Paul Kirk has been led astray. He writes that “12 Hawks will cost the country an estimated minimum of US$1-billion”. The actual contract price for 24 Hawks is 323,83-million plus R634,68-million for South African sub-systems. Translating that into United States dollars at the present exchange rates comes to about US$540,48-million for 24 Hawks, not US$1 […]

Marianne Merten A large number of the 10 000 objections by fundamentalist Christians to the proposed revised school curriculum appear dubious as the post office has so far returned 600 of the government’s acknowledgment-of-receipt letters marked “address unknown”. The letter campaign was started by several Christian organisations that asked followers to submit their objections. Last […]

Mungo Soggot The Park Hyatt, a plush Johannesburg hotel that prides itself on its black empowerment credentials, has given marching orders to seven black chauffeurs who have serviced the hotel since it was built in 1995. The chauffeurs used to work for different taxi companies but last year the Hyatt came to an informal, written […]

MUNGO SOGGOT, Johannesburg | Friday THE Park Hyatt, a plush Johannesburg hotel that prides itself on its black empowerment credentials, has given marching orders to seven black chauffeurs who have serviced the hotel since it was built in 1995. The chauffeurs used to work for different taxi companies but last year the Hyatt came to […]

MORE than 7 600 weapons recovered by UN peacekeepers during the disarmament of ex-combatants in Sierra Leone were destroyed on Monday in the capital, Freetown, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (Unamsil) reported. The event marked the beginning of the second phase of Unamsil’s weapon’s destruction exercise, which is expected to continue until 10 December. […]

Algiers | Friday THE death toll from storms that lashed northern Algeria at the weekend swelled to 701 on Thursday, as rescue workers pulled another 50 bodies from mountains of mud and debris in the capital. Officials said 651 people died in Algiers, where the working-class neighbourhood of Bab El Oued bore the brunt of […]

MARIANNE MERTEN, Cape Town | Friday IN a further twist in the machiavellian manoeuvrings of Cape politics, the Democratic Alliance is forcing its New National Party councillors to resign from the NNP before the end of the year – or lose their jobs. The DA is amending its interim constitution to ban dual party membership, […]

ANOTHER 552 children suspected of genocide and other crimes against humanity regained their freedom on Monday after spending three months in the Gaculiro re-education camp in the capital, Kigali. Unicef Information Officer Cyriaque Ngoboka said that 13 girls were among those freed, after a traditional village tribunal heard testimonies of their innocence. Monday’s release brings […]

The Bok coach has made wholesale changes after the loss to France Andy Capostagno in Genoa Last Saturday, for the second time this year, South Africa went into a Test match against France confident of victory, only to have their hopes dashed by a massively confident team in blue. Consequently when the team arrived in […]

Morgan Tsvangirai has been tipped as the next president of Zimbabwe. Rehana Rossouw and Jaspreet Kindra spoke to him about the prospects for a free and fair election next year, famine in Zimbabwe and his exit strategy for President Robert Mugabe Rehana Rossouw: According to opinion polls, you are going to be president of Zimbabwe […]