Jaspreet Kindra The Department of Public Enterprises is showing extraordinary sensitivity about possible leaks of its latest policy document on privatisation – the cause of tension between the government and its union allies. The department this week threatened to search the bags of people, when two copies of the still- confidential document circulated at a […]
Mark Ouma OLYMPICS The stringent qualifying criteria to make the South Africa Olympic team has inspired Jannie du Toit to believe he is a serious medal contender. Du Toit has posted impressive performances since last year that have earned him a place among the world’s top freestyle wrestlers in a discipline that has been dominated […]
David Le Page If ever the history of a particular technology demonstrated how human progress can be undermined by greed, power and machismo, it is that of the electric vehicle. And it is a repetitive history – a constant cycle of disappointed optimism has unfolded throughout the 20th century as the time for electric vehicles […]
Belinda Beresford There are only a couple of hundred doctors in South Africa fully trained to treat HIV-positive individuals. But thousands of other medical personnel are having to deal with HIV/Aids patients, because the hospitals and clinics can no longer cope. Anti-retroviral treatment regimes are difficult to administer because of the powerful side effects and […]
David Macfarlane A second look A woman lies on her back in a chilly-blue hospital examination room. Her stomach, genitals and legs are bare; her knees are raised and apart. Her facial expression is resigned, vulnerable – yet somehow in control. Eight or nine white-coated medical interns surround her, and one by one pull on […]
Kirk The victims of the South African Defence Force’s (SADF) weirdest experiment – biological, chemical and psychological warfare on conscripts – are many and varied. Few, however, are keen to go public with their stories. For years dark rumours circulated about how badly homosexuals were treated by the SADF and at least once the army […]
The summits have turned into expensive media fests that don’t deliver very much Larry Elliot The good news for United States President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the other G8 leaders is that Okinawa was no Seattle. Holding their annual shindig on a tropical island, converted for a couple of days into […]
Out of chaos come international biosafety rules, signed but still to be ratified John Vidal When Professor Howard Atkinson and colleagues at Leeds University genetically modified a potato to be pest- resistant without the use of chemicals, it was decided to test it in Bolivia, one of the world’s poorest and most malnourished countries and […]
marriage scam Nawaal Deane South African women who are being roped into illegal marriage syndicates are being paid off at prices determined by their race. These illegal agencies charge foreigners seeking citizenship R800 to R2 000 for a black bride, while Indian and coloured women retail for R4 000 and white women for R6 000. […]
Guy Willoughby THEATRE Glass Roots, fresh from a debut at the National Arts Festival, confirms that writer Fiona Coyne is a fresh stage voice to be reckoned with. A comedy of manners set in a society with few to speak of (manners, that is), the play charts the tragicomic birth- pains of a world in […]