Our continuing series of extracts from Parliamentary Whip, the publication of Idasa’s Parliamentary Information and Monitoring Service (Pims), the most comprehensive Parliament-watching team Christelle Terreblanche and Richard Calland THE African National Congress last week rejected reports that Parliament was in crisis while, off the record, MPs and chairpersons of committees continued to relate frustrations over […]

Fruit and vegetables, masks and cloth are just some of the props called into play at the African Puppet Theatre Festival. DAVID LE PAGE reports LUNCH-HOUR traffic crowds the streets in Rosebank, Johannesburg. An unusually hot sun beats down. At the junction of Oxford and Glenhove roads, two photographers and several traffic officers wait. The […]

‘As German chancellor I do not have any intention of interfering in the internal affairs of this country,” said Helmut Kohl in Johannesburg this week. On the first visit to South Africa by a German chancellor, Kohl was at pains to avoid political controversy, concentrating on trade and economic co-operation between the two countries. But, […]

CINEMA: Justin Pearce IT was a genius who cast Arnold Schwarzenegger as an android in Terminator II. No longer did apologists have to make excuses about the man’s perpetually stony countenance — androids don’t express emotion, after all, so all Arnie had to do was to say “hasta la vista, baby” in a talking-clock monotone […]

The first official papal visit to South Africa spells the end of the era of ‘Roomse gevaar’, reports Pat Sidley SOMEWHERE in the Free State is a garage owner who will be wondering if the Vatican will spend a penny in his toilets this weekend. It happened in 1988, when the pope landed unexpectedly at […]

ANC MP Phillip Dexter used to lead health workers’ strikes. Now he is sharply critical of the conduct of nurses The strike action by nurses in the Gauteng area has thrown to the fore the issue of the public service in the new democratic dispensation. It is not the first such action. There have been […]

Concerns have been raised that German funding is being used for IFP paramilitary purposes, report Paul Stober, Marion Edmonds, Eddie Koch and Ann Eveleth Evidence has emerged that the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) plans to rebuild its paramilitary and intelligence capabilities — using German funds earmarked for development — ahead of a possible showdown with […]

The IBA has made its report: now the lobbying begins, reports Neil Bierbaum Fierce lobbying is expected in response to the Independent Broadcasting Authority’s report on television. Prospective commercial broadcasters want the licensing of a commercial television channel to happen sooner, while the SABC will lobby to retain its third channel. But even if prospective […]