Nelson Mandela has raised hopes for a negotiated end to the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. In the interim, the political battle continues. Peter Cronau and Matthew Brown report The Indonesian government is using its embassies worldwide in a campaign of surveillance and intimidation against East Timorese activists and their supporters, claims Nobel Peace Prize […]

Whether or not Mother Nature inflicts El Nio on South Africa this year, new legislation aims to distribute water fairly, reports Ann Eveleth Water affairs minister Kader Asmals move to regulate farmers water rights this week is just the tip of the iceberg on an innovative plan to turn South Africas water priorities upside down. […]

Ellen Bartlett South Africa has long operated under the assumption that it is running out of water. The year 2020 is the oft-projected point at which the country will no longer have enough water to meet its needs. In looking towards a future of high demand and dwindling supply, water resources planners have considered such […]

If James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, means half of what he says then the worlds poor may have found a new friend. At a time when industrialised nations are unashamedly widening the gap between rich and poor in their dash for economic growth, Wolfensohn is urging the opposite. In his speech to the […]

FRIDAY, 12.30PM: FORMER Wimbledon champion Pat Cash is out of the MTN Championships Tennis tournament after losing 2-6 7-8 (8/6) 10-8 to Tim Wilkison in the quaterfinals at Sandton Gardens on Thursday night. Cash, who replaced defending champion Yannick Noah in the 12-man field, destroyed a courtside television microphone after one of many dodgy line […]

Cash-strapped communists are to benefit from financial and political support, write Ferial Haffajee and Sechaba kaNkosi The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will soon provide financial and political support to the South African Communist Party (SACP). A resolution taken at Cosatus sixth national congress last week puts to rest calls for an independent […]

Conservationist Richard Leakey pulled no punches in a recent debate in Gauteng, writes Fiona Macleod There is a story about a randy young male ostrich who spots three female ostriches on the horizon and sets off after them. They are not at all interested in his advances and they run away, with the young male […]

unwillingly Peta Thornycroft Wynand du Toit, a former South African commando, was deported from Angola last month exactly 10 years after he had been freed from a Luanda jail. In 1985 Du Toit became Angolas most celebrated prisoner after he was captured in an attempt to blow up Angolas oil fields in the Cabinda enclave. […]

Charl Blignaut As last years Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade wound its way through Johannesburgs grimy inner city, a rumour began to circulate amongst the marchers. The organisers, it was said, were planning to move the 1997 event north to upper-class Sandton or Rosebank away from its roots and even further from Soweto. To more […]