Staff Reporter

AN impoverished rural school in Mpumalanga benefited to the tune of R250 000 when a Canadian man gave his wife, a former schoolteacher, an unusual birthday present. Ray Menard and his wife, Christine, handed over two new classrooms, a storeroom and three revamped classrooms to Lepesi Primary School in Luphisi tribal village, about 60km east […]

NIGERIAN security agents have arrested the chief accountant working for late military ruler Sani Abacha. Ibrahim Al-Amin was arrested at his home in Kano, northern Nigeria, and driven to the capital Abuja for interrogation, said the family member. Al-Amin is the main accountant working for the Abacha family and closely linked to the family’s financial […]

UP to 40 civilians have been killed in a wave of massacres across Algeria attributed to armed Islamists, in the latest bloody turn to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Fifteen travellers were killed west of the Algerian capital late on Sunday when an armed group opened fire on a bus. On Saturday at least […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Monday ZIMBABWE’S farm invasions and current economic slump have left the country “extremely vulnerable” to an epidemic of the deadly cattle anthrax disease, which has already killed nine people and hospitalised more than 600 since it was first detected two weeks ago. British Airways Travel Clinic medical director Dr Andrew Jamieson […]

AN Mpumalanga man accused of killing his wife and hacking her genitals has applied for legal aid. The 31-year-old mechanic was not asked to plead. He was arrested after his 25-year-old wife’s mutilated body was found naked near the N4 highway at Ngodwana on Monday. The woman’s identity is being withheld until her family has […]

A CONGOLESE human rights association has expressed concern about the alleged extra-judicial execution of a Congolese army commander and dozens of his colleagues by the Kinshasa regime. The Congolese Association for the Defence of Human Rights (Azadho) has accused President Laurent Kabila’s government of having executed Commander Masasu Lindaga and 36 of his colleagues early […]

A NURSING sister who stole a heart monitoring machine valued at R75000 is still working for the Northern Province health department. Eunice Nthlane, 38, of Mokopane Hospital near Potgietersrus was found guilty in September of stealing the electro cardiograph (ECG) machine and was fined R2000 and given a suspended 12-month jail term. An internal disciplinary […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday INTERNATIONAL financier George Soros has criticised South Africa’s policy on Zimbabwe and launched a fierce attack on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in an interview published on Sunday. “Mugabe has poisoned the neighbourhood,” the Hungarian-born philanthropist told the Sunday Independent. South African President Thabo Mbeki’s policy of “quiet diplomacy” towards its […]

SOUTH Africa’s defence ministry is probing a report that an army instructor ordered soldiers to fire on targets depicting President Thabo Mbeki and other leaders. Sam Mkhwanazi, spokesman for Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, announced the probe after members of the National Ceremonial Guard, who train at Pretoria’s Thabo-Tswane base, told a Sunday newspaper of the […]

RELATIVES of King Mswati III of Swaziland have threatened to bewitch 50 women who bared their buttocks at the King’s older brother, Prince Maguga Dlamini Maguga. The women were protesting against the King’s appointing Maguga, 64, as chief of Macetjeni outside Manzini, ousting two other chiefs and evicting their subjects. Maguga’s uncle, Ncutfu Mongomezulu, said […]

SOUTH Africa’s summer holiday road death toll has reached 331 – the highest in the last two years on the country’s roads. The highest provincial death toll so far is in the Eastern Cape, where 55 people have been killed in 30 fatal crashes. KwaZulu-Natal has seen 54 fatalities, Gauteng 47 and the Western Cape […]

MARIANNE MERTEN, Cape Town | Monday THE controversial delays around establishing a statutory body to distribute national lottery proceeds has taken another twist with the allocation of emergency funding to some cash-strapped organisations. Although non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have welcomed the pre-Christmas emergency relief, some have questioned the legality of the once-off disbursement and say government […]

EMSIE FERREIRA, Cape Town | Monday SOUTH Africa is luring tourists to view the whimsical side of a country known for its beaches and bush – visits to houses haunted by aristocratic ghosts and audiences with a rain queen. Cape Town, if the brochures are to be believed, has several dozen ghosts that spook the […]

A 12-year-old Egyptian boy has been killed while trying to protect his dog from his cousin, also 12, who was striking the animal with an iron bar, police said. The boy had been waiting for his cousin at home. When the cousin arrived, the dog jumped on him and the cousin warded the dog off […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday THE African Mineral and Energy Forum (AMEF), which recently signed a black empowerment accord with the established fuel industry giants, has appealed to government to unlock an alleged monopoly in the supply of jet fuel at Johannesburg International Airport. Accusing South African Petroleum Industry (SAPIA) members of being “obstructive” on […]

