leader Gustav Thiel A new messiah has emerged in the faltering attempt to launch an umbrella movement to protect the rights of the Afrikaner community: former Progressive Federal Party MP Frederik van Zyl Slabbert. A leading instigator of the initiative, Nasionale Pers non-executive chair Ton Vosloo, said this week that leading Afrikaners “simply do not […]

Chris Gordon and Peta Thornycroft Both Unita, Angola’s rebels, and the ruling MPLA government say the United Nations sanctions imposed on Unita this week will not spark off a new war. Speaking from New York, Unita’s ambassador to the UN Jaime Vilasanta, putting a brave face on the UN move, said the sanctions would change […]

The African National Congress has made significant compromises to gain political power, argues Dale T McKinley in his new book For three decades the dominant theoretical basis for the African National Congress’s liberation struggle had been cast within the necessity for the revolutionary seizure of power. Whether applied to the smashing of apartheid and the […]

The centuries-old coelacanth may soon come to the end of its life, writes Ellen Bartlett It probably wasn’t pleasant being foreign minister of a pariah state like South Africa, but no doubt one of the minor perks of Pik Botha’s job in the bad old days was getting presents from the few heads of state […]

Bantu Holomisa challenges Nelson Mandela’s assertions in Edinburgh this week that he has no list of ANC spies. Wally Mbhele reports President Nelson Mandela has on more than one occasion reprimanded executive members of the African National Congress, saying he has their files and knows who among them are spies. This dramatic allegation was made […]

Wake-up call as HRC is alerted to 29 cases of alleged racism in schools, reports Mukoni T Ratshitanga South African schools are set for a major shake-up as the Human Rights Commission begins a nationwide investigation into racism in schools. The commission said last week it was investigating 29 cases of alleged racism in six […]

THURSDAY, 8.50AM: A TEN-man Bush Bucks held Orlando Pirates to a goalless draw at Umtata Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. Bucks lost striker Vincent Skhosana in the 41st minute when referee gave him an early shower after two bookable offences. Bucks goalkeeper Mark Andreson had a good game and frustrated the visitors with his acrobatic saves. […]

The wife of a death row survivor this week demanded that judges be compelled to appear before the truth commission to account for their actions. David Beresford reports Moments of high drama have become familiar to the proceedings of the truth commission. But there can have been few as memorable as a moment this week […]

Thirty-one years on, David Beresford meets the man who assassinated Verwoerd He is to be found sitting in an armchair on an enclosed verandah at Sterkfontein mental hospital outside Krugersdorp. Dressed in a maroon tracksuit and towelled slippers, he gazes past the eucalyptus trees across the hospital grounds. A pyjamad youth ambles across, his body […]