OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday 2.30pm. PARLIAMENT on Friday afternoon approved Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma’s widely contested Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill, which bars all tobacco advertising and smoking in public places. The strict anti-smoking legislation pushes South Africa into the ranks of the world’s most smoker-unfriendly countries. Parliament’s ratification of the bill brings […]

Ferial Haffajee A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but the jury’s out on whether Gear in any other guise is still the same economic policy. The African National Congress has won cheers (from its communist and trade union partners) and provoked jibes (from business and its press) with its stated intention […]

Jack Schofield The lock on your front door could soon be so small you’ll need a microscope to see it. And if that sounds insecure, bear in mind that what its inventors claim is the “world’s smallest combination lock” will also be fitted inside computers to keep hackers away. It could also be used in […]

bark The silence surrounding last week’s appointments by the Judicial Services Commission is deafening. The Bench and academia are seething with indignation over the appointments of the two judges president and one deputy. Yet there is not a bleat of public protest other than the resignation of Judge Piet van der Walt from the Office […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi Embattled Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila ignored his advisers and allies this week by snubbing a comprehensive peace offer from the rebels that could have ended the war that is tearing Central Africa apart. The offer, which was confirmed by high- level sources, was made to Kabila last week, hours after […]

Bill Ann Eveleth : IN THE ACT Minister of Health Nkosazana Zuma has the tobacco industry huffing and puffing over the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill, which aims to discourage young people from taking up smoking. Anti-smokers and a curious array of pro- tobacco lobbyists – including the Congress of South African Trade Union’s affiliated […]

Phillip Kakaza Can art depict a people’s identity? This was a question that I kept toying with after viewing the San Art exhibition now showing at Absa Art Gallery in downtown Johannesburg. At first the bright, multi-hued surfaces seem almost to resist analysis. One is totally taken in by the surface qualities of colour and […]

This could be one of those rare concerts that goes down in history like the Amnesty International Concert in Harare in 1988. So if you’ve got some wheels and you’re in need of a restorative African musical adventure, then put that cabbie into first and head for lush Mpumalanga. About 30 minutes past Nelspruit off […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 7.00am. EASTERN Province thrashed Boland by 62 runs in their Standard Bank League limited-overs cricket match at St George’s Park on Wednesday night, with their bowlers particularly devastating. Eastern Province scored 224 in their alotted 45 overs, with Louis Koen, Dave Callaghan and Mark Rushmere playing good innings. Koen again […]

Genevieve Fox: FIRST PERSON Sarah Monie is 18 years old. She lost her virginity at 15, married at 16, divorced a year later. A one-night stand in a nightclub resulted in the birth of her daughter, Olivia, now 15 months old. Monie’s aim had been to get pregnant and bring up the child on her […]