ahead Barry Streek The government is to press ahead with plans to outsource municipal services and negotiate partnerships with the private sector – despite opposition from public sector trade unions which fear this will result in job losses. The government is convinced that adequate municipal services cannot be supplied to the majority of South Africans […]

Stefaans Brmmer President Thabo Mbeki and a shadowy African National Congress official have been linked to the bizarre appointment of a private investigator to probe government corruption. The appointment backfired this week when details emerged of the investigator’s exorbitant fee, apparent lack of success and crooked past. The saga of the private investigator, Kevin Trytsman, […]

Tjaart Potgieter LIFESTYLE Malay/Indonesian food is an important, if often unexplored, part of our cultural heritage. It reached our shores during the 18th century in the hands of slaves brought from Sumatra, Java, Bali and other South East Asian islands, indiscriminately called Malay because they all came from vaguely the same place “out there”. Most […]

Bryan Rostron A SECOND LOOK ‘Those who stand in the middle of the road,” observed British socialist Aneurin Bevan, “get run over.” South Africa and Zimbabwe share the same lane on the great globalised highway of the 21st century: after driving on the left for many years, both Zanu-PF and the African National Congress opted […]

Lynda Gilfillan A fresh produce chain offered free apples to customers in a TV advert last week. But, while consumers may smile, apple farmers are facing a crisis with many going bankrupt and up to 180 000 jobs at threat. Farmers face massive losses this season, and are burdened with multi-million rand debts. Peter Dall, […]

Questions have arisen over the involvement of two companies – African Defence Systems and Futuristic Business Solutions – in South Africa’s jobs for arms deals Ivor Powell Companies with close links to the head of the military’s weapons procurement committee have been awarded the lion’s share of local contracts in South Africa’s controversial R32-billion weapons […]

Weak administration, leadership and service have been cited among the reasons for the party’s decline Howard Barrell and Jaspreet Kindra The South African Communist Party goes into its strategy conference this weekend having lost as many as four out of five of the members it recruited after being unbanned in 1990. The party currently has […]

Belinda Beresford International human rights activists are preparing to launch a boycott campaign on the internet against South African petroleum company Engen. The “boycott Engen” campaign is being directed at Engen’s majority shareholder, national Malaysian petrochemicals company, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas). Engen is 80% owned by Petronas. Petronas is one of several multinational energy companies […]

David Le Page It’s common cause, but Abram “Slang” van Zyl still doesn’t refer directly to the source of his notoriety, the Civil Co- operation Bureau (CCB). Rather, he refers obliquely to the “defence force”, it having spawned the CCB, the “dirty tricks” operation that begat so many dreaded and familiar names: “Staal” Burger, “Joe” […]

Justin Arenstein Suspended Mpumalanga parks chief Alan Gray has made a desperate appeal for the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to help him fight 77 theft and fraud charges in return for “offering up” some of the province’s most prominent politicians. Gray and ousted environmental affairs MEC David Mkhwanazi secretly met with NIA director gene-ral Vusi […]