Staff Reporter

THE Zimbabwean Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has agreed to settle a debt owed to South African counterpart Eskom and began the process with a sizeable payment in October, Eskom said this week. Eskom said ZESA’s decision followed a day long workshop between the two firms in October where it was decided that the long-standing multi-million […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pietermaritzburg | Friday SOUTH Africa is set to lose some of its foreign markets for agricultural products with the declaration of the entire KwaZulu-Natal province as a foot-and-mouth restricted area after the disease spread beyond the existing quarantine zone into the Valley of a Thousand Hills. The province is likely to face a […]

TWELVE more people have died in northern Mozambique from violent demonstrations over the results of last year’s general election, bringing the death toll to 38, Radio Mozambique reported on Saturday. The latest deaths occurred in the northern town of Montepuez, 1 650km north of Maputo, where about 500 armed supporters of the RENAMO opposition party […]

AFP, OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Saturday A SOUTH African judge has sentenced a black soldier to 25 years in jail for killing his white commander but warned that the country’s politicians were too quick to blame race for crimes across the colour line, it was reported on the weekend. Lieutenant Harry Ntoagae gunned down Major […]

A 76-year old father and his 32-year-old daughter were this week given partially suspended sentences in the Belfast Magistrate’s Court after they had admitted to having had an incestuous relationship. Louis Johannes Volschenk will spend part of an effective one year in prison before being released into the care of an old age home. Anne […]

ANGOLA’S ruling party this week renewed an offer of pardon to rebels it has been fighting for the last 25 years, ahead of independence celebrations at the weekend. The president of the Angolan parliament, Roberto de Almeida, said the pardon would come if members of Jonas Savimbi’s National Union for the Total Independence of Angola […]

THE government could soon dig into the balance of the R300m it previously set aside for urgent reparations to victims of apartheid identified by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Government representative Joel Netshitenzhe hinted that the full R300m – set aside in a previous Budget for interim reparations – might finally be disbursed. Only R50m […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Friday PEOPLE’S Poet Mzwakhe Mbuli, who says his conviction for bank robbery and the illegal possession of a handgrenade was part of a conspiracy against him and that evidence had been “planted”, will know on Friday whether his appeal was successful. Mbuli appealed against his conviction and 13-year prison sentence after […]

TARA TURKINGTON, Johannesburg | Friday THE interim CEO of the cash-strapped South African Heritage Resources Agency (Sahra) has been spending a large part of a fund set up to transform the organisation on fancy hotels and personal travel. New CEO Pumla Madiba, who takes office in January, will have to sort out a difficult inheritance: […]

TWENTY-two people, including six police officers, died and over 100 others were wounded after police in Mozambique used force to break up violent demonstrations staged against the outcome of last December’s general election, President Joachim Chissano said. Speaking on national radio, Chissano described the demonstrations as “illegal and anti-democratic,” and called on people not to […]

Olive baboons are being ‘kidnapped’ for experimental xenotransplantation in the West Gregory Mthembu-Salter The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) has uncovered a grim trade in baboons from Tanzania. BUAV investigators in Tanzania have found that Olive baboons (Papio anubis) are being “kidnapped” in traps and sold for about R90 each to primate […]

The disparity in two libraries 2km apart has reemphasised the great divide between rich and poor that still exists in South Africa, writes Glenda Daniels Adorned with statues, paintings, cushions, couches, even rag dolls, the state-of-the- art Sandton library is spotlessly clean and air-conned, with colourful furniture, carpets and pot-plants galore. The soothing sounds of […]

Tara Turkington The interim CEO of the cash-strapped South African Heritage Resources Agency (Sahra) has been spending a large part of a fund set up to transform the organisation on fancy hotels and personal travel. New CEO Pumla Madiba, who takes office in January, will have to sort out a difficult inheritance: a much slimmer […]

Nawaal Deane In the week that Angola prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary of independence, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has published a blunt account of the horrendous mutilation and terror suffered by civilians during the country’s lengthy civil war. Contrary to the claims of the Angolan government that the situation has stabilised, the MSF says […]

