theory Robert Kirby argues against the theory that South Africans lured Mozambican president Samora Machel to his death It is believed that between 80% and 90% of aviation accidents are due to human error. Refining the statistic a little further, it was found that out of a total of 28 000 aviation “incident reports” made […]
Pallo Jordan CROSSFIRE Jeff Greenfield, an American journalist, relates his grandmother’s response to the Rosenberg “atomic bomb spies” trial. As someone who had grown up in Tsarist Russia, where the framing of Jews on trumped- up charges was a byword for the authorities, Greenfield’s granny always believed that the Rosenbergs had been framed and were […]
Andy Duffy A senior Western Cape police officer, found guilty by the police force of sexually harassing a female colleague, has been given a R1,6-million golden handshake, following a decision by the provincial attorney general to drop criminal charges. The former commander of the Woodstock police station, Mario Laubscher, walked off with his bumper retirement […]
Tracy Murinik On show in Cape Town I’ll admit to being a little sceptical when first hearing about the exhibition Childhood. Graffiti art in the Irma Stern Museum sounded gimmicky. Well, it isn’t. In fact, the collaboration between artists Gregg Smith, Mustafa Maluka, Ice and Sky 1 got me swallowing my words instantly. They have […]
Lizeka Mda A career as a mechanical engineer may seem an impossible dream for a parking attendant. Yet Lungile Ndebele keeps the dream of studying engineering alive every day, despite indications that it is becoming distant. Every morning the 20-year-old leaves her home in Orange Farm to go to her “job” in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, where […]
Ann Eveleth The apartheid-era homeland system and rural “betterment schemes” were the worst causes of land degradation, according to a rapid appraisal of land resources conducted in the run-up to World Desertification Day on Wednesday. The study forms part of South Africa’s National Action Programme to implement the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The […]
A special correspondent in Abuja There were few tears and fewer obsequies for General Sani Abacha, the late and brutal president of Nigeria. Wrapped in a sheet and carried to his home town of Kano in the cargo hold of a Nigerian air force jet, he arrived too late even to be buried before evening […]
Chris Gordon As increasing Unita military activity is reported across Angola, the United Nations has imposed a fresh set of conditional sanctions on Angola’s intransigent rebel movement, in what is now a bid to avert serious conflict. These sanctions will come into force on June 25 if Unita does not surrender its headquarter towns and […]
As a long-time ardent admirer of Govin Reddy may I add my humble voice to his own stridulations in regard to his having missed out on the top SABC sinecure. What is more disturbing is how the SABC board itself is also in the business of missing out, in Mr Reddy’s case, on a critically […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi A new row among senior managers has hit the SABC following recent appointments and new vacancies created in the corporation’s radio news section. The radio battle comes after the former head of the division and now deputy chief executive Govin Reddy launched a public challenge against the appointment of the Reverend Hawu Mbatha […]