Mungo Soggot The state oil company has slashed the number of charges and dropped all fraud allegations against suspended chief oil trader Kobus van Zyl, who is due to be disciplined in the next few weeks. Van Zyl was publicly ousted in March 1997 by the Minister of Minerals and Energy, Penuell Maduna, triggering the […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Friday 10.00PM. THE Zimbabwean government on Friday gazetted sweeping new regulations to control rallies and marches, intended to increase the state’s control over political expression. In future, organisers will have to seek police permission in writing a week prior to events, specifying their purpose, and the business and details of proposed […]
Richmond There tends to be a false assumption that firm or tough government is conservative government and, as such, inimical to the liberal principles enshrined in our Bill of Rights. For that reason, perhaps, those who take pride in the foundations of the new South Africa contained in our Constitution would see a declaration of […]
Tangeni Amupadhi The official police watchdog has obtained an affidavit from a person who claims to have seen two police officers coaching witnesses to finger people’s poet Mzwakhe Mbuli at an identity parade. At least two witnesses were shown photographs of Mbuli by policemen investigating a bank robbery in Waverley, north of Pretoria, last October, […]
Anne Holmes went on an unusual trip to get books to deprived rural schools in KwaZulu- Natal Red mud churned madly on a remote hillside in KwaZulu-Natal. Men shouted instructions at each other, and passing schoolgirls shrieked and giggled at the unusual spectacle. It was certainly not your typical rural scenario. A dilapidated minibus bogged […]
Roger Pratt This weekend Soul Trading, a new Johannesburg-based outfit trading in rare and exotic goods, will be holding the first in a series of weekend bazaars showcasing select ranges of handicrafts from around the world. This first show covers an eclectic range, from Moroccan lanterns to tooled Tuareg leather, Balinese wood, rattan and basketware […]
The new municipal structures Bill negates municipalities’ rights to govern themselves, writes John Sewell The South African Constitution contains many glowing phrases, and none is as powerful to local politicians as Section 151(3): “A municipality has the right to govern, on its own initiative, the local government affairs of its community.” That section has been […]
Tangeni Amupadhi Dan Mabote, accused of raping, abducting and then killing seven-year-old Mamokgethi Malebana, may soon get his just reward. But family and friends of Mamokgethi say people who aided her killing, albeit inadvertently, will get off scot-free. “I blame the people who granted him bail,” says Mamokgethi’s mother, Joyce Malebana. “I want something to […]
Tracy Murinik Whether you’ve been aware of it or not, if you’ve been living in South Africa within the past four decades or so, and if you’ve experienced any of this country’s major cities (and even some smaller towns), then it is likely that you have at some point encountered Revel Fox. Or his vision […]
Steve Gordon : A Second Look The Gift to the Nation concerts last weekend disappointed not so much in what they were, but in what they were not. Boasting South Africa’s biggest-ever artist billing, we squandered the opportunity to assert and affirm our nation, our voice, our identity. Mega-concerts are notoriously difficult to organise, and […]