EIGHT Angolans drowned while trying illegally to cross the Orange River from southern Namibia into South Africa at the weekend, Namibian police said. The eight were among 14 young Angolans who tried to enter South Africa legally through the southern Noordoewer border post but were turned back because they did not have visas. They then […]

FOUR people have been arrested in three separate drug busts on the same flight from Sao Paolo, Brazil. South African police arrested a Venezuelan mother and son at Johannesburg’s airport after 12kg of cocaine was found in their hand luggage, and a 40-year-old South African man who had 3kg of cocaine in his possession. A […]

A NIGERIAN man charged with cannibalism after being found under a Lagos bridge surrounded by body parts has been pronounced unfit to stand trial. Clifford ‘the cannibal’ Orji is suffering from paranoid-schizophrenia, a psychologist told the Ikeja High Court. Orji was charged with the murder of several people and “misconduct with regard to corpses”. At […]

A NAMIBIAN fishing trawler has recovered wreckage and personal effects believed to be from the 1997 mid-air crash between US and German military planes which killed 33 people. German and US military experts will be called to Namibia to identify the items caught in the trawler’s net near the crash site, at sea off the […]

AT LEAST 25 prostitutes under the age of 16 have been arrested in raids on two Johannesburg hotels. Police said 13 adult prostitutes were also arrested in the raids at the Europa Hotel in Hillbrow and the Rosettenville Hotel in Rosettenville. The child prostitutes were taken to a place of safety and notices of prosecution […]

A 19-year-old Willowvale man is recovering in Butterworth Hospital after he amputated his penis earlier this month, hospital sources said. It is alleged the man circumcised himself after smoking dagga. “His condition has improved, though he has lost his penis,” a hospital official said. Six other circumcision initiates were reported to be in a satisfactory […]

THE Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) this week granted amnesty to safety and liaison department permanent secretary Dumisani Mafu on eight counts of murder. Mafu, 43, was also granted amnesty for a number of other offences, including five counts of attempted murder, malicious damage to property and unlawful possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives. In […]

CLAIRE KEETON, Pretoria | Saturday THE UN refugee agency is having to cut back its Africa programmes because funds from donor governments are insufficient, its southern Africa director said this week. “The UN budget for Kosovo was 90% funded. Africa only got 60% of its total budget. This means cutting down on programmes,” said Ilunga […]

MARIANNE MERTEN, Cape Town | Friday POLYGRAPH tests, random searches of cricketers’ rooms and luggage, a duty to report improper approaches and undercover stings to test players’ honesty are among the suggestions from the King Commission of Inquiry into Cricket Match-fixing. Proposed measures include an UCB-controlled accreditation system to contact players, the monitoring of telephone […]

CHRIS MCKENZIE and JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Friday MPUMALANGA’S controversial new R630m legislature is illegal and its construction has destroyed at least three protected plant species. The complex is almost complete, but it has still not been approved by the Nelspruit City Council or the national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. Meanwhile, forensic investigators […]

Steven Friedman Worm’s eye view The elections were, for two reasons, a fitting end to the political year. First, they allowed voters to pronounce on the government strategy which has dominated much of 2000. Second, because the electorate’s message seems to have been misunderstood as it has been for much of the year. The substantial […]

Thebe Mabanga In July this year when South Africa lost the right to host the 2006 World Cup to Germany, the Mail & Guardian lamented the development as a “sad reflection on Europe”. In one of its best editorials, the paper lambasted the European mentality, which it noted, was “bereft of generosity and redolent with […]

David Beresford Another Country The first confidence trickster I came across was, I think, one of my brothers. I must have been six or seven years old and was harbouring certain suspicions about Santa Claus. I cannot remember what prompted the doubts; maybe it was a certain falsity of the “ho! ho! ho!” offered up […]

Barry Streek A fault line tore through the ranks of liberal whites this week as many rallied to sign the “declaration of commitment by white South Africans” and distanced themselves from the Democratic Alliance whose leaders have emphatically rejected the statement. The list of those pledging themselves to the declaration reads like a who’s who […]

John Aizlewood NOT CD OFTHEWEEK A greatest hits by any other name, but with a title only Elvis Presley could share, the 27-track 1 (EMI) delivers what it promises: all The Beatles’ British and American number-one singles, from Love Me Do (one American week on its belated release there in 1964, but still 1’s opening […]

Andy Capostagnorugby The point has been made in The Times of London that this year’s Springbok end-of-season tour lacked a focal point. There was some good rugby played, there was a lot more bad rugby played, but after four Tests and a high-profile festival game, Harry Viljoen’s first go at coaching the Springboks was about […]

Nawaal Deane The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a United States-based organisation, this week stepped in to shield Rafael Marques, an Angolan journalist, from continued harassment by the Angolan government. In a letter to Angolan President Jos Eduardo dos Santos, the CPJ strongly protested against the government’s continued persecution of Marques and other journalists in […]