Journalists rally in support of Fred M’membe and Bright Mwape, jailed for criticising the Zambian government. Justin Pearce reports Newspaper editors from South Africa and Namibia are to visit Zambian president Frederick Chiluba to demand the release of the two Zambian journalists who were arrested this week. The journalists face an indefinite prison term if […]
world The construction industry is positive about a better year ahead, locally and internationally, reports Karen Harverson Despite a slowdown in the building and construction industry towards the end of last year, the industry is optimistic that activity will pick up significantly by mid-1996. “The situation is a lot better now than two years ago,” […]
Mbongeni Ngema, director of Sarafina II, in The Mark Gevisser Profile DEPENDING on which way you look at it, Mbongeni Ngema is the very best or the very last person you’d want to give a R14-million Aids education contract to. Even his biographer, Laura Jones, was moved to chide him, in an otherwise-salutary Nothing Except […]
natural disasters Bafana Khumalo OKAY now. I’ve always known that I grew up under a racist regime that intended me to remain ignorant for the rest of my life. What I did not know, however, is how far the regime succeeded. They succeeded so much that the basics of Western concepts remain a mystery to […]
Stefaans Brummer SOUTH AFRICAN arms dealer Ters Ehlers — ex- President PW Botha’s last private secretary — has been implicated in “unauthorised” flights of a Russian cargo aircraft between South Africa, Namibia and Angola. Namibian Deputy Minister of Transport Klaus Dierks last Friday said his department had grounded the Russian- registered Antonov-12 in Grootfontein pending […]
A 61-year-old white farmer stands accused of sexually abusing nine schoolgirls. Strangely, none of his neighbours seem surprised. Ricardo Dunn reports Ockie Olivier’s smallholding in Louisrus is typical of this depressed area south of Johannesburg: a creaking windmill, wild flowers and stray dogs set against the backdrop of steelworks, industry and pollution billowing into the […]
Stefaans Brummer THE arrest of Dr Omar Sabadia on an allegation of complicity in the murder of his wife, Zahida, has highlighted the relationship between the Brixton Murder and Robbery Squad and two private investigators, former hitsquad member “Slang” van Zyl and convicted double- murderer Jack la Grange. Some police and judicial eyebrows lifted this […]
TWO socialist governments that have long been part of the world political equation disappeared last weekend. In Australia on Saturday, Paul Keating’s Labour administration was swept away after 13 years in office. Then on Sunday Felipe Gonzlez’s socialist coalition lost power after a 14-year reign in Spain. Both Keating and Gonzlez had been lucky to […]
Gaye Davis A HUGE computer database, capable of cross-checking names, dates and incidents, will be the truth commission’s most powerful tool. It will allow for fast checks on the truth of victims’ claims. It will also ratchet up the pressure on perpetrators to come forward — and come clean. Building the database is central to […]
CABARET: Peter Frost NATALIE GAMSU, back in South Africa after a four-year stint in New York, returns to a closing venue: the Cape Town landmark Upstairs at Elaine’s will go dark after Gamsu’s show closes. Punters should break their necks, however, to see the swansong. Gamsu is better than ever, the beneficiary of some tough […]