Stefaans BrUmmer A BRITISH human rights lawyer has released a report highly scathing of the tribunal which condemned Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and others to death, branding it a political charade and “downright dishonest”. Michael Birnbaum QC, who last year attended the Saro-Wiwa trial as an observer for two British legal bodies, bases his criticism […]

Marion Edmunds ANC secretary general Cyril Ramaphosa is pulling out all the stops to win National Party support for the African National Congress’s stand on the KwaZulu-Natal provincial constitution. Ramaphosa met Constitutional Development Minister Roelf Meyer, for secret bilateral talks in Cape Town on Thursday, in a bid to unblock progress towards the provincial ANC […]

interest rates fall Simon Segal This week saw the launch of a 100-million 10- year Eurosterling bond issue at 9,38%, 190 points above the equivalent British benchmark It is the government of national unity’s third foreign loan. In June government raised Y30- billion in a Japanese samurai bond at 5%. In December 1994, $750-million was […]

development linked to Davis Cup TENNIS: Jon Swift IMPORTANT though next month’s Davis Cup tie against Austria on grass at the Wanderers undoubtedly is to the immediate future of tennis in this country, it is interesting to note that the glitz and glamour are not the only points of focus for the game’s new “Tennis […]

Philippa Garson CONSTRUCTIVE steps to solve Wits University’s crisis were taken at this week’s council meeting, and indications are that all parties to the dispute have agreed on a way forward. The council has mandated four of its high- profile members — Nthato Motlana, Enos Mabuza, Bobby Godsell and Ken Maxwell — to revive the […]

Rehana Rossouw The prostitute’s corpse was found buried upside down in bushes near Milnerton in November 1995, her legs and buttocks protruding above the ground. The post mortem revealed she had probably been buried alive. This month another body was found in bushes near Durbanville, and police announced a serial killer was on the loose […]

ROCK: Hazel Friedman A STRANGE sense of dej vu permeated last weekend’s Crosby Stills and Nash concert in Johannesburg. Attended by a small but frenzied crowd of followers, the show served as a nostalgic reminder of an era which, for many South Africans, was like the sexy older woman next door. We were the pimply, […]

Edwina Spicer spoke to Margaret Dongo, the woman who took on Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party, and won ‘WILL someone remove this barking dog from our midst” President Robert Mugabe is reported to have said of Margaret Dongo, MP for Harare South, during the run-up to Zimbabwe’s general elections last year. Dongo lost […]

The SABC will have to rewrite its television licence application with the IBA’s assistance, writes Jacquie Golding-Duffy The SABC’s application for an amendment to its television licences — hastily submitted during a stand-off with the Independent Broadcast Authority — is fraught with errors and will be declared null and void. The corporation will then attempt, […]