutionary Strategy). Under pressure to cease political operations following the Peace Accord […]
Bruce Cohen THEY surfed in by the score. Shyguy, DarkFlame, Chops, Porky, Jack Frost … and they proved that cyberspace can be an anarchic place indeed. Poor Post and Telecommunications Minister Pallo Jordan was swept along in the chaos of Wednesday’s Internet chat show on the Green Paper on telecommunications. The questions came like bullets […]
Doctors in Gauteng’s public hospitals work up to 100 hours a week for pitifully low salaries. Pat Sidley IT’S 7am. The early shift at the hospital has begun. But the fresh doctors are working alongside others who have already been at work for 12 hours — and may have to continue for another 24. Many […]
Inside Parliament: The onerous committee system, the code of ethics … and the ushers By special arrangement, we feature extracts from Parliamentary Whip, the publication of Idasa’s Parliamentary Information and Monitoring Service Pims MPs are seriously overstretched by the committee system, with some sitting on more than a dozen of these An investigation by Parliamentary […]
The Reserve Bank Appearance: Gotham City meets Sun City. Filled with minions performing arcane rituals. Not to be confused with: Your neighbourhood bank. The Reserve Bank is the unfriendly one that makes esoteric statements from afar about gold, foreign exchange, money supply, inflation, and what is left of the Rand. Most famous for? Interrupting Friday […]