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 […]

Susannah Barron and Charl Blignaut : Style What links … DJ Bob Mabena and your granddad? Supermodel Naomi Campbell and the mother of the bride? Kwaito fly girls Aba Shante and the golfing fraternity? Yes, they all wear those hats with the cute kangaroo logo. Hat company Kangol has come a very long way indeed […]

FRIDAY, 10.00AM: Bankers Capital Alliance have bought Decimax, days after the derivative traders lost R30-million in the stock market crash. In the R80-million deal, Decimax management’s holdings have been cut from 65% to 30%, with Capital Alliance in control of the balance. Financial services firm Theta sold its 35% stake to Capital Alliance for R30-million […]

Glynis O’Hara Tom Hark is one of those South African classic songs that simply won’t lie down and go away. Recorded by Elias and His Zig Zag Jive Flutes in the 1950s, it became a huge hit. It was played by big bands well into the 1960s; used as a theme song for a British […]

Why should the conservation fraternity be let off the hook, asks Farieda Khan In recent months we have witnessed the spheres of medicine and journalism being placed under the spotlight of the truth commission. If editors have to answer accusations of collusion and silence when confronted by the excesses of apartheid, and medical authorities have […]