Godfrey Mutisya Crossfire The United States of Africa is becoming a buzzword across the continent in a manner reminiscent of classical pan-Africanism. A significant number of academics, politicians, journalists and political activists seem convinced that the current political and economic conflicts, poverty and endemic crisis of democracy and governance are evidence that the post- colonial […]

Universal Men, the celebrated debut Juluka album, was released 21 years ago. Richard Pithouse reports on an album that, despite being largely ignored at the time of its release, launched an inspirational career In the mid Seventies Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu started playing together as a duo under the name of Johnny and Sipho. […]

Timothy Trengove-Jones crossfire In the rather tautologous words of the famous song, the times they are a-changing. It was reported last weekend that President Thabo Mbeki has told the African National Congress’s national executive committee that he is to withdrawEfrom public debate over the science of HIV/Aids. His contributions, he repeated, have “caused confusion”. In […]

Barry Streek The Independent newspaper group’s editors won a significant victory over the company’s management this week when executives abandoned their hardline stance that they have the right to publish free advertisements without the editors’ approval. The group’s management conceded in a statement, issued by its chief executive officer, Ivan Fallon, and its chief operating […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi A group of former Afri- can National Congress-linked self-defence unit members and residents displaced by political violence in Thokoza on the East Rand in the early 1990s have formed a civic movement to oppose the ANC in the forthcoming local government elections. The new party, the Displacees Ratepayers’ Association (DRA), was formed two […]

process Gregory Mthembu-Salter The surprise summit in Maputo on October 16 of all the heads of state whose countries are at war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, barring Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos, marked the start of South Africa’s best opportunity yet to end the two-year conflict. Presidential advisers hope a positive outcome will […]

South Africa’s economic decline is the main reason for the president’s fall in popularity, suggests a recent survey Howard Barrell President Thabo Mbeki’s standing among South Africans has plummeted in recent months, according to the results of a wide-ranging public opinion poll released on Thursday. Only one in two South Africans (50,2%) approves of the […]

transformation’ There seems to be a lack of trust in the abilities of black people in the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, claim staff Fiona Macleod One of South Africa’s favourite politicians, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Mohammed Valli Moosa, faces a revolt in his department amid accusations from disgruntled staff that he […]

Nawaal Deane It’s boom time in Nelspruit. Set in the subtropical vegetation among granite rocks, the lush town – strategically placed between Mozambique and Gauteng – boasts an economic growth rate far in excess of other urban areas in the country. For the past six years the town’s economy has seen an 8% growth rate […]

Hundreds of white farmers from Cullinan have quit the Freedom Front for the ANC to pursue nation-building – and escape farm invasions Jaspreet Kindra ‘Are you Robby?” a young black man stops George Dickinson on a street in Cullinan. Dickinson, chair of the African National Congress’s interim Roodeplaat branch and a retired policeman who served […]