Shaun de Waal November this year was the centenary of the death of Oscar Wilde in a cheap Paris hotel; it has been said that the 20th century, on the doorstep of which he died, was the Wilde century. In many ways, Wilde was a (sometimes?unwitting) prophet of the hundred years after his death. In […]

Ebrahim Harvey left field Because the Industrial Revolution, which gave rise to classes and class struggles, began in England and Europe there is no doubt that the historical, ideological and epistemologi-cal foundations of Marxism reside with white European intellectuals, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. Black people in the Third […]

Nawaal Deane The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a United States-based organisation, this week stepped in to shield Rafael Marques, an Angolan journalist, from continued harassment by the Angolan government. In a letter to Angolan President Jos Eduardo dos Santos, the CPJ strongly protested against the government’s continued persecution of Marques and other journalists in […]

SUDANESE trickled to the polls at the start of a 10-day election that incumbent Islamist President Omar al-Beshir and his party look set to win because of a massive opposition boycott. All Sudan’s main opposition parties, most of which are involved in a civil war with Beshir’s government, were boycotting the vote to protest against […]

TOGOLESE Prime Minister Agbeyome Kodjo has called for the international community to provide developing countries with the means necessary to battle international organised crime. “It is a moral duty” to assist developing countries, Kodjo said, calling for “affluent countries to put in place help programs to fight poverty which feeds organised crime.” – AFP

Tara Turkington, Johannesburg | Friday A RARE camelthorn forest in the southern Kalahari is being threatened by the large-scale collection of dead wood under contract, claim outraged experts. The 2200ha Khai Appel Nature Reserve near Kathu, in the Northern Cape, is home to one of only two camelthorn forests in Southern Africa, and has been […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Friday THE South African government had barely finished congratulating US President-elect George W Bush when it reminded him of the United States’ role in fighting global poverty and war and in promoting development in Africa. Throughout the late nineties, then deputy-president Thabo Mbeki developed a good relationship with his counterpart Al […]

A GABONESE air force plane with three crew members aboard disappeared from radar screens as it was coming into land at Tchibanga, in the southwest Gabon, French and Gabonese officials said. The 30-seater Bandeirante aircraft, which was flying in from the capital Libreville, went missing on Tuesday. Gabonese soldiers backed by French military units were […]

A LESOTHO court martial has handed down prison sentences ranging from three to 13 years to 33 soldiers convicted of mutiny in the tiny kingdom’s 1998 uprising, put down by troops from South Africa and Botswana. The soldiers would also be “reduced to their ranks and had to be discharged with ignominy from the defence […]

The Rose of Soweto is determined to win in Montreal so he can have another bout with Glenn Catley Deon Potgieter Dingaan “the Rose of Soweto” Thobela is in high spirits going into the first defence of his World Boxing Council super-middleweight world title in Canada on Friday night. “I have worked hard to get […]