Howard Barrell CONSOLIDATING DEMOCRACY: SOUTH AFRICA’S SECOND POPULAR ELECTION by Tom Lodge (Witwatersrand University Press) AFRICAN DEMOCRACY IN THE ERA OF GLOBALISATION by Jonathan Hyslop (Witwatersrand University Press) When people start talking of “miracles” to explain unexpected political developments, one can usually smell intellectual surrender. For, if they are anything, miracles are supposed to be […]

Ivor Powell Experts and activists in the fight against HIV/Aids are up in arms over the composition of the government’s new National Aids Council (NAC), unveiled last week to spearhead the fight against the pandemic. The NAC – slotted as a body that will marry efforts by the government and civil society to combat the […]

Michael Kahn Scientific literacy and its place in the curriculum is a topic whose discussion is long overdue. It is thus appropriate to see the attention given to this by the Mail and Guardian (January 14 to 20 2000). What is not clear in the article, SA Students are scientifically illiterate, is what is meant […]

Jubie Matlou The demarcation of municipal boundaries marks the conclusion of a process started during the multi-party Conference for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa) talks to transform the system of local government for the country. Before the advent of democracy in 1994, there were about 1E300 municipalities throughout the country. Under the new democratic dispensation […]

ROB DAVIES, Johannesburg | Thursday 12.00pm. SOUTHBOUND lanes on the N1 highway near the Corlett drive offramp in Johannesburg ground to a standstill on Thursday morning as about a hundred taxis blocked lanes in a protest against government’s plans to revamp the industry. According to eyewitness reports, the taxis parked in four rows after which […]

ZIMBABWE’S president Robert Mugabe has won first prize in the first monthly draw organised by Zimbank, which is partly owned by the government. The bank did not reveal how many names were in the draw, but said in a statement that they could “hardly believe their eyes” when Mugabe’s name was the first one drawn […]

DEON POTGIETER, Johannesburg | Thursday 1.30pm. NAMIBIA’S World Boxing Organisation (WBO) junior middleweight world champion Harry Simon finds himself in an enviable position. American television giant HBO and British television channel ShowTime are involved in a tug of war over where Simon’s next defence will take place. Simon is scheduled to meet former world champion […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Thursday 1.50pm. CONGO coach David Memy has an unexpected problem ahead of the African Nations Cup Group of Death clash with title favourites Nigeria at Surulere Stadium in Lagos on Friday. He is battling to raise spirits in the Red Devils camp after they came within six minutes of holding star-studded […]