Ferial Haffajee The Independent Newspaper Groups ambitious transformation programme has been dealt a blow by labour protests against its plans. All four trade unions at the groups flagship Gauteng Newspapers have resigned from the regional affirmative action monitoring committee. Sparked by a disputed appointment in the advertising department, the row has grown. Now staff allege […]

Wonder Hlongwa and Ann Eveleth The role of police in the brutal Shobashobane massacre will come under the microscope for the first time next week amid fears that senior police management will try to shift the blame to a single station commander. Eighteen Inkatha Freedom Party supporters were convicted early last year for shooting and […]

Raparazzi! Residents of Pretoria whose slumbers were disturbed by the squeal of car tyres on Wednesday night might be interested to know that the noise signalled the arrival of the paparazzi phenomenon in the capital. The high-speed car chase was precipitated by Rapport newspaper, whose photographers have been camped for a fortnight outside the home […]

Mukoni T Ratshitanga Allegations of corruption have been levelled against Khayalethu Home Loans (KHL), a subsidiary of the South African Housing Trust charged with arranging low- cost housing loans. KHL is chaired by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki’s special adviser, Frank Chikane. It has been alleged that KHL paid more than R300 000 for one year’s […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi The African National Congress’s biggest alliance partner, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), will spend most of 1998 campaigning against the ANC’s lynchpin policy. At the centre of the looming confrontation is an assertion by senior ANC leaders in Mafikeng during its conference last month that its Growth, Employment and Redistribution […]

Faried Esack Shamima Shaikh (37), South Africa’s leading Muslim gender equality activist, passed away in the early hours of January 8 at her home in Mayfair, Johannesburg. She had cancer. Shaikh left behind her husband, Naeem Jeenah, and two sons Minhaj (9) and Shir’ah (7). Shaikh was a member of the national executive committee of […]

Jewish mysticism is the latest Hollywood fad, writes Emma Forrest The idea of the body beautiful being hackneyed beyond belief, celebrities are now going for the soul. Movie stars have reached such infinities of wealth and fame that their films are largely irrelevant. So they have to be known for something else. Lisa Marie Presley […]

Alan Gignoux explains why 30 families prefer uneasy exile to post-apartheid South Africa `Most people are here because they thought South Africa was going to burn. I am here because it did not,” said a newcomer to South Africa’s 30-family community in Caaguazu, eastern Paraguay. “De Klerk sold out his country”; “We did not even […]

Andrew Muchineripi : Soccer Developments during the opening days of the new year suggest that South Africa could soon have the best administered and worst attended national championship on the continent. Let us begin with the good news that the sponsors of the Castle Premiership have increased the prize money this season to R3,5-million, give […]

With the trade talks on track, the EU’s first man in South Africa is returning to Brussels confident his time has been well spent, writes Madeleine Wackernagel Erwan Four has a knack for leaving a posting just before disaster strikes — once in Venezuela, prior to the 1989 riots; and again in Mexico, ahead of […]