A columnist in the American journal Business Week pointed out in the New Year that the single most important improvement in the quality of life of Americans during the past two decades has been the fall in crime. This, he said, had punctured the views – commonly trotted out in South Africa – that poverty […]

AUTHORITIES in Botswana have signed execution warrants for two convicted killers expected to be hanged on Saturday, the country’s deputy attorney-general said on Thursday. The hangings will bring to 34 the executions carried out in Botswana since its independence from Britain in 1966. The last executions took place in 1995 when five convicted murderers were […]

SOUTH Africa’s Elana Meyer became the first woman in the world to break the 67-minute mark for the half marathon as she clinched victory at the Tokyo City 21,1km on Friday morning. The Stellenbosch athlete set a world record at 66min 44sec in freezing 5 degrees Celsius conditions, beating Kenya’s Ester Winjiro by five seconds. […]

Cameron Duodu Letter from the North As the guns boom around Freetown and its starving citizens cower inside those of their walls that have not yet been burnt down, who would have thought that Sierra Leone was once one of the favoured spots in West Africa? Its Fourah Bay College, founded in 1827, was once […]

Marital problems, greedy relatives, difficulties with the law? Wilson Mugwegweni can put an end to your troubles, writes Sam Zulu He is so respected and feared that people in his village pay him protection money, criminals have fled his district and the Zambian national soccer team probably owe their international reputation to his ministrations. Former […]

THE Cape Town Magistrate’s Court will decide on Friday whether to send for psychiatric observation a man who confessed to planting the New Year’s Day bomb at Cape Town’s Waterfront. Charles Manamela (25), a Nigerian who is a naturalised South African, was arrested on January 12 for a spate of bomb hoaxes in Cape Town. […]

ABOUT 415 people killed in fighting last month between government forces and militiamen were buried in southern districts of Congo capital, Brazzaville, city hall said on Thursday. “The operation of collecting bodies is almost finished, although there are probably a few left inside homes,” city hall official Senga Petie said. Residents of the Bacongo and […]

Matthew Krouse Down the tube Anyone with a television set, and an interest in the arts, knows that on Sunday night it’s time to commune with high culture. Looking back at the progression of arts programmes over the last decade, from Collage to Arts Unlimited, to Artworks, aRt and Flux, one recalls mostly long-winded, dour […]

Belinda Beresford A landowner’s public battle to give half of his farm to black families has spurred other farmers to follow his example and face head-on the simmering issue of land redistribution in South Africa. Roger Roman’s plan to give away his land to its black inhabitants has caused conflict with his neighbours and local […]

Friday night: Khalo Matabane `Where should we go?” This became the most popular Friday- night question of 1998. Every Friday we moved from sushi bars to kwaito bashes, lefty parties to restaurants and clubs. Driving back home, we complained about the lack of entertainment for young black professionals to such an extent that Tumi decided […]