THE ANGELLA JOHNSON INTERVIEW LEGEND has it that Modjadji, the rain queen, is not only the most powerful of all traditional healers but is also immortal. Like the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, she is said to be reincarnated in a different body each lifetime. Charmaine Modjadji, shebeen queen of South Africa, may deny any […]

bomb Aspasia Karras CRIME and unemployment grab the headlines, but an even greater obstacle to putting South Africa on the fast growth track is illiteracy. The fact that the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) put the issue high on its agenda at its first meeting this year highlights the growing concern that without […]

Ann Eveleth THE Durban High Court ruled this week that President Nelson Mandela has the right, if he chooses, to appoint biased and partial commissions of inquiry, and that citizens have no legal recourse to oppose them. The ruling by Judge Ron McLaren followed the leak of documents from a secret October 1996 meeting between […]

Exactly how much fuss can one naked man in a jeans ad cause? Plenty, reports MARIA McCLOY TWO adverts for Sissy Boy Jeans in the March editions of Cosmopolitan and Elle magazines have resulted in a widespread media furore and caused several leading local chain stores to remove the magazines from their shelves. ”What, can […]

The ANC is in danger of losing sight of the real ‘struggle’ – creating a more equal social order, writes Heribert Adam THE African National Congress Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Phumzile Mlambo-Nguka, recently said black businessmen should not be shy to say they wanted to become ”filthy rich”. Such an attitude rings of […]

With police abusing their sick leave to score additional days off, many stations have been left ill-equipped to combat crime, reports Angella Johnson THE South African Police Service (SAPS) is planning a crackdown on widespread abuse of the service’s generous sick leave benefits as part of the efficiency drive announced by national Commissioner George Fivaz. […]

Caitlin Davies in Maun IN what appears to be an effort by the Botswana government to create more rangeland for cattle in northern Botswana, thousands of buffalo are being herded south into the Okavango Delta to make way for a massive cattle stocking exercise, following last year’s slaughter by the government of 250 000 cattle […]

IT smacks of a cheap jibe to describe Zimbabwe this week as a “banana republic”. But, however feeble a pun it might be on the name of Canaan Banana, the scandal which broke around the head of the former president further justifies that characterisation of our northern neighbour. The story of the rape of Inspector […]

Mark Tran in New York JAMES WOLFENSOHN, the most dynamic president at the World Bank since Robert McNamara, has unveiled his blueprint for reform of an institution struggling to stay relevant as poor countries increasingly turn to private capital. Wolfensohn’s “strategic compact” seeks to push the Washington-based bank further from McNamara’s culture of approval, where […]

Charl Blignaut THE Greater Johannesburg Central Library is about to spread its wings and enter the technological era in a big way. In a breakthrough for the city’s educational resources, this weekend sees the launch of a spanking new Multimedia Library that will steadily be building up audiovisual material until such time as organisations and […]