Pat Sidley THE new unity within the black churches of the Dutch Reformed family is being beset with bitter claims by black congregants for the land their churches have stood on for decades. The issue of land in the church rose after the Dutch Reformed Mission church (coloured) and Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (black) […]

Secret documents reveal a conflict between the various intelligence agencies — and that it will take an extra R152-million to bring the government’s secret service up to scratch. Chris Louw reports SECRET cabinet documents obtained by the Mail & Guardian reveal that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) has been hit by a huge exodus of […]

Eric Naki Karl Zimbiri, an Azanian People’s Liberation Army fighter often cited as responsible for terror attacks in news reports, claims he is being defamed. Or, at least, someone claiming to be him claims this is the case. Apparently there’s an imposter out there making the real Zimbiri out to be a bad guy. The […]

Eric Naki THE French car giant, Peugeot Motor Company, is considering opening an assembly plant in the Eastern Cape. The move — which would add another competitor to the club of South Africa’s already arguably overcrowded vehicle manufacturers — was confirmed by Eastern Cape MEC for Economic Affairs Smuts Ngonyama this last week. Ngonyama, who […]

Michael O’Reilly SOUTH AFRICAN troops may have pulled out of Namibia years ago, but deep in the Angolan bush, Rocco de Wet — Grensvegter — battles on. Clad in the brown South African Defence Force uniform and sporting a butch moustache, the photo-comic hero is still waging his one-man war against the likes of the […]

THERE is a real danger of the reconstruction and development programme becoming a holy cow, with no criticism being brooked, say the editors of new publication focusing on the RDP. Centre for Southern African Studies consultant Gavin Lewis and Centre for Developing Business consultant Mel Brooks note in RDP Monitor that the ANC’s grand plan […]

Wine snobs can be pretty boring, debating years and cultivars. Scotch snobs are a different breed entirely, writes Justin Pearce IT was one of those perfect spring evenings, the sunlight casting a golden sheen on the waters of Table Bay. Suddenly the peace was ripped by a sound normally associated with mists and soggy heather: […]

Smoking `ganja’ and growing dreads is our religious right, argue Rastafarians. Tell that to the constitutional court, say the prison authorities. Eddie Koch reports DO dreadlocks have rights? “Yo mon,” says Jupiter Jons of the Rastafari Unity Movement Alliance (Ruma). And two of the country’s leading experts on the new Bill of Rights agree. Jons’ […]

Sibusiso Nxumalo THE much-anticipated performance of London-based dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson with The African Axemen in Johannesburg has been called off. While a poetry reading session and workshop are scheduled to go ahead as part of the Arts Alive festival, the Jamaican-born Johnson has cancelled the one-off concert on the grounds that he only […]

Openness appears to be anathema to those in the process of appointing our Constitutional Court judges, writes Dennis Davis ALL things considered, the shortlist of 25 lawyers made public by the Judicial Services Commission last week is impressive. In preparing its list of Constitutional Court nominees (after each is interviewed, the JSC will choose 10, […]