friend Mungo Soggot Hlengiwe Mkhize, the truth commissioner tipped to win a major government diamond contract, this week likened her prospective job of assessing the value of rough diamonds to that of compensating torture victims. Mkhize chairs the local arm of a consortium masterminded by a Belgian diamond broker which is the favourite in the […]

Deputy President Thabo Mbeki has stepped in to address deep concerns about the state of preparations for elections next year.

Charlene Smith General Andrew Masondo, an African National Congress political commissar in Angola in the 1980s, this week apologised to the brother of the man whose execution he ordered in 1981. Masondo and Mzwai Piliso, the ANC head of security at that time, have widely been held responsible for letting conditions in Angolan camps get […]

Cameron Duodu : Letter from the North I don’t know whether it’s a blessing or a curse for a journalist to become personally involved in a story. What I do know is that sometimes one has no choice in the matter. Thus it was with me and the Ken Saro-Wiwa story. I first met Saro-Wiwa […]

Wally Mbhele The former head of the security police, General Krappies Engelbrecht, may be charged for his alleged role in tampering with evidence relating to the plane crash that killed former Mozambican president Samora Machel. Machel and 24 others died on October 19 1986 when their plane crashed near Mbuzini in Komatipoort. Engelbrecht and a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 9.30am. SOUTH Africa’s amateur golfers on Wednesday thrashed neighbouring Zimbabwe 11-1/2 to 3-1/2 in their golf Test over the Modderfontein course. Both teams fly to Chile on Thursday to compete in the world team championships for the Eisenhower Trophy in Santiago. The South Africans went into the second day with […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.15am. South Africa’s amateur golfers came from 2-1 behind in the morning session to beat Zimbabwe in five of the afternoon singles and share the sixth on the opening day of the one-off golf Test at Johannesburg’s Modderfontein course on Tuesday. The comeback sees the South Africans lead by 6-1/2 […]

CLAUDE KAMANGA MUTOND, Kinshasa | Wednesday 12.40pm. PEOPLE suspected of economic crimes such as hiking prices in the Democratic Republic of Congo will now be court-martialled and sentenced to death if found guilty, the DRC government announced. Counterfeiting money, hiking prices and setting arbitrary foreign exchange rates are now considered “high treason” in the DRC, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 12.00noon. THE West Indies cricket team arrived at Johannesburg International Airport on Tuesday morning. The players will start their tour against the Gauteng XI in Soweto, Johannesburg, on Wednesday. The planned opening match Tuesday against the Nicky Oppenheimer XI at Randjesfontein outside Johannesburg has been cancelled. TUESDAY, 9.00AM: WEST Indian […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Tuesday 11.30am. BUSINESS confidence rose above general economic uncertainty to remain unchanged in October, the South African Chamber of Commerce said on Monday. Sacob’s October Business Confidence Index (BCI) remained unchanged in October, with six of the sub-indices which make up the BCI deteriorating and seven improving. Sacob said that, despite […]