Deon Potgieter For the first time a feast of five world title fights will be held in a local arena, as a fitting farewell tribute to the man featured in the main event, Baby Jake Matlala. While fans may wish to see South African fighters wrapping up the night five for five, it’s not going […]
Kevin Scott The Durban consulate general of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has tried to censor a Truth About Tibet photographic exhibition that opened this week. The consul, Zemin Yu, went beyond a formal complaint against the gallery by appealing to the provincial government to stop the exhibition. The chairperson of the Natal Society […]
When I read the front page headline “Big Brother Gatsha, he’s gonna watch ya” I became very angry. I then wondered whether the M&G would sufficiently appreciate the reasons for my anger or could even fully understand them. My anger may seem to come from personal sensitivity and yet, for those who know the history […]
analysis Roger Bate South Africa and other arid countries are running out of water. The result will be wars and the poor will suffer most. For the past decade these concerns have been shouted from the world’s largest newspapers, reporting alarming forecasts periodically issued by groups ranging from the World Watch Institute to the United […]
Belinda Beresford In an acrobatic and aerial manoeuvre, the KwaZulu-Natal government has deserted the Department of Health in its fight against the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)over curbing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Instead Premier Lionel Mtshali says KwaZulu-Natal will obey the “moral imperative” and supply nevirapine to all pregnant women who wish to take it. The […]
Scopa member Vincent Smith has been described as a “master filibusterer” Marianne Merten For someone who admits to an initial reluctance to serve on Parliament’s public accounts committee (Scopa), African National Congress MP Vincent Smith has proved a key player in the committee’s unravelling. Smith rejects claims he politicised the committee to prevent it overseeing […]
CRICKET Peter Robinson Nearly half-a-century ago the then South African Cricket Union grappled with the idea of cancelling a tour to Australia on the grounds that they didn’t think their team was good enough. In the end Jack Cheetham and his side were given the go-ahead and shocked everyone by drawing a five Test series […]
Another Inkatha Freedom Party MP is likely to replace Gavin Woods, who this week resigned as chairperson of Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), writes Marianne Merten. Indications are that the IFP is the party of first choice for the post, but it would mean Woods is out in the cold despite his stated […]
Can Montoya and Schumacher create a legendary rivalry to quicken F1’s pulse? Richard Williams As the only 22 men in the world entitled to call themselves grand prix drivers start up their shiny new cars in Australia this week, those of us who call ourselves grand prix fans could be forgiven for feeling that it […]
Marianne Merten Just 109 votes gave the African National Congress victory over the Democratic Alliance this week in the first Western Cape by-election since the ANC-New National Party provincial government took power. The narrow win has led the DA to claim it has kept its support in the NNP rural stronghold of Grabouw. The NNP […]