FORMER Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock, who faces 106 charges ranging from fraud to eight counts of murder when his trial starts next month, allegedly tried to discredit Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi by portraying him as an erstwhile police informer. Sources close to the investigation into De Kock and police Third Force activities […]

The NECC and the provincial education department clashed as pupils returned to school in the Cape this week, writes Justin Pearce CHAOS greeted the beginning of the school year in Cape Town this week as Western Cape schools opened amid conflicting instructions from the National Education Co-ordinating Committee and the newly formed provincial education department. […]

The premiere of South Africa’s first full-length opera tops the bill at the Cape Town Opera Festival. Peter Frost reports COCKING a snook at the dark budgetry stormclouds brewing, Capab launched the Cape Town Opera Festival in the mother city this week. The festival, which runs until Febuary 5, combines local and international talent, and […]

Bronwen Roberts THE Rhodes University Council has been accused of using “dirty tricks” to hijack the selection of the university’s next vice-chancellor. The allegation comes from the Forum for the Democratic Transformation of Rhodes (FDTR), a group of community-based organisations, in response to a council decision to restructure the selection panel. In December the council […]

The government’s attempts to push through a politically attractive health plan are being shot down. Pat Sidley reports THE government’s controversial plans for a national health insurance scheme face a determined challenge from several influential quarters. A crucial meeting on Monday will determine the nature of an inquiry into the plan, who will join the […]

FINE ART: Ivor Powell WHAT we blithely and generally unreflectively call “art” — as though that made sense of it all — is a complicated, frequently opaque and often bizarre process. “Art” is what makes a Van Gogh worth $50-million, or whatever it is that hard-headed business consortiums pay for the work of that artist […]

He was endearingly messy and relaxed in life — and so was his farewell. Mark Gevisser reports on the symbolism that emerged at Joe Slovo’s funeral AS I drove the 12 kilometres from Orlando to Avalon on Sunday, crawling through the human avenue of thousands of people, a young man rushed up to me, carrying […]

Justin Pearce WESTERN CAPE environment and tourism MEC Lerumo Kalako has spent the past week defending himself against smears made by a man who allegedly masqueraded as an official in his department. Kalako has promised to sue Nick Malherbe, who has publicly accused him of misappropriating public money. Malherbe made these accusations claiming to be […]

Accusations of leaks to the police and links to an army propaganda unit are at the centre of a row at the SABC, write Mark Gevisser and Stefaans Brummer SABC television faces a fresh internal controversy over spying in the newsroom — and the revelation that the new acting editor of Agenda was the commanding […]

As early as 1910 a South African court declared that all men were created equal. It’s a pity a clause in the Bill of rights dilutes that principle, argues David Beresford There must be a particular satisfaction, if a slightly selfish one, in being right while in a minority. An instance particularly to be envied […]