FRIDAY, 11.00AM: THE Sowetan reports on Friday morning that Mpumalanga Premier Mathews Phosa is considering quitting politics after being asked by President Nelson Mandela to step down as a candidate for the African National Congress deputy presidency in favour of ANC KwaZulu-Natal leader Jacob Zuma. Phosa met Mandela on Monday, where he was apparently ordered […]

Two German drug companies are selling a painkiller, banned in their own country, to South Africans, reports Ann Eveleth One of the world’s leading pharmaceutical manufacturers continues to sell substantial quantities of a painkiller in South Africa which has been banned in its home country – and which some critics estimate could kill up to […]

Julian Drew : Athletics Hendrick Ramaala is on a roll at the moment. He followed up his fourth place at the world half marathon championships and victories in the Great North Run and South African half marathon championships with a win in the Rennes 10km in France at the weekend. But while he appears to […]

Micro-lenders accuse government of ignoring recommendations for regulating the industry, writes Sechaba ka’Nkosi A row is brewing between a coalition of small-scale development lenders and the government for ignoring proposals that could save millions of consumers from rampant exploitation by money lenders. The Alliance of Micro-Enterprise Development Practitioners singles out the departments of trade and […]

Ann Eveleth The Johannesburg High Court battle over Transnet’s suspension of Joe Ndhlela ended this week in defeat for the executive director. Ndhlela’s bid to overturn his suspension was dismissed with costs. He faces an inquiry into charges of bugging, weapons possession and corruption. Ndhlela’s court bid made public the disciplinary charges Transnet had refused […]

The Angella Johnson Interview His name reminds me of the opening words of the national anthem Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika. “Snuki Zikalala Africa,” I find myself chanting hypnotically after each of his news reports for SABC television. Okay, I know that sounds really Eurocentric, but you’ve gotta admit, it does have a certain lilt. Zikalala, who […]

Marianne Thamm Until he attended a rehearsal of La Bohme: Noir, Hal Shaper’s reworking of Puccini’s tearjerker La Bohme which will premiere with an all-black cast in Cape Town in December, Brian Williams had never seen an opera. The former trade unionist and once- unskilled building worker, now provincial director of the Department of Labour […]

FRIDAY, 1.30PM MOTHEO Construction has announced its intention to sue the Mpumalanga government for breach of contract, unless the provincial housing department pays it R12,5-million due for work completed on a rural housing project. Motheo director Alfon Meyeridricks said the company’s credit facilities and relations with suppliers and contractors have been affected by the government’s […]

In the May 9 to 15 issue the Mail & Guardian reported that magistrate James van Wyk had granted bail to Dan Mabote, a man accused of raping a seven-year-old girl. The girl, Mamokgethi Malebana, had disappeared. An M&G reporter was informed by the clerk of the Germiston Regional Court that Van Wyk heard the […]

Gustav Thiel Residents of Betlong township outside Delmas have approached the Human Rights Commission (HRC) for assistance after they were allegedly assaulted by white South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers. They claim their attempts to lay charges against their assailants have been ignored by local police. Both the SANDF and the police say, in […]