Preserved heads found in a British museum are set to stir up a diplomatic controversy, reports Eddie Koch Hard on the heels of well-publicised plans by Chief Nicholas Gcaleka to set off for Scotland in search of Xhosa warrior king Sandile’s skull comes news of another grisly discovery: five dried-out `bushmen’ heads stored in cardboard […]

Marion Edmunds A black female SABC employee, Hope Zindle, has been charged with assault and intent to commit grievous bodily harm after she grabbed a white colleague, Janet Szabo, around the throat. The matter is being heard in Brixton Magistrate’s Court where Zindle has pleaded not guilty to the charge. The case has provoked a […]

Leon Perlman South Africa is about to enter the exclusive space satellite club with the launch of an affordable 50kg bar-fridge-sized micro-satellite dubbed SunSat. The locally-designed and built satellite will provide data transfer and remote sensing facilities for the Southern African region. The United States Space Agency, Nasa, is sponsoring the SunSat launch, expected at […]

When Ulysses is unavailable, the ordinary mortal who gets to work on one corner of the Augean Stables is to be commended, puny though his or her efforts may be seem relative to the task at hand. It is in that sense that we offer our congratulations to Sydney Mufamadi’s Ministry of Safety and Security […]

Rehana Rossouw Human Rights Commission chairman Reverend Barney Pityana was due to be admitted as an attorney of the Cape Town Supreme Court on Friday– almost 20 years after receiving his law degree. His repeated attempts to enrol as an attorney earlier had been thwarted by police persecution. In an affidavit to the court, Pityana […]

Karen Harverson Newly appointed chief executive of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) Ian Goldin may face an uphill battle from some of the bank’s staff who feel a black candidate would have been more suited to lead its transformation. For the past 18 months the bank has been racked with mass departures, and […]

The National Party has replaced the Freedom Front as the ANC’s sweetheart, reports Marion Edmunds The African National Congress has jilted its Afrikaner sweetheart, the Freedom Front, and is courting the National Party, not out of love, but political need. Over the past few weeks, the ANC has realised more than ever that it needs […]

Thabo Mbeki has accused the print media of a go-slow on affirmative action. Jacquie Golding-Duffy surveys the industry to see if this is true On a head count, local newspapers have not done particularly well in furthering the cause of affirmative action. With more than 80% of the local media controlled by four players, namely: […]

Bop Broadcasting is forging ahead with new programmes despite the prospect of losing its government funding, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation (BopBC) is digging in its heels against integration with the SABC, despite having only two months before government funding is cut-off. Representative of the North-West premier Willie Modise said BopBC were intending to […]

Philippa Garson MANY Soweto primary schools are half empty this year as tens of thousands of parents have chosen to send their children to schools in wealthier suburbs. In yet another irony thrown up by our skewed education system, many previously crowded Soweto schools have been abandoned by the township constituency. Instead, parents are sending […]