Madeleine Roux: Moveable feast James Bond may be as as old as bri-nylon, but he is still the stuff of fantasy. So say the latest press releases about this old chauv and his three squeezes, who are appearing in yet another Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies. Suspecting an end to our long suspension of disbelief […]

Ben Laurance When Chris Patten was running Hong Kong, he was fond of dropping a smug little statistic into any conversation about the Hong Kong and Chinese economies. The colony, with six million people squeezed into a sweaty little corner of Asia, was about to achieve one-fifth of the economic output of its enormous neighbour […]

Ann Eveleth Suspended Transnet executive director Joe Ndhlela’s fate will be decided next Tuesday after an internal probe found he committed several acts of misconduct and impropriety. The transport parastatal’s board of directors is due to meet on Tuesday to consider disciplinary action against Ndhlela after an internal disciplinary inquiry found he committed an act […]

Raparazzi! Residents of Pretoria whose slumbers were disturbed by the squeal of car tyres on Wednesday night might be interested to know that the noise signalled the arrival of the paparazzi phenomenon in the capital. The high-speed car chase was precipitated by Rapport newspaper, whose photographers have been camped for a fortnight outside the home […]

Wally Mbhele and Wonder Hlongwa The Truth and Reconciliation Commission may subpoena Inkatha Freedom Party leader Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi to cross-examine him on the IFP’s links with the apartheid government. Officials of the commission confirmed that Buthelezi would be questioned on the basis of the “Walter Felgate archives” — documents handed by his former confidant […]

Faried Esack Shamima Shaikh (37), South Africa’s leading Muslim gender equality activist, passed away in the early hours of January 8 at her home in Mayfair, Johannesburg. She had cancer. Shaikh left behind her husband, Naeem Jeenah, and two sons Minhaj (9) and Shir’ah (7). Shaikh was a member of the national executive committee of […]

Adam Haupt spoke to musician and world traveller DLow about his new album and his boempies hairstyle Many people in Portlands, Mitchells Plain, know the R&B singer DLow (Deen Louw) as the organiser of the Rhyme Unit Feed the Needy feeding scheme, which serves many people in the area. However, his two identities are not […]

South Africa has suffered a number of government scandals since liberation: Sarafina II,the Mpumalanga housing scam, Baleka Kgositsile’s driving licence, the Central Energy Fund (CEF) and Emanuel Shaw II … Few of them, however, point to failure of government in quite as stark a fashion as the scandal we break in this edition of the […]

FRIDAY 5.45PM: THE African National Congress in Gauteng has denied covering up evidence of financial impropriety by provincial Premier-elect Mathole Motshekga. In a statement on Friday, the party said: “Last October Comrade Tokyo Sexwale informed Comrade Motshekga in writing about the existence of certain documents alleging impropriety on his [Motshekga’s] part. The documents were made […]

Ferial Haffajee Gender commissioner and renowned Muslim cleric Faried Esack has been given state protection after a series of death threats from the supporters of the renegade community station Radio Islam. Members of VIP protection services provide 24-hour security to the man who serves as acting head of the Commission for Gender Equality. “I have […]