2003 saw South African media heap a ton of dirt on its role as a credible and impartial informer. Kevin Bloom looks back on the personalities and events that were the most nauseating examples of how not to do it.

Former world boxing champion Baby Jake Matlala started a four-day visit to the Eastern Cape on Tuesday. His first stop was East London, where he spent time with children from various schools, demonstrating the skills that made him a champion.

Former star Jomo Sono says he is the coach to lift crisis-torn South Africa out of the doldrums. Bafana Bafana made a humiliating first-round retreat from the African Cup of Nations in Tunisia last week after coming third behind youthful Morocco and weakened Nigeria in Group D.

Vijay Singh has been the talk of the tour the last couple of months as he moves closer to number one in the world, a position only Tiger Woods has occupied since winning the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah. ”Vijay is trying very hard to close the gap, and if you look at the points, he has closed the gap severely,” Darren Clarke said.

The Sharks have drafted two new front-row players into their squad ahead of the Super 12 rugby series with Lawrence Sephaka moving from the Cats to Durban and Skipper Badenhorst, who played hooker for the Pumas, coming on board. Bulking prop Lawrence Sephaka has played 15 times for South Africa.

President Thabo Mbeki was misrepresenting facts on HIV/Aids and ”making a mockery of our illness”, Zackie Achmat, chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign, said on Wednesday. Achmat said the president had made some ”serious factual misrepresentations” in a speech on SABC television on Sunday.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has hit out at Real Madrid for expressing an interest in French star Thierry Henry. Real coach Carlos Queiroz hinted that Henry and Manchester United’s Ruud van Nistelrooy were his summer targets with Henry the one he would like most.