Who is . . . ‘Suiker’ Britz? Stefaans Brummer Assistant Commissioner Karel “Suiker” Britz wears grey shoes. Or if he doesn’t he should, for he fits snugly into that category of old-guard cops with nicknames like “Snor” and “Balletjies”. But while Britz does sport an impressive moustache, and presumably has the other attribute as well, […]
Alet van Rensburg The new civilian caretakers of Vlakplaas – former base of the notorious police C-10 hit squad – are interested in buying the farm from the government and turning it into a rehabilitation centre for “lost souls”. The old farmhouse on Vlakplaas is now filled with Louis and Lucia Smit’s furniture. They’ve turned […]
Caroline Sullivan: CD of the week It was clear after the sexcentricity of Madonna’s last studio LPs, Erotica and Bedtime Stories, that the next would have to be markedly different – and Ray Of Light (WEA) certainly is. She’s done what superstars at a crossroads do – found religion. She’s been studying the Kabbalah and […]
Charlene Smith Time was when the weekend sun burned freckles on the backs and faces of a myriad of flea market shoppers and sellers; when shoppers would endure being jostled by thousands of others; when Zulu dancers or ageing jazz buskers would compete for coins; and W est African museums would be looted for African […]
Marion Edmunds One of the world’s most respected human rights watchdogs has accused the South African government of committing serious human rights abuses against illegal immigrants, in a damning report that draws parallels with the apartheid regime’s treatment of blac ks. The Human Rights Watch report is the first significant attack from an international agency […]
David Beresford: Tribute to Basil Coetzee It’s hard to say a last goodbye to a musician; harder still when his gaunt face is in a coffin on a linoleum floor, his tenor saxophone – its silver patina worn through by his once-busy fingers – resolutely silent in its place of honour up on the stage. […]
Mungo Soggot The offshore branch of embattled mining company Amalia is still enthusiastically punting the company’s London listing, trumpeting its exclusive deal to exploit Liberia’s mineral wealth – despite the fact Liberia has threatened to kill the deal. “It’s a $750-million deal – their main asset. It’s theirs unless there is a coup. Nobody can […]
Ann Eveleth Government lawyers this week secured their first victory in a series of legal battles over the fate of three allies of the late Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Johannesburg High Court Judge Meyer Joffe on Tuesday rejected a bid by Mobutu’s former national police commander, General Kpama Baramoto, defence minister Mudima Mavua and […]
When the Minister of Minerals and Energy, Penuell Maduna, requested my resignation on March 10, it came as quite a surprise. The unceremonious manner in which my employment was terminated – “submit to me by fax your resignation with immediate effect and vacate the office you were occupying hitherto forthwith” – and the accusations levelled […]
Wally Mbhele The arrest of Robert McBride on charges of gun-running in Mozambique seems to have been a well-co-ordinated police trap, planned with the man he was captured with, Vusi Mbatha, Mozambican gun-runner Alex Mamba, and the South African security forces. There is concern that old-guard elements of the South African military and police assisted […]