The conflict in Zaire took a long time to make the news and has been poorly reported, with a few notable exceptions, writes Alison Campbell SO far, there is little in the reporting of Zaire, or Congo, as the rebels have renamed it, to suggest that it is any more than another tin-pot African war. […]

Eddie Koch and Charl Blignaut wrestle with just what it is that makes the big men in little costumes fly through the air IS it theatre? Is it sport? we wondered, as the African Storm World Wrestling Federation (WWF) tour rumbled into town. The truth is, it’s probably something altogether in between. Wrestling is, said […]

Mungo Soggot COLIN BUNDY, vice-rector at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), has emerged as a leading contender for the politically charged top job at Wits. The widely respected historian, closely associated with UWC’s transformation, confirmed this week he had accepted nomination for the post. Bundy, it is believed, enjoys strong support on the […]

South African police blame it all on the Nigerians, but the drug trafficking problem is much larger than that and if it continues to be ignored is likely to lead to violent confrontations Philippa Garson SOUTH AFRICA’S drug abuse and trafficking problem is not being treated seriously enough and there will be further Pagad-style confrontation […]

Declining copper prices and foreign investment have forced Zaire’s president to scratch the bottom of the barrel, report James Rupert and David Ottaway PRESIDENT Mobutu Sese Seko, who for years has been widely regarded as one of the world’s most corrupt and wealthy men, appears to have run out of cash, according to diplomats and […]

Appetite stimulants sent to starving Sudanese refugees, toxic chemicals ‘donated’ to Bosnia: many Third World countries have become dumping grounds for the pharmaceutical industry, reports Terry Slavin THE international pharmaceutical industry is up in arms about moves to stem the flood of inappropriate drug donations to the Third World. Hundreds of millions of dollars-worth of […]

Individuals’ access to government information is still severely hampered, argues `Serjeant at the Bar’ RECENT media reports suggest that government departments might be using commercial contracts in an attempt to shield themselves from the public’s right to know. This is a misguided course of action, which signifies an inability to grasp the profound implications which […]

Chris McGreal in Lubumbashi ONE group of women knows exactly what it expects from Laurent Kabila’s rebel troops, should they ultimately be victorious in Zaire – the abolition of Mobutu’s Family Code which legalised polygamy, relieved husbands of responsibility for the maintenance of wives and children, and lowered the sexual age of consent to 13. […]

Matthew Krouse HISTORY records the existence of Yiddish theatre troupes in South Africa, in the 1880s, when an alumnus of the famous Goldfadn, Yankl Rosenfeld, led several performances of Yiddish classics. The latter part of the 19th century saw ad hoc troupes travelling the breadth of the country, playing to a culture-starved European audience that […]

With the SABC not meeting its public service mandate, advertisers and independent producers are pushing the IBA to speedily decide on a new free-to-air channel, writes Jacquie Golding-Duffy THE burgeoning crisis and disarray within the SABC is prompting independent producers and advertisers to look to the new free-to- air channel as a way of rescuing […]