Chiara Carter Achmat ”Boeta” Davids, Cape Town community worker, writer and academic, was the first cultural historian to reclaim Afrikaans as a language of the slaves rather than the colonisers. Davids died of a heart attack at the Muslim radio station Voice of the Cape earlier this week and was buried from Cape Town’s Long […]

Sudan is suffering the worst famine in its history. And it is caused not by drought but by civil war. The aid agencies are pouring in relief, which enables the combatants to carry on fighting. Kevin Toolis argues that Western governments should call a halt to a policy that’s failed There was no song in […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 9.00pm. A SAFETY system is needed that will warn of possible rockfalls and mudslides on Cape Town’s most scenic coastal drive, an engineering geologist told the Cape Town High Court on Thurday. Fredrick Stapelberg testified in a civil claim of more than R4- million against the Cape Metropolitan Council […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Thursday 4.00pm. THE Zimbabwean central bank on Thursday produced a damning report on black banker Roger Boka, and blames the government of bending banking licensing procedures to allow his underfunded bank to operate in the first place. The report into the collapse of Boka’s “indigenous” United Merchant Bank accuses Boka of […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kuala Lumpur | Thursday 10.00am. BRENDON Dedekind has won South Africa’s first medal for swimming in the Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur. He picked up silver in the 50m freestyle, in 22,70 to touch just behind Mark Foster of England who set a Commonwealth record of 22,58. Multiple World Championship medal winner Michael […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kuala Lumpur | Thursday 7.30pm. THE South African women’s hockey team suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of New Zealand at the Pantai Stadium on Thursday night. South Africa needed to score a draw, if not a win, in this crucial match to advance to the semifinals against Australia. Instead they conceded […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 9.00pm. AMENDMENTS to the Electoral Bill allowing voters who are not in possession of a green, bar-coded ID book to use a temporary certificate to register for next year’s general election were approved by the National Assembly on Thursday. However, temporary certificat holders will still have to be issued […]

SARAH BULLEN,Johannesburg | Thursday 9.45am. SYNTHETIC fuel group Sasol on Wednesday reported a 18,6% fall in attributable profit to R2-billion for the year to June — its first fall in profits in a decade. The fall was despite a weaker rand to dollar exchange rate, R500-million in synthetic fuel subsidies and a R100-million transfer from […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kuala Lumpur | Thursday 7.30pm. FREESTYLE artist Ryk Neethling picked up South Africa’s second Commonwealth Games swimming medal when he finished second in the men’s 1500m event in 15 minutes 02,88 seconds in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday night. He broke both a South African and African record for the event. Although he beat […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 10.00pm. REBELS from the Democratic Republic of Congo have accused the Southern African Development Community of “legitimising” President Laurent Kabila. In a propaganda war that is growing heated on all sides, the Congolese Democratic Coalition said in a press briefing in Midrand, near Johannesburg: “Granting legitimacy to the Kabila regime […]