Peta Thornycroft and Mungo Soggot Billy Cobbett will have the chance next week to stand up and publicly link his former boss, Minister of Housing Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele, to the R185-million Motheo housing scandal. Cobbett, former housing director general, has been called before the Mpumalanga government’s public commission of inquiry into the low- cost housing deal. […]

A report on the effects of `low-grade’ asbestos sheeting used in Soweto houses has been put aside, writes Andy Duffy A report that claims Soweto residents are exposed to lethal asbestos fibres has been gathering dust in the Department of Health for nearly two years. The report, compiled by the department’s National Centre for Occupational […]

Lorraine Pace A South African psychiatrist has developed a test that makes it possible, for the first time, to reliably and accurately measure a person’s level of stress. It’s quick, easy and simple – all you have to do is fill out a questionnaire that asks questions like: “Have you experienced sexual problems in the […]

What has happened to South Africa’s `alternative Afrikaners’? Well, some of them are in avant-rock groups, experimenting with outlandish sounds and cutting-edge technology Dror Eyal My teenage girlhood ended one sunny February when I was sent to an all-boys high school. I remained a boy and it was years later before I learned about the […]

The director of the FBI, Louis Freeh, has written a personal letter of apology to South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Defence, Ronnie Kasrils, over the “Squillacote Affair” – the forging of his signature to trap three alleged spies. While the apology represents an achievement of sorts for the deputy minister who, much to his credit, […]

Wally Mbhele Colonel Jack Cronje, former commander of the dreaded Vlakplaas police hit-squad unit, this week went to listen to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s hearings on the State Security Council with anticipation. He was hoping his apartheid masters, specifically former minister of law and order Adriaan Vlok, would verify his amnesty submission – and […]

Melvyn Minnaar : Potable pleasures Now that even the country’s largest banking group has climbed on to the bandwagon, it can be confirmed: our lowly, once-shunned- for-tasting-like-duco, home-grown pinotage has arrived in the Big Time. A week or so ago the country’s top ten pinotage wines were selected under the auspices of the recently established […]

Wonder Hlongwa Security forces deployed to maintain peace and stability in the volatile Richmond area in Kwazulu-Natal have been accused of assaulting people during their attempts to extract information about the violence. Last Saturday night, Sithembiso Mchunu was attending a night vigil for two United Democratic Movement supporters who had been killed. Members of the […]

Pete Nichols : Basketball There are, it appears, two roads you can travel in basketball. You can go the way of Dennis Rodman (well, maybe not all the way) or you could follow the path Grant Hill treads. Common sense dictates the latter for, recently, the clean-cut forward with the Detroit Pistons signed the second […]

Maria McCloy Tourists at the Union Buildings in Pretoria gathered excitedly to take pictures of chanting people some thought had come to entertain them on Wednesday (right). But the entertainers were there in their capacity as members of the Musicians Union, demanding a commission of inquiry into the music industry they claim is exploitative. The […]