Alex de Waal In June 1993, a Belgian soldier serving with the United Nations in Somalia put a gun to the head of one of my Somali colleagues and threatened to shoot him. At the time I was investigating the war in Somalia: that the residents were living in fear of the peacekeepers came as […]

Johnny Masilela Chief Lucas Mangope’s political comeback has been smacked by a stream of high-profile defections from his United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP) – among them his own sister. It has also emerged that Roelf Meyer’s and Bantu Holomisa’s United Democratic Movement (UDM) is the main beneficiary of Mangope’s losses. Celia Ditsetelo, Mangope’s younger sister […]

The local branch of a church probed for fraud was behind a bid for Capital Radio, writes Suzy Bell Quima Investments last week failed to win its licence bid for Capital Radio because it neglected to reveal vital information to the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), including details of a controversial backer. The consortium was slapped […]

The impudent truth commissioner Stefaans Brmmer Truth commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza is impetuous, arrogant (or very confident, depending on your vantage point), ambitious and fiercely independent. Add to that an almost naive openness and you have someone asking to be beaten up on, leaving his guard way down when the knock-out punch is thrown. By Monday […]

FRIDAY 10AM: The owners of small and medium-sized businesses are “deeply pessimistic” about the cost, low productivity and general hassle factor of the low-skill labour market, according to survey results announced on Thursday by the South African Institute of Race Relations. The survey, conducted among 300 businesses, found the rate of unemployment 6% lower than […]

One of my favourite films was Being There, starring Peter Sellers. For those who have not shared in the privilege of seeing it (it was banned in the old South Africa), the story – based on a book of the same name by Jerzy Kosinski – is of a gardener who was adopted by a […]

Andrew Muchineripi : Boxing Corrie Sanders could become the third boxer from South Africa to hold the world heavyweight title if he beats tough-as-teak American Ross Puritty next Saturday. The two clash for the vacant World Boxing Union (WBU) title on the Jumbo Cash and Carry bill dubbed the “Amabuthu Empi” extravaganza at the Carousel […]

Being portrayed by Brad Pitt in a Hollywood movie should have been the final triumph in Heinrich Harrer’s adventurous life, but his Nazi past caught up with him, writes Ed Douglas When the iron ore mines of Huttenberg closed in 1978 after 2000 years of continuous production, the village died on its feet. Some families […]

On the eve of the investors’ conference, Paul Jourdan puts the case for the government’s development initiatives Spatial development initiatives (SDIs) are a proven means of giving government more job-creating bang for its very limited bucks. It is too important and successful a strategy to be derailed by vested interests and narrow agendas. The furore […]