evict soldiers Peter Dickson Armed with brooms and a letter of demand, 30 residents of Mandela Park informal squatter camp in Umtata last week marched through the gates of the OR Tambo complex, which houses police and defence force units, and told officers they were trespassers who had until January 31 to clear out. The […]

Chiara Carter Northern Cape Premier Manne Dipico is convinced the African National Congress is positioned to wrest coloured votes from the New National Party and win the province outright in the coming elections. The province’s election race is likely to be closely watched because it is one of few where the government could change hands […]

Mungo Soggot The world’s most famous pop star exchanged his trademark white glove for a yarmulke last weekend when he attended a bar mitzvah at the Sandton synagogue and nearby Capri hotel in Johannesburg. Michael Jackson jetted in from the United States especially for the event, stunning guests with his enthusiastic participation in the festivities. […]

parole Tangeni Amupadhi The Department of Correctional Services deemed Samuel Sidymo fit to be freed on parole nine months before completing his sentence. But one day after he broke his parole conditions Pretoria police arrested him on suspicion that he is a serial murderer who went on a killing spree from December 1998 to January […]

ceasefire bid Howard Barrell South African diplomacy lay behind the potential breakthrough achieved this week in attempts to end the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo when five neighbouring countries involved in the fighting committed themselves to signing a ceasefire agreement. Ironically, however, South Africa was sidelined from the summit in the Namibian capital, […]

FOUR leaders of the Inkatha Freedom Party in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands have defected to the African National Congress. David Mdladla, Mbuso Memela and Johannes and Mzofayo Phoswa, from the Bulwer and Donnybrook areas, said at a press conference in Durban that they have joined the ANC. The four said they quit the IFP because it […]

Robert Armstrong Rugby It was the briefest of exiles. Less than 24 hours after being thrown out of the Five Nations Championship, England were reinstated with farcical speed after agreeing this week to toe the line laid down by the tournament’s governing committee. Their expulsion was overturned shortly after Rugby Football Union representatives gave unconditional […]

Dan Atkinson in London An infamous headline in a business newspaper is said to have reported the 1938 Munich Agreement thus: “Shares fall on peace fears,” and then there was the character in the film Reds who, asked what World War Iwas about, replied: “Profits.” The events of recent weeks prompt thoughts about the effects […]

Andy Capostagno Cricket The Wanderers has been sold out for Friday’s opening match of the one-day series between South Africa and the West Indies. What does that tell us? That the South African selectors have chosen a squad with broad appeal? That the West Indies are only likely to provide token resistance? Or is it […]

Friday night: Brandon Edmonds Summers in Durban are like David Lean movies: long, epic and strangely alluring. They make you dream about backstroking through molten lava. At least dressing is pared down to essentials. Basically, as little as is decent. That most clubs and bars stick to Ralph Laurenesque colonial decorum, read “no shorts”, is […]