Justin Arenstein and Leonard Ndzhukula Senior Mpumalanga Tender Board officials shredded highly confidential letters detailing an alleged R16-million tender fraud two weeks ago and are still attempting to keep a high-level investigation into the dubious contract under wraps. The independent investigation, headed by an external auditor, was launched three weeks ago after Senoko Chemicals, also […]

TV or no TV? Or restricted, V-chipped,=20 sanitised TV? Our reporters channel-hop=20 through the good-vs-evil debate Janet Smith Ready D of Prophets of Da City has a five- year-old son whose favourite TV show is=20 Rescue 911. He’s one of nearly 800 000=20 South African children who find America’s=20 international hit about near-death=20 experiences rather […]

FRIDAY, 2.30PM MARTHINUS VAN SCHALKWYK, the leading contender to replace outgoing National Party leader FW de Klerk, was a paid agent of military intelligence during his student years at Rand Afrikaans University in the 1980s. Van Schalkwyk was president of Afrikaans student organisation Jeugkrag (Youth Power), where his salary was paid from covert SA Defence […]

Lawsuits threaten to stifle public debate=20 as the Greenpeace action shows, writes=20 George Monbiot Every month, the weapons mobilised in the=20 public relations battle over the future of=20 the planet become more sophisticated. A few=20 weeks ago, a leak from the PR company=20 Burson-Marsteller revealed that it has been=20 advising biotechnology companies to “stay=20 off […]

Government considered breaking the diamond=20 cartel to boost black economic empowerment,=20 writes Mungo Soggot The Ministry of Minerals and Energy has=20 investigated using apartheid-era=20 legislation, which gave local diamond=20 cutters a special deal, to promote black=20 empowerment in the cutting industry. The=20 strategy, which would have involved=20 restricting De Beers’s exports, reveals the=20 ministry’s antagonism […]

An initiative to promote young black=20 talent, spearheaded by advertising=20 stakeholders, could change the future of=20 the industry, writes Hazel Friedman When Relopile Magagula matriculated two=20 years ago, her ambitions extended no=20 further than a secretarial position in one=20 of those starchy corporate environments.=20 But when she walks into work next week, it=20 won’t be […]

Mungo Soggot The government has snapped into action=20 over the potentially disastrous drought=20 effects on the economy of El Ni=A4o. Several government departments are=20 contributing to a Cabinet memorandum on the=20 climatic phenomenon in an initiative driven=20 by Constitutional Affairs Minister Valli=20 Moosa, who chairs a Cabinet committee to=20 handle disasters. According to the Director=20 […]

Peta Thornycroft The leading contender for the National Party crown, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, was a paid agent of military intelligence. His salary, as president of the Afrikaans student organisation Jeugkrag, was paid from covert funds of the South African Defence Force during the mid-Eighties. And Van Schalkwyk lied to his colleagues in Jeugkrag about the […]

The Western Cape government’s answer to mass migration is to hire an apartheid land-planning consultant, writes Andy Duffy The man who oversaw apartheid land-planning in Cape Town is now a top consultant to the Western Cape government, devising plans to handle mass migration into the city. Bertie van Zyl ran the Cape Metropolitan Planning Committee […]

Hazel Friedman investigates what’s behind a=20 bitter battle in Gauteng’s arts council Members of the board at Pact (Performing=20 Arts Council of the Transvaal) are=20 embroiled in a bitter battle over=20 allegations of mismanagement. On one side=20 are Pact CEO Alan Joseph and Pact chairman=20 John Kani, with board members Meredie=20 Wixley and Arlette Franks […]