FRIDAY, 1.00PM The long-awaited Open Democracy Bill was published in the Government Gazette on Friday. If enacted the law will give citizens access to government information, while protecting private information and official whistle-blowers who expose maladministration and corruption. The Bill seeks to compel government bodies to disclose, on request, information and official records with the […]

FRIDAY, 11.00AM: RETAIL group Pick ‘n Pay’s new financial services division on Thursday game out fighting in its drive to attract savings deposits by announcing it will hold interest rates on deposits in the face of cuts by commercial banks following last weekend’s cut in the Bank Rate. Mincing no words, division MD Nicky Bicket […]

FRIDAY, 4.00PM WINNIE Madikizela-Mandela this week accused her ex-husband President Nelson Mandela of being involved in a campaign to vilify her name. Madikizela-Mandela dropped her bombshell last Monday at a closed hearing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission where she was called to recount what she knows about incidents such as the murders of teen […]

Al J Venter The United States’s most influential magazine that deals with international nuclear issues has recommended that circumstances surrounding the purported nuclear test in the southern oceans in September 1979 be examined afresh. It suggests this should be done under the auspices of President Nelson Mandela. In a forthcoming issue of The Bulletin of […]

Robert Kirby : Loose cannon There’s nothing quite like a brand-new British Labour government to set the teeth on edge. Tony Blair’s lot is no exception. In fact, as the posh buds of Blair pretensions unfold, it’s becoming obvious that this Labour government is going to be considerably worse than its predecessors. Not that Labour […]

THURSDAY, 5.30PM A TOTAL of 164 new clinics were built between January and September 1997, compared with 44 in the same period last year, the Department on Health said on Thursday. Director Dr Yogan Pillay told a national health consultative forum in Pretoria that another 39 clinics were upgraded, compared to 31 last year. He […]

Stephen Gray : Unspoilt places I had seen a fine photo of the pan, like an encrusted sump, enclosed in circular hills. But I had not expected the tug of its metallic shine, like a white-ringed retina, focusing the light. I had seen the trail- map and the toposcope, but I had not realised how […]

Singer, writer, performer and enfant terrible Natanil in the 15-minute interview. By Charl Blignaut We meet Natanil at his preferred Johannesburg destination, the Hyde Park shopping centre. He is allowing himself a brief rest between bouts of shopping. Natanil: [To photographer Ruth Motau] Ag no please, I’m really not photographable on Mondays. I’ve got no […]

Scientists are more united than ever about the ill effects of greenhouse gases, writes Paul Brown Only Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Today, as the whole Earth begins to heat up and the climate changes before our eyes, world leaders are reaching for their fiddles in droves. Politicians admit that they can see the flames […]

government Mukoni T Ratshitanga Following another scandal in the Free State government, police are investigating two charges after a jealous husband assaulted his wife in the office of the senior government official he suspected of having an affair with her. Thandi Molosioa, a deputy director employed at the Department of Public Works in Bloemfontein, denied […]