Mercedes Sayagues An 800m-long queue curls around a petrol station in downtown Harare. Elsewhere, queues cause car accidents and fights. Angry drivers are frantic for diesel – Zimbabwe staggers with barely a one-day supply left and erratic deliveries. Far worse than the woes of the 4×4 crowd is the problem for commuter buses and factories. […]

The conservative policies behind the government’s broad economic framework have propelled South Africa back on to the foreign investment community’s radar screens. Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has cut government spending and brought the budget deficit to below 3% of gross domestic product, inflation has hit a 30-year low, and interest rates are on a […]

bombings Ivor Powell New evidence of police involvement in Cape bombings has come to light in the questioning of police informer Deon Mostert by the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD). Top police sources told the Mail & Guardian that Mostert has identified a Cape policeman, who he alleges was involved in planting bombs, as part of […]

Scotch Tagwireyi and Connie Selebogo Will it be a group of talented players who click together or a well-drilled and determined team that does the trick when 16 African countries meet in Ghana and Nigeria this week for the 22nd African Cup of Nations? The 16 nations have gathered their best local- and foreign-based players […]

As the Australian Open began in Melbourne this week, the home crowds expected 18- year-old Adelaide prodigy Lleyton Hewitt to be their next hero. Stephen Bierley reports Most European visitors arriving in Melbourne at this time of year do so in the pitch dark, jet-lagged and saddle sore, with winter still in their bones. They […]

Karen Rutter Review of the week The advance rumours were suspiciously PC. Romeo and Juliet set on the Cape Flats, a suitably representative cast – and the tragic convenience of a divided city as subtext. No matter that director Clare Stopford had previously ferried Shakespeare to a localised environment with much success (her Twelfth Night […]

`Stand by to drop. Drop now!” Two tons of water crash on flames. And the Oryx helicopter crew returns to the nearby dam to take on the next load. “You’re in the smoke most of the time. You can’t see most of the time. If there are power lines or telephone wires, it’s a whole […]

Justin Arenstein South Africa’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA) is set to go on trial later this year when two rogue agents defend themselves on theft and fraud charges totalling R94- million. The agents, linked to the NIA’s strategic projects unit headed by Thabo Khubu, are accused of engaging in illegal money- laundering operations and of […]

Alan Smith Soccer Without wishing to appear disloyal or sound unpatriotic, I have to say that South Africa has a very good case for staging the 2006 World Cup finals. I know we in England are desperate to beat South Africa, Morocco, Brazil and Germany for the right to host the finals. But I doubt […]

If approved by Cabinet, the proposed `dole’ system could be linked to the new Welfare Payment and Information Service, expected to be up and running in 2003. Barry Streek reports The government has been committed to the introduction of a “dole” system in South Africa since 1997 but the estimated price tag of about R7-billion, […]