Marianne Merten Township homes in Hermanus, a seaside resort near Cape Town, are being auctioned off because of service arrears dating back to 1994 despite an innovative “pay as you use” scheme meant to ensure access to water for everyone. This Friday seven homes are on auction in Zwelihle; six homes went under the hammer […]

A US surgeon has devised an electronic implant that gives women an orgasm without the hassle of sex, the New Scientist reports. Stuart Meloy, a surgeon at Piedmont Anaesthesia and Pain Consultants in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, got the idea for the device when he was conducting a routine operation on a woman to relieve spinal […]

MORE than 80 former Rwandan Hutu soldiers suspected of having participated in the 1994 genocide have been released from jail, the head of Kigali’s main prison said. The 84 were released because there was not enough evidence on which to hold them, Isidor Gahamanyi told journalists. They had been accused of taking part in the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday FIGURES cited by President Thabo Mbeki as proof of a decline in violent crimes actually showed an upward trend in these offences, the SA Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) said this week. The institute – which Mbeki named in an interview as the source of his crime figures – said […]

AN Islamic court in Nigeria on Wednesday handed down the first-ever conviction against a Christian, who was flogged in the northern Nigerian city of Kano. Officials in Kano State, which introduced the Islamic law known as Sharia in November, had said it would apply only to Muslims. Nevertheless, an Islamic court on Wednesday convicted Alto […]

A 76-year-old American attempting to become the oldest person to sail alone around the world was rescued by a container ship after his yacht sank off South Africa’s southwest coast. Dave Clark, from Florida, arrived in Cape Town about a month ago on his yacht Mollie Millar, accompanied by his dog Mickey, after setting out […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday BATTERED on the domestic front, President Thabo Mbeki will today seek to win back lost ground when he delivers a state-of-the-nation address that is expected, among other things, to focus on South Africa’s rural poor. The president is expected to unveil an integrated and sustainable rural development strategy, identifying […]

ALGERIAN troops carried out civilian massacres while disguised as rebels, shot suspects dead in cold blood and tortured rebels to death during the dirty war against Islamic militants in the 1990s, a former officer claims in a new book. The shocking allegations sparked calls for an international inquiry into the conduct of the former military […]

David Macfarlane and Glenda Daniels The hot seat of Wits University vice-chancellor looks set to be occupied for the first time by a woman. Two of the three shortlisted candidates are women: Professor Leila Patel, currently Wits’s deputy vice-chancellor and vice-principal, and Professor Norma Reid, deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Plymouth in the United […]

ANC parliamentary committee members could become more cautious about questioning the executive for fear of losing favour with the leadership Barry Streek The controversy surrounding the role Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) will play in the inquiry into government’s R43-billion arms deals and the determination of the African National Congress to whip its […]