Chiara Carter Several senior members of the New National Party are expected to announce their defection to the Democratic Party within a matter of days. They include three candidates on the NNP’s Western Cape list for the National Assembly, as well as several candidates for the province’s legislature. The DP is also expecting the defection […]

Belinda Beresford A landowner’s public battle to give half of his farm to black families has spurred other farmers to follow his example and face head-on the simmering issue of land redistribution in South Africa. Roger Roman’s plan to give away his land to its black inhabitants has caused conflict with his neighbours and local […]

Salman Rushdie: A SECOND LOOK We are celebrating the 2 000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, as Catholic cardinals and believers of all stripes continually remind us. Never mind that this will put Jesus in the odd position of having two birthdays in the space of a week (Christmas Day as well as […]

Joan Smith:FIRST PERSON Bob Dole is too old to run for president in the year 2000, but his wife is not, Elizabeth Dole has stepped down as president of the American Red Cross, encouraging speculation that she intends to declare herself as a contender for the White House. Elizabeth Dole, who was transport secretary in […]

Just a week ago economists were hailing the rand’s recovery. Brazil this week dashed their hopes, writes Donna Block The nightmare scenario world economic leaders have struggled to avoid has begun. Brazil has hit the slippery slopes of destitution. China, Mexico, Venezuela, Chile and South Korea may follow. The world economy looks set to head […]

AUTHORITIES in Botswana have signed execution warrants for two convicted killers expected to be hanged on Saturday, the country’s deputy attorney-general said on Thursday. The hangings will bring to 34 the executions carried out in Botswana since its independence from Britain in 1966. The last executions took place in 1995 when five convicted murderers were […]

Mungo Soggot A Soweto man has received South Africa’s largest personal injury award – R17- million – in compensation for the paralysis and dismemberment he sustained after being shot wrongfully by the police. The Johannesburg High Court granted the award with costs in December – more than 10 years after the man was shot. As […]

Howard Barrell Over a Barrel An anarchic British pop group of the 1970s – called, I think, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Daa Band – used to play a time-travel trick on commuters on the London Tube. It involved the band getting hold of the newspapers from a particular day, say 20 years earlier, and then stepping […]

THE Human Rights Commission said on Thursday it is ready to begin its investigation into racism in the media with the publication of draft procedures for the probe. In a statement, the commission said the investigation will provide an objective and honest assessment of the incidence and effects of racism in the media. The statement […]

Local tribespeople have rejected a company’s bid to mine titanium in a pristine area of the Eastern Cape, but it seems that the company can’t take no for an answer, write James Black and Arlene Cameron On the Wild Coast south of Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape there is a small estuary of […]