The national government might take over education in some areas David Macfarlane and Nawaal Deane The national government is seriously contemplating invoking powerful constitutional measures that will allow it for the first time to take over certain provincial government functions. Minister of Education Kader Asmal last week expressed serious dissatisfaction with a number of provincial […]

analysis Ewen MacAskill There could hardly be a worse place for military action. Draw up a list of the world’s most volatile regions and the Pakistan-India-Afghanistan triangle would be at the top or close to it. Add the Middle East and, as Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said, there are the makings of “the […]

Stuart Millar The attacks on New York and Washington will force organisations to rethink their computer security procedures, experts predicted. Society’s growing reliance on computers and communication technology makes it more vulnerable if systems are wiped out. But according to @stake, the world’s biggest independent security consultancy, the majority of organisations do not have adequate […]

Barry Streek The terror attacks in the United States have strengthened the case for controversial provisions in draft e-commerce legislation approved by the South African Cabinet this week. The Electronic Communications and Transactions Bill contains “Big Brother” provisions empowering the authorities to open cybermail messages and place controls over the use of encrypted services. The […]

RUGBY Andy Capostagno It is safe to assume that Butch James will never forget the 2001 rugby season. As the fulcrum of a rejuvenated Sharks team he got to play in the Super 12 final. A month later he played his first Test match and 10 days after that outing against France he received his […]

Barry Streek The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has confirmed the firing of senior parliamentary official Nomsa Somdaka for using the services of five caretakers to paint her house and paying them overtime with parliamentary funds. Somdaka was the head of institutional support in Parliament. “Taken as a whole Somdaka had been guilty […]

Jaspreet Kindra Only three of the nine provinces are likely to elect provincial African National Congress office-bearers this year, amid a chaotic scenario where branches are being dissolved and reestablished in line with new municipal boundaries. ANC spokesperson Nomfanelo Mayosi-Kota says the Western Cape, Northern Cape and Gauteng are the only provinces likely to stage […]

Seven years into our democracy the poor still appear to possess only the right of access to courts to ensure that the government treats them with respect. The latest illustration of this sad manifestation of our politics occurred in the case of Ngxuza and others v The Permanent Secretary, Department of Welfare, Eastern Cape Provincial […]

Jaspreet Kindra Moves are afoot to force two top South African Communist Party officials, general secretary Blade Nzimande and his deputy, Jeremy Cronin, out of the African National Congress’s national executive committee (NEC). A senior SACP central committee member, who asked not to be named, said the ball was set rolling at the ANC’s inner […]

Mail & Guardian reporter When you reach into the fridge for a bottle of iced tea, does the sight of cloudy liquid swirling around in a chilled bottle of iced tea make you think that its gone off or do you prefer it to the clear sterility of the different brand next to it. The […]