The South African navy is underequipped, unappreciated and underfinanced writes Donald G McNeil Until a year ago, the strike craft SAS Joe Masego was called the Kobie Coetsee. Coetsee, the former minister of defence, is still alive but the South Africa that named ships after apartheid-era leaders is not. Joe Masego, a corporal in a […]

FRIDAY, 9.10AM: DOCTOR Khumalo made his comeback debut for Kaizer Chiefs and inspired the “Phefeni Glamour Boys” to a 2-0 victory over Wits University in a Premier Soccer League match in front of close to 25 000 spectators last night. The game was won in the middlefield where Khumalo did all the running and passing. […]

FRIDAY, 8.45AM: SPRINGBOK selectors have named the squad to play in the game against the French Barbarians in Biarritz on Tuesday. Coach Nick Mallett selected Western Province star Percy Montgomery to play at fullback — his natural position. “Until last year Percy played virtually all of his rugby at fullback. He has been moved around […]

Wally Mbhele President Nelson Mandela travels to Mpumalanga this weekend and is expected to douse the blazing row sparked by his reported insistence that provincial Premier Mathews Phosa step down from the African National Congress race for deputy presidency to make way for KwaZulu-Natal leader Jacob Zuma. And as a compromise, Phosa is expected to […]

Marion Edmunds A former state consultant has offered to help the government trace billions of rands he claims to have smuggled into offshore bank accounts for the apartheid regime. Dr Arnold van Eck is believed to have told the government he was responsible for spiriting away loot for the National Party government into bank accounts […]

The African National Congress’s demand in response to the findings of the Dreyer Commission of Inquiry into the Mpumulanga housing scandal that those who tried to “drag” Minister of Housing Sankie Mthembi- Mahanyele into the scandal should apologise is laughable. The commission, as the ANC well knows, was precluded from probing into the minister’s role […]

MONDAY, 8.00AM: The chairwoman of Zambia’s human rights commission, Justice Lombe Chibesakunda, visited political detainees on Sunday and reported that two of the 33 suspects complained of torture, and of being deprived of food. She also criticised the government for mixing hard-core criminals with juveniles in a single overcrowded cell. Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean goverment has […]

Alison Motluk A simple skin patch might soon help psychiatrists identify people with schizophrenia – a diagnosis that can be very difficult to make. The developers of the test also hope that it will help sufferers accept that they need medication. The “niacin skin flush test” consists of a plastic strip bearing squares of absorbent […]

FRIDAY, 10AM: Dorbyl’s Chubby mine-clearing system, already sold to France, Uganda and Britain, is being tested by the US Army in Baltimore after modifications the Americans requested before committing to a substantial order. The system includes the Meerkat, a lead vehicle, and the Husky, as well as an armoured trailer called the Duisenpoot. Modifications have […]