Paul Kirk Big brand name holders in South Africa were in an uproar this week as KPMG one of the world’s top auditing companies refused to take action against an allegedly crooked director who is accused of running a massive scam involving counterfeit goods. The director, Johan Beets, was mandated to investigate customs violations and […]

Judith February and Lynne Abrahams The furious pace of legislating that characterised the first four or five years of South Africa’s democratically constituted Parliament has tapered off and last year saw far less legislation passed. Instead, a lot more time is spent monitoring legislation already in place. Amendments or regulations are passed to facilitate the […]

Gwen Ansell theatre It’s 20 years since Gibson Kente’s Mama and the Load played at the Market Theatre. So the playwright/director’s return last night with his new play,?Ezakithi (It Is Us), was something of an occasion. But although it won him a standing ovation from much of the audience and gave him a chance to […]

Pat Schwartz food They do everything better in Cape Town. We know this because Capetonians keep telling us they do. So when I set off to compare the buffet lunches at Cape Town’s Melissa’s and Johannesburg’s The Service Station, I expected to return home humbled and destined to be perpetually dissatisfied. Not at all! Melissa’s […]

Several South Africans on expeditions to find the famed fossil fish have died in diving-related incidents, reports Niki Moore It is the classic stuff of horror movies: intrepid adventurers open a tomb or explore uncharted territory and unleash a terrible curse. One by one, the expedition members die a horrible death. Several South Africans have […]

Most government departments have failed to submit their annual reports on service delivery to the HRC Fred Esbend The South African Human Rights Commission has identified gross ineptitude among heads of government departments as the number one contributory factor hampering effective social service delivery. This shocking public disclosure emerged during its hearings held in Port […]

Phumla Mthala Crossfire Rehana Rossouw questions the South African Human Rights Commission’s recommendation that the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions should consider a prosecution of Shane McCallaghan, the alleged producer of a racist CD (“Have we lost our sense of humour?”, February 2 to 8). While the commission recognises McCallaghan’s right to freedom of expression, […]

John Grobler President Sam Nujoma of Namibia has declared war on all forms of government waste and called for the elimination of any unnecessary expenditure by top officials of his government, including giving up their Mercedes-Benz vehicles and overseas trips. In a hard-hitting and frank speech to his Cabinet on Tuesday at its first meeting […]

Fiona Macleod South African hunters are allegedly smuggling ivory into the country from Zimbabwe, in an attempt to win credits in hunting trophy competitions. High-ranking members of South Africa’s largest hunting association and one of Zimbabwe’s oldest professional hunting outfits are implicated in the smuggling scam, which allegedly involves the illegal hunting of state-owned elephants […]

Jack Mokobi CROSSFIRE I read with trepidation two opinion columns by Sipho Seepe in the Mail & Guardian, ”Treat Mbeki’s overtures with caution” (January 12 to 18) and ”We are searching for the truth” (January 26 to February 1). As I went through them I was reminded of an incident with the SABC (hopefully the […]