MONDAY 6.30PM THE trial of former state president PW Botha, in the dock for refusing to respond to a subpoena from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, was adjourned until August 17. Judgment is expected on August 18. At the resumption of the trial on Monday after a few days’ ajournment, the state prosecutor, Bruce Morrison, […]
MONDAY 6.30PM: THE rebels fighting in Guinea-Bissau said on Monday that they would be willing to end the revolt if President Joao Bernardo Vieira resigned. The rebellion broke out last week, triggered by the dismissal, for trafficking guns to Senegalese rebels, of Brigadier Ansuman Mane as defence force chief of staff. A spokesman for the […]
FRIDAY, 5.30PM: THE Mozambican judge handling the case of detained foreign affairs official Robert McBride has been threatened by people he believes to be South African agents who have ordered him to nail McBride or ”otherwise you’ll be in trouble”. A reliable source has informed the Mail & Guardian that Judge Carlos Caetano, who has […]
Renting or letting a property doesn’t have to be a trying experience, writes Wally Lambert You’d think we’d be sufficiently warned by the countless horror movies showing innocent-looking tenants turning nasty or happy landlords becoming heartless to think carefully when entering into a lease or rental agreement. But, whether landlord or tenant, the whole rental […]
FRIDAY, 7.30PM: ERITREA has confirmed that it bombed the northern Etiopian town of Adigrat on Thursday, killing four people and injuring more than 30. Adigrat has become Ethiopia’s main garrison for reinforcements and logistics, according to the Eritrean News Agency. Eritrea has also revealed that more than 30 civilians were killed or wounded in Ethiopian […]
Neil Manthorp Cricket The worst possible news for England became the best thing that could have happened to Dominic Cork during the first Test. Darren Gough’s broken finger was the result of crass thinking from the dressing room. Amazingly, Alec Stewart declared after the match that his team had “played risky and daring cricket” and […]
Ann Eveleth A row broke out this week between the Department of Agriculture and other parties engaged in the campaign against land degradation. The heated fracas – on the eve of World Desertification Day next Wednesday – follows a decision by national and provincial agriculture officials to disband a broad-based steering committee set up in […]
The welcome board to Stutterheim describes the town as the “Little Bavaria of the Border”. The town’s first settlers were German. Today, however, the majority of the 35 000 citizens are Africans, and live across the valley from the town itself in squalid conditions that are echoed all over the Eastern Cape. In the heart […]
Ronald Atkins Jazz CDs of the week Discussing jazz and how the free-wheeling Sixties changed the rules, the double bass is often singled out for its newly liberated role. Regarded as the workhorses of bebop, pounding the beat in the background, bassists now moved towards the front. As a member of Ornette Coleman’s original quartet, […]
Craig Bishop Port Elizabeth business leaders, trade unionists and politicians are uncorking the champagne in anticipation of the go- ahead for development of Africa’s first deep-water port at Coega, about 7km outside the city. But a growing band of environmentalists and social critics are determined to take the fizz out of their celebrations. They are […]