The head of the TRC hopes to hold on to his post, despite his recent appointment as rector of the University of the North, writes Ann Eveleth Truth and Reconciliation Commission CEO Biki Minyuku is bidding to keep his current post after he takes on new responsibilities – and a R1-million salary package – as […]

Emeka Nwandiko There is something strange about the cars parked outside the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides building at Delta Park. Its occupants dressed in shirt and ties get out and look around furtively before they start walking. Some just sit in their flashy cars and wait. Equally strange are the large black capital letters […]

A FOUR-DAY Durban conference on Malaria, which ended on Thursday, has concluded that the best technology for dealing with the disease is an insecticide soaked mosquito net. The malaria parasite has developed strains resistant to established drugs like Chloroquine and a vaccine may be decades away. In Tanzania, where 42-million nets have been distributed, there […]

THE police have proposed that a special court be set up to hear cases involving crimes against tourists, a spokesperson for the police crime prevention unit said on Thursday. Unit director Piet van Rensburg said perpetrators often get off free because victims are back in their own countries by the time the assailants appear in […]

THE DAVID GLEASON COLUMN Believe me when I tell you that, for small businesspeople, the thing that counts most is the interest rate. I wrote about this last week, but it is such an important matter it needs to be addressed again. Interest rates determine how consumers behave; they set the pattern of spending. If […]

David Shapshak Hydrogen, the world’s most plentiful substance, may be the energy source of future motor cars. With natural fuel resources diminishing, the need for alternative energy sources has been growing, and scientists have been looking for as efficient an option as petroleum. While part of the concern is environmental (fuel combustion engines damage the […]

Nicholas Lezard AN INSTANCE OF THE FINGERPOST by Iain Pears (Vintage) There is something about fat historical thrillers – in particular, those with pretensions – that can be uniquely dispiriting. They’re a kind of intellectual pornography, titillating us into an unwarranted sense of fulfilment. The more ambitious ones – like Umberto Eco’s The Name of […]

THE United States government announced on Thursday that it will construct a new embassy in Nairobi to replace the previous one, which was destroyed by a powerful bomb blast on August 7 1998. The US said the demolition of the old embassy building starts on March 22 to pave way for the transformation of the […]

Michael Finch : Athletics If the double “MJ” show doesn’t pack out the Ruimsig stadium in Roodepoort tonight, then Athletics South Africa (ASA) is faced with a crisis. Just the mere presence of the fastest man and fastest woman on earth, Michael Johnson and Marion Jones, in the second of the three-leg Engen Grand Prix […]

Philip Nel : A SECOND LOOK I hope I am not the only Afrikaans speaker who feels uncomfortable with being made the focus of a special debate in Parliament. Although I can understand the political reasons why political parties would like to have such a debate in the run-up to the elections, I do not […]