Gustav Thiel FOLLOWING bomb blasts at two homes of people linked to People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) in Cape Town this week, observers warned the organisation was creating an environment in which gangs could flourish. Pagad could end up promoting what it is trying to destroy, warned Don Pinnock, a former University of Cape […]

Squatters at Cape Town’s Waterfront could go to the Constitutional Court to fight their eviction, reports Gustav Thiel NEARLY 300 squatters living next to a proposed new entrance to the upmarket Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town could force the Constitutional Court to assess the constitutionality of the Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act. According […]

THE ANGELLA JOHNSON INTERVIEW IT is hard to imagine Major-General Refiloe Phelile Florence Sedibe (aka Jackie Sedibe and wife of Defence Minister Joe Modise) barking orders to stiff young soldiers. The country’s highest-ranking woman in the military is a shy, softly spoken, grey- haired matron, who looks like she should be at home baking cookies […]

Allegations of insider trading could sour Nissan manufacturer’s delisting from the JSE, writes Max Gebhardt The stormy relations between Automakers and investors entered a new phase this week with accusations that it botched its delisting announcement – opening the door to massive insider trading and heralding an embarrassing official investigation. The share price of the […]

Gustav Thiel GIANT wine co-operative KWV’s bid to be converted into a company is becoming increasingly controversial as industry stakeholders accuse it of trying to hang on to more than R1,6-billion worth of assets, accumulated during apartheid years. KWV’s members – 4 751 wine farmers – form an exclusive white club with an enormous stake […]

In which NATHAN ZENO gets to grips with the rarefied world of Cape Town models and their photographers 1. A picture … (in which Nathan tries to understand the reality of being a fashion photographer in South Africa) It’s not so much that the standard of fashion photography in South Africa is bad, it’s just […]

Zambia’s president is moving from controversy to controversy, reports Anthony Kunda in Lusaka ZAMBIAN President Frederick Chiluba has suspended a distinguished high court Judge, Kabazo Chanda, who has a history of criticising the president and the country’s poor human rights record. Chiluba has refused to disclose reasons for the suspension. According to Article 98 Section […]

Mail & Guardian Reporter THE legal profession is set to be subjected to a special investigation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission later this year. The commission’s head of research, Charles Villa-Vicencio, has confirmed it is planning to hold a special hearing into the legal system under apartheid. At the hearing it would invite submissions […]

AMONG all the miniscule creatures that live around us, invisible to the human eye, is a strange, rod-shaped bacterium called Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. It does not cause disease, cannot pollute the environment and is happiest in an extremely acidic environment where it can “eat” the minerals in rock. It is these creatures (and their relatives) that […]