THURSDAY, 8.30AM: SIPHIWE NYANDA, former chief of staff of Umkhonto weSizwe, is to take over as chief of the SA Defence Force in June, following the resignation of General Georg Meiring. Nyanda, who will be promoted to full general, faces the mammoth task of uniting white and black soldiers who, until 1994, were bitter foes. […]

WEDNESDAY, 1.30PM: ENROLMENTS at South African tertiary institutions have dropped some 21% this year compared to last year, with former “bush universities” worst hit, while student numbers at traditionally white universities actually rose over the same period. The University of Zululand registered a 21% fall in registration, the University of the North an 18% drop, […]

TUESDAY, 12.00NOON: THE Cabinet is set to discuss a series of proposed “legacy projects” intended to redress the portrayal of South Africa’s history, with a Freedom Park as the flagship project. The Freedom Park will focus on the themes of democracy, nation-building and the liberation struggle, and will house monuments, museums and galleries to the […]

Andy Capostagno Rugby Not that last year’s Super 12 left South African teams with any reasons for complacency, but if anyone thought that the new regional system was a fast track to success they had better think again. Two- thirds of the way through the 1998 Super 12 and there are three South African teams […]

Victoria Brittain The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has unveiled a plan for Africa that could bring an end to wars and destabilisation activity in at least seven countries: Angola, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Annan’s blueprint for action by UN member states would curb arms sales and covert arms trafficking, end […]

Roger Jardine: RIGHT TO REPLY Charl Blignaut accuses the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology of not delivering (Friday, February 27 to March 5). This is based on what he sees as the inability of the department to transform the performing arts councils. This transformation process is, in fact, progressing according to schedule. A […]

If the South African classical concert scene were truly Eurocentric, it would feature a lot more African music. That paradox is largely ignored in the confused debate around the future of our culture. While European concert halls currently offer hospitality to serialists, tonalists, aleatorists, minimalists, African composers and jazzmen all, the defenders of the classical […]

Krisjan Lemmer There has been much excitement in the Groot Marico – protests in the back room of the Dorsbult Bar, resolutions calling the volk to arms, death threats etc etc – over reported plans to remove Paul Kruger’s name from South Africa’s biggest game park. In the end calmer heads prevailed and the burghers […]

Ferial Haffajee The government has slashed the Independent Broadcasting Authority’s (IBA) budget by millions, and the organisation is haemorrhaging skilled staff who are leaving to avoid a troubled merger with the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Satra). Five departments are without heads and insiders say other essential staff are “looking [for work] or leaving” before […]

Robert Kirby: LOOSE CANNON It is hard to hush one’s scepticism when, within hours of the mindless shootings on the Benoni smallholding, up pop grave-browed politicians in various displays of rue and distress. Her face set in scrupulous wrath, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was in court when the gunman appeared. Her ex-husband was at the shoulder of […]