African mould broken as Western firms are to be put in the dock on bribery charges Chris McGreal Multinational companies are about to go on trial in Lesotho where they are accused of paying huge bribes to a local official, a case virtually unprecedented in Africa. European and Canadian engineering companies, four of them British, […]

Nawaal Deane Gauteng schools will soon receive guidelines on how to interpret official policy dealing with promoting to a higher grade pupils who have failed. Teachers in the province are complaining that schools’ matric pass rates are dropping because the Department of Education has introduced a policy that pupils should be promoted to a higher […]

Paul Kirk Things fell apart for Durban’s director of community and health services this month. First his promotion to the post he has few qualifications for was deemed unreasonable, then he had his law degree revoked. University of Zululand officials have established that Arnold Shange did not earn his BJuris degree, but was one of […]

Barry Streek About 7,5-million people in South Africa still have to be provided with adequate housing despite more than five million people being given shelter in the past six years. Since 1994 about 1,129-million houses have been built, and secured tenure, running water, sanitation and electricity provided. Minister of Housing Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele says the provision […]

Thebe Mabanga music Thebe Mabanga The illuminated, garish dcor of the Horror Caf will witness a peculiar vibe when four musicians and a hip-hop DJ take to its stage in the Politburo sessions this Friday. “We are not trying to create a band,” says S’Bu Nxumalo of the Nuff Said Kollective (Nsako), organisers of the […]

Industrialist Natie Kirsh has lost millions on a fraudulent second-hand insurance policy operation. Now he’s gunning for his business partner, writes Belinda Anderson Nathan (Natie) Kirsh is suing his long-time confidant and business partner, Charles Stride, for millions. This follows the mother of all bust-ups after a business venture involving the sale of second-hand endowment […]

Adrienne Carlisle and Nawaal Deane Hoosein Mohamed, a senior partner in a prominent Cape Town law firm, was arrested by the Scorpions on Wednesday for milking the Road Accident Fund (RAF) of large portions of the pay-outs meant for indigent victims. His law firm, H Mohamed and Associates, first hit headlines in 1999 when the […]

Glenda Daniels Two Northern Province rural communities are up in arms against mining giant Amplats and the Royal Bafokeng Administration. The Ga-Pila are embroiled in a fight with Amplats over impending forced removals while the Bafokeng are engaged in mass action against the royal administration of King Leruo Molotlegi over retrenchments. The Ga-Pila community has […]

Support for small enterprises is a central feature of the government’s strategy to promote economic development, but it is expensive Barry Streek The South African economic sector has lost more than R68-million in the past four years as a result of the failure of 117 246 small business enterprises receiving government assistance. Minister of Trade […]

Mail & Guardian reporter International media organisation Reporters Sans Frontires (Reporters Without Borders) has written to Swaziland’s King Mswati III to protest against a decree which gives the king censorship powers. ”The last absolute monarchy on the entire continent is also one of the most repressive countries concerning censorship. The king has now total freedom […]