accounts Rodney Victor The Pretoria City Council this week called for “bright ideas” for an incentive scheme to reward residents who are up to date with their municipal accounts and encourage those who aren’t to start paying off their arrears. Pretoria, like all South African local authorities, is battling a culture of non- payment for […]
police Mercedes Sayagues As the rule of law continues to break down in Zimbabwe, the country’s law enforcement agencies have shown they are still on the beat – at least when it comes to protecting the public from pictures of naked men. The editor and deputy-editor of the weekly The Independent have been summoned by […]
Barry Streek A new mental health policy, which strongly protects the rights of “mental health care users” to fair treatment, has been spelled out in proposed legislation that is due to come before Parliament later this year. The Mental Health Care Bill, which has been published in the Government Gazette, states, in line with the […]
Grant Shimmin ATHLETICS The pre-event hype has understandably all been about Michael Johnson. After all, he is a double Olympic champion and dual world record holder, with two marks that look well nigh impregnable to his name, so it’s no more than he deserves. But in truth, the Engen Grand Prix Summer Series, which gets […]
After discovering that HIV/Aids is killing up to three truckers a day, the road freight industry launched a sex education project Khadija Magardie It is early evening and there are already more than 15 prostitutes standing around the rest area for truckers at Warden, along the N3 highway to Durban. With a deafening hoot and […]
Paul Kirk Durban’s senior public prosecutor, Barend Groen, this week withdrew one of the criminal charges facing Piet Meyer, the disgraced former provincial commander of the organised crime unit, after the prosecution’s star witness was murdered. Groen withdrew criminal charges relating to the disappearance of a suspected drug dealer and a quantity of cocaine. Meyer, […]
Colin Blackstock There is always a twist in a Stephen King story, and his latest work is no different. Having just tipped his hat to publishing’s past with a serialised novel, The Green Mile, the master of horror embraces the future by offering his latest story exclusively over the Internet. King describes his latest story, […]
Zulu Paul Kirk The KwaZulu-Natal government is launching a probe into the province’s MEC for Social Welfare and Population Development, Gideon Zulu, for alleged nepotism and misappropriation of state funds. Premier Lionel Mtshali’s representative, Mahlathi Tembe, said the investigation team, to be announced through a provincial edition of the Government Gazette next week, would probe […]
Suren Pillay CROSSFIRE The opening epigraph to Salman Rushdie’s fascinating account of his journey to freshly post-revolution Nicaragua opens with the following limerick: There was a young girl in Nicaragua who smiled as she rode on a jaguar, they returned from the ride, with the girl inside and the smile on the face of the […]
I’m putting the following comments at the top of this week’s column in the obscure hope that someone, somewhere in M-Net might pay attention to them. As I say it’s an obscure hope. M-Net, as a rule, don’t pay much attention to ought but their own council. They certainly don’t demonstrate much discernible consideration for […]