Mail & Guardian Reporter KLAUS VON LIERES UND WILKAU has apparently discovered the Durban air to be a miracle cure. With the legal spotlight on former defence minister Magnus Malan’s acquittal in Durban, little attention was paid this week to the defence team’s most famous member. The former attorney general of the Witwatersrand emerged fighting […]

The planned World Bank loan does not signal a departure from government policy, the trade minister tells Madeleine Wackernagel TRADE and Industry Minister Alec Erwin this week dismissed suggestions that the proposed $70-million World Bank loan signalled a deviation from stated government policy. “This is not a new borrowing initiative. We have set borrowing limits […]

There is widespread support for Bantu Holomisa to become leader of the MDM, but for now he’s still trying to stay an ANC member. Gaye Davis and Joshua Amupadhi report DISAFFECTED African National Congress members want Bantu Holomisa to lead the so- called Mass Democratic Movement (MDM), under whose banner he has been speaking at […]

Marion Edmunds NEWLY elected Stellenbosch student leaders have held talks with Minister of Education Sibusiso Bengu to discuss the university’s future, and whether Afrikaans should be its sole language of instruction. The meeting comes in the wake of a row between African National Congress MP Jannie Momberg and members of the university council over the […]

Lynda Loxton LAWYER Penuell Maduna is coming under pressure from all sides as he gets to grips with his new post as Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs. In a frank discussion with the parliamentary mineral and energy affairs committees this week, Maduna admitted that, after four months in the job, he was still on […]

Absa may have jeopardised its case against Bob Aldworth, following the disclosure that the bank’s counsel helped frame the charge sheet, report Mungo Soggot and Andy Duffy THE Amalgamated Bank of South Africa’s (Absa) legal battle with Bob Aldworth has taken a startling twist, with the disclosure that counsel acting for the bank helped frame […]

An archaeological find that takes us back to our roots 3,5-million years ago is disappearing. But a Cape Town engineer has used a unique method to capture it for the future, writes Lesley Cowling MORE than 3,5-million years ago, three of our ancestors wandered north across the Tanzanian grasslands, following traditional game trails. Like the […]

Equipment that reveals if people have received electric shocks has forced the police to fork out or face the courts, reports Angella Johnson HUNDREDS of thousands of rands have been paid out to victims of police torture in cases settled out of court in Gauteng over the past year, following new forensic initiatives by the […]

T HERE is something ironic about the fact that the first census to be conducted in the new South Africa – a society born out of a commitment to end racial discrimination – should include a question about the respondent’s race. No one, of course, is suggesting racial categorisation in this instance is motivated by […]

While the road ahead is long and hard, Burundi’s Tutsi and Hutu leaders have at last agreed to talk of peace. Chris McGreal reports form Arusha BURUNDI’S Tutsi military leader has bowed to regional sanctions and agreed to unconditional negotiations with Hutu rebels. But a weekend summit of East African presidents remained suspicious of Major […]