FRIDAY, 11.30AM: IT was all smiles on Thursday night after the announcement of Bafana Bafana’s opponents in next year’s World Cup finals. South Africa were drawn against Group C leaders and hosts France, Denmark and Saudi Arabia. South Africa will play their opening game against France at Stade Municipal in Marseilles on June 12, Denmark […]

Mukoni T Ratshitanga During December 1993, I was one of a dozen students at Liivha School in the Northern Province town of Thohoyandou who built a classroom with materials donated by local businessman Omar Ahmed. There was excitement when the idea of building the classroom was first mooted and our enthusiasm didn’t wane as we […]

Gustav Thiel Mojalefa Murphy, one of South Africa’s most senior black nuclear physicists, has won the first round in a dispute with the Atomic Energy Corporation (AEC). This week, the Pretoria High Court ruled that Murphy was entitled to have an independent mediator preside over a disciplinary hearing the AEC is holding against him. The […]

An impressive South African collection of Buddhist art is to be sold off, writes Lorraine Pace A collection of irreplaceable Buddhist art, dating from the third century to the present day, is in danger of being broken up and lost to South Africa. Were these Christian artefacts, there would probably be an uproar. But there […]

Donald McRae : Rugby As the French struggled to find the superlatives to describe their humiliation by the Springboks in the last match at the Parc de Princes stadium two weeks ago, Gary Teichmann couldn’t stop grinning. He ran slowly around the edge of the field, his smile burnishing the gloom. The venerable Parc, for […]

Gustav Thiel South Africa was among international environmental authorities converging on Kyoto, Japan, this week to decide the future regulation of global greenhouse emissions. But while the South African delegation is taking an environmentally conscious stand at the conference, South Africa is described as the most ill- prepared country in the world to face the […]

Solar boost The European Commission is set to boost the use of solar power by setting a target of a hundredfold increase in Europe for early next century, according to the unpublished draft of a paper due to be agreed on by energy ministers this month. The leaked White Paper calls for an investment of […]

Japan operated for decades with a social covenant similar to those of many other Asian countries – accepting wealth in exchange for tolerating political iniquities. As a result, Japan, one of the world’s most honest societies, had one of the most corrupt political systems. That social contract became frayed when Japan’s economic “bubble” came under […]

FRIDAY, 2.30PM: ERNIE ELS is among four players who are within one shot of overnight leader American Phil Mickelson in the second round of the Nedbank Million Dollar Golf Challenge on the Gary Player Country Club golf course at Sun City on Friday. Germany’s Bernhard Langer, Jesper Parnevik of Switzerland and USPGA champion Davis Love […]

Andy Duffy The man who led the militant group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) through 18 months of brutal conflict with Cape Flats gangsters has broken ranks with the organisation. Aslam Toefy, who quit as Pagad’s national co-ordinator last month, says it is time to stop marching on drug dealers’ houses and to start […]