Suren Pillay : A SECOND LOOK Academic seminars have a reputation, not completely unfounded, for being staid, boring affairs in which crusty old professors, and younger wannabees, share and debate jargon with mild civility and polite banter. But recently I attended one that had the tension of a dramatic performance, and the raunchiness of a […]
This is the full transcript of the charge sheet against Robert McBride 7th court – criminal This is a copy of the charge sheet, pages 145 to 148, in the case of court ref no 66/98/7th, deducted by the public prosecutor against the accused: Robert John McBride, Vuzi Mbata and Alexandre Francisco Uamba Recorded number […]
WEDNESDAY, 5.00PM THE African National Congress internal report on corruption, mismanagement and spying allegations against Gauteng Premier Mathole Motshekga has cleared him on all counts. ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe told a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that the commission found there was nothing in the evidence placed before it to substantiate allegations of dishonest or […]
THURSDAY, 8.30AM: SIPHIWE NYANDA, former chief of staff of Umkhonto weSizwe, is to take over as chief of the SA Defence Force in June, following the resignation of General Georg Meiring. Nyanda, who will be promoted to full general, faces the mammoth task of uniting white and black soldiers who, until 1994, were bitter foes. […]
WEDNESDAY, 1.30PM: ENROLMENTS at South African tertiary institutions have dropped some 21% this year compared to last year, with former “bush universities” worst hit, while student numbers at traditionally white universities actually rose over the same period. The University of Zululand registered a 21% fall in registration, the University of the North an 18% drop, […]
TUESDAY, 12.00NOON: THE Cabinet is set to discuss a series of proposed “legacy projects” intended to redress the portrayal of South Africa’s history, with a Freedom Park as the flagship project. The Freedom Park will focus on the themes of democracy, nation-building and the liberation struggle, and will house monuments, museums and galleries to the […]
Janet Smith Pianistically, Paul Hanmer is beautiful. His music – folkloric, occasionally proletarian, always warm and real – is not a private dominion or a place where culture is combat. His music, as experienced on his celebrated Sheer Sound debut album Trains to Taung, has reached into the South African jazz community like a hand […]
Marion Edmunds When retired Western Cape premier Hernus Kriel heads off on his caravan tour of South Africa, he sets off comfortable, he says, in the knowledge that his party will rule the Western Cape into the next century. Kriel bowed out of provincial politics this week, with a crocodile tear and a Cheshire-cat smile, […]
The South African petroleum industry was thrown into confusion in March 1997 when Minister of Minerals and Energy Penuell Maduna threatened to “re-regulate the entire industry”. He accused multinationals operating in South Africa of maintaining a stranglehold on the domestic industry without contributing to black empowerment or the economy as a whole. Recently, black empowerment […]
A letter from Don Mkhwanazi cites Thabo Mbeki as the “top command” of his black-empowerment bank, reports Mungo Soggot The offices of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and businessman Don Mkhwanazi this week sought to dispel suggestions that Mbeki was closely involved with the Malaysian-backed bank Mkhwanazi chairs. Senior staffers at the bank, including its former […]