The European Union is trying to block the diamond smuggling route from Angola. Violence won’t be far behind. Dan Atkinson in Antwerp, Alex Duval Smith in Johannesburg and Owen Bowcott investigate It was an unpromising start to Europe’s tough new policy on diamond smuggling. Yards from Antwerp’s grand railway station, an African in traditional dress […]

Brenda Atkinson The programme preview of South Africa’s first free-to-air commercial television station was a Bondian event, slick with dress suits, French champagne, impeccably understated yet omnipresent waiters, oysters, and a subtle conspiratorial air. e.tv, the Warner Brothers-partnered broadcast competitor that has SABC and M-Net by the balls, last week invited media buyers to a […]

Many of our readers will find the pictures of famine in southern Sudan which we have published deeply distressing. Some may feel that this is a visual invasion of privacy which should not be allowed. Others may wonder whether such appeals to our consciences are not just a short-term palliative: is there not a better […]

machine Andy Capostagno Golf It might be unkind to a fine tournament, but this week’s United States PGA Championship is likely to suffer by comparison. The PGA is older than the Masters and both Jack Nicklaus and Walter Hagen won it five times, so it comes highly recommended. But because the wise men of the […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Friday 11.00pm. MPUMALANGA’S sacked deputy speaker, Cynthia Maropeng, was found guilty of self-enrichment and of bringing the African National Congress into disrepute by the party’s provincial disciplinary committee in Nelspruit on Friday. The three-man committee, headed by provincial finance MEC Jacques Modipane, tried Maropeng in her absence after she kept it […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni Ginger Mahlamvu (22) was released from jail in May after spending two years behind bars for robbery. But unlike many former prisoners, he is hopeful about his future. “I felt like a useless person, and that I wouldn’t regain my dignity and trust from my family and the community because of […]

fraud Godfrey Thabo Makhubedu The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) has asked that criminal charges be laid against staff members of Technikon South Africa accused of corruption and fraud. This follows a series of internal disciplinary hearings against senior staff. In one of the worst instances, Herman Putter, employed at the centre […]

up Howard Barrell Over a Barrel While in exile with the African National Congress in Zimbabwe in the mid-1980s, I had a simple test to decide who I felt comfortable with. It was: can this person appreciate a good anti-ANC joke? If yes, the likelihood was we could work together. If not, co-operation was doubtful. […]

corruption probe Wonder Hlongwa KwaZulu-Natal’s Department of Health says it is close to making a breakthrough in its investigation into an allegedly fraudulent scheme to siphon money from provincial coffers to the Inkatha Freedom Party. The department’s corruption unit investigator, Leon Wolmarans, says it has been interviewing Durban businessman Sateesh Isseri for two years. Last […]

Province Tangeni Amupadhi Northern Province Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi is to call a meeting with community leaders to address increasing racial tensions between blacks and whites. Ramatlhodi’s peace efforts come in the wake of a spate of attacks on farmers and what appear to be revenge strikes on blacks in the province. ”People should never take […]