Russell Thomas As if football’s rulers did not have enough on their plate, between organising a 2002 World Cup co-hosted by historic enemies and confronting security worries after September 11! This week Fifa, the world governing body, expressed concern about animal welfare or rather animal abuse with canine consumption top of the worry list, especially […]

Matthew Engel in New York New York was stunned into silence this week a silence that in a normal year would be called shocked, even grief-stricken. The cause was a sporting defeat, but this was no ordinary defeat: the New York Yankees, the most successful team in the history of American sport, were beaten at […]

Marianne Merten and Jaspreet Kindra Western Cape Premier Gerald Morkel may soon face a joint New National Party-African National Congress vote of no confidence in the Western Cape legislature, following his setback in the Cape High Court this week. It is known that the possibility of a no-confidence vote was discussed at a strategy meeting […]

Bongani Majola Government moves to reconnect with the people were taken a step further this week when six African National Congress ministers, five deputy-ministers, three premiers and a host of senior officials embarked on a crash programme of visits to local communities across South Africa. Dubbed “Imbizo focus week”, the programme involves 52 separate visits […]

Barry Streek Chaos in the payment of social grants by South Africa’s nine provincial governments resulted in overspending of R570-million in the 1999/2000 financial year and payments of R28,7-million to corpses, salaried people, non-citizens and other illegal beneficiaries. This was disclosed in a report to Parliament by Auditor General Shauket Fakie, based on an audit […]

South Africa’s nine-wicket win in the first Test was not a flawless performance Peter Robinson The guys, said Shaun Pollock after South Africa’s nine-wicket victory over India on Tuesday, came back to bowl really well. As laudable as it may be for a captain to praise his team-mates, this sentiment is not entirely true. Pollock […]

We cannot have an alleged criminal running around the streets in a Metro police uniform and gun, says an outraged Durban councillor Paul Kirk A Durban Metro policeman who was implicated in an investigation into a car hijacking syndicate has been promoted to the rank of acting sergeant and put in charge of the force’s […]

Barry Streek Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete this week restated the African National Congress’s grim determination to drive through a law allowing public representatives to cross the floor at all three levels of government, even if Parliament has to be recalled to consider the legislation. Tshwete’s statement seems to scotch rumours that, having succeeded […]

A SENEGALESE chemical company, Industries Chimiques du Senegal (ICS), has teamed up with the UN Development Programme office in Senegal to launch a poverty reduction programme. Under the agreement, ICS will offer loans to small business entrepreneurs, particularly women and young people, as well as offer sub-contracts to others. The company will also assist UNDP […]

Washington | Friday THE International Monetary Fund on Thursday extended an immediate $64-million credit to Zambia, part of a three-year allotment of some $326-million approved for the African nation in 1999. The latest disbursement was endorsed after an annual review of Zambia’s performance, the IMF said in a statement. “Zambia’s economic performance continued to improve […]