Ted Leggett After years of withdrawing from the sex lives of South Africans, the government is considering poking its nose into the bedroom again. The Law Commission is presently circulating a discussion paper on the “need for a statutory offence aimed at harmful HIV-related behaviour”, or rather, the need for criminalising the spread of the […]

THE Democratic Party said on Thursday that party leader Tony Leon does not appear on the voters’ roll released by the Independent Electoral Commission, despite having registered last November. DP spokesperson Jack Bloom accused the IEC of “outrageous inefficiency”. Leon will re-register on Friday morning.

The abduction and killing of a group of tourists by interahamwe show the militia is intent on settling scores, report Chris McGreal and Anna Borzello The Britons and Americans among the tourists killed in Uganda this week probably had no idea why they were singled out by their captors. It’s doubtful they even knew that […]

PFIZER, the manufacturers of anti-impotence drug Viagra, said on Friday morning that the long-awaited release of the wonder drug has been delayed until next week. Cape Talk radio said that Pfizer cited logistical problems as the reason for the delay. The little blue pill was due to hit the shelves of pharmacies on Friday, retailing […]

THE SA Reserve Bank said on Thursday resignations by an undisclosed number of employees in its Business Systems and Technology department will not affect operations. Deputy governor responsible for IT, Dr Chris de Swardt, said the staff who resigned from the department were involved in the development of a new national payment system (NPS) for […]

Matthew Krouse Down the tube The term makwerekwere has seeped into our diction over recent years, becoming descriptive of a range of foreign Africans that, as the lie has it, are easily identifiable. Stereotyped in popular culture as drug dealers, unwelcome street traders and corrupt businessmen, the foreigner is emerging as a stock symbol of […]

Susan Purn The almost complete collapse of medical care for prisoners, and the dangerous circumstances under which a district surgeon serving Leeuwkop prison was forced to work, saw her quitting the position last week with only 24 hours’ notice. Dr Liz Levendig, a former member of the Detainees’ Parents Support Committee in the 1980s, says […]

Howard Barrell Opposition leaders have united in a bitter row with the African National Congress over a government publicity campaign which they say is promoting the ANC and threatening to undermine the integrity of the coming elections. The heads of the opposition parties – the New National Party, Democratic Party, Pan Africanist Congress, African Christian […]

Cathy Jenkins Craig Williamson’s amnesty application hearing ended in Pretoria this week after a marathon seven days of legal argument – with warring lawyers and evasive witnesses making no attempt to reconcile in the spirit intended by Truth and Reconciliation Commission. George Bizos, SC, for the families of Ruth First and Jeanette and Katryn Schoon, […]

Ren Otto Fraud is rife in the short-term insurance market in South Africa. Millions of rands are being paid out to unscrupulous fraudsters. As a result, honest people’s insurance premiums are disproportionately high. The wrong people are suffering. The situation worsens: many consumers argue that it is simply not worth the trouble, so they go […]