Monarch’s nepotism on chieftaincies boosts pro-democracy groups Sechaba ka’Nkosi Rural communities in the tiny kingdom of Swaziland may – for the first time – join protests against their king’s rule. The country is bracing itself for confrontation between the government and the pro-democracy movement as tensions between the two sparked public protests this week. While […]

News that a new British show includes an impression of Princess Diana caused a stir. Why? asks Michael Collins. It’s another sign that TV satire is tired and tame When television’s idea of transgression becomes that of dragging up a man as the ghost of a dead princess you know you’re in trouble, and for […]

Every music legend deserves a good pilgrimage. Jimi Hendrix fan Hugh Clench visits the state-of-the-art museum inspired by the guitar hero who died 30 years ago If, like me, you are old enough, and committed enough, to have seen Jimi Hendrix play live more than once, then you’ll know the significance of September 18 1970. […]

Now in its sixth season and firmly ensconced as one of the fashion musts in the country, the Durban Designer Emporium (DDE) Summer Collections 2001 happens this year under the title Joy. A British Council initiative with DDE, it takes place in Durban on November 11. Hot on the heels of South Africa and London’s […]

Charl Blignaut Thank heavens for soap stars and kwaito kids. It was they who usurped the politicians and beauty queens to put some fizz back into local pop culture. And so it was their night then, when SABC1’s Selimathunzi hired The Pyramid in Johannesburg to dish out the second annual Duku Duku Awards. From the […]

resisted Glenda Daniels The government has introduced a slew of new policies and training programmes since 1994 to wean the police from their old habits. Policing experts say it has been easier to try and address the behaviour of police in specialised units. In general, however, it appears that the message that the police must […]

Howard Barrell and Barry Streek A former Cabinet minister is named on the Internet as having received R10-million for facilitating the purchase of corvettes from Germany in South Africa’s controversial R43,8-billion arms deal. The local and foreign websites also name a senior African National Congress MP as having been one of a group of South […]

Andrew Muchineripi soccer Football is a funny game. Funny enough for Africa Sports of Cte d’Ivoire to be pipped for first place in Group One of the Champions League this weekend by Sundowns, the team they put six goals past a week before. A draw between Esperance and Africa Sports in Tunisia would open a […]

Barry Streek Financier George Soros’s Open Society Foundation (OSF) is to axe the board of its South African arm, which has been wracked by in-fighting. Soros has written to the board, which includes several government officials, informing them of his plans to replace them next month. The move follows several conflicts between board members – […]

In the face of a Zimbabwean economic meltdown – inflation at 62%, the fuel crisis expected to worsen in December – haphazard land invasions continue Mercedes Sayagues A red combine is harvesting the last of David Jenkins’s winter wheat. At the harvested end of the field, settlers are digging holes to plant maize. Never mind […]

Neal Collins soccer Lucas Radebe this week likened rumours of inducements to perform well in European soccer matches to the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal. The Leeds United and Bafana captain was upset by offers allegedly made to Milan’s players by Barcelona. The Spanish club was accused of offering Milan 1,6-million to beat Leeds in the […]

Marianne Merten ‘Beware, this bitch bites!” says the logo on the T-shirt of a sex worker attending a play about prostitutes – but it could just as well have been a warning to the two actresses to expect tart advice from the audience. The prostitutes who arrived at the Nico theatre to watch Sweat on […]

Riaan Wolmarans CD OFTHEWEEK It must be really nice to be talented – if you’ve got it, flaunt it, and that’s exactly what Delenta is doing on her new album, simply called Delenta (Renegade). The Sudanese-born singer makes a welcome entry into South Africa’s ranks of solo female singers – an area where looks sometimes […]

Marianne Merten The NGO-driven Ditikeni Investment Company exceeded its expectations when it received share commitments of more than R1-milllion at its launch last week. The aim of Ditikeni – “something to lean on” in Tshivenda – is to generate funding security for NGOs in the development sector, ranging from poverty relief, education, health, HIV/Aids and […]

Niki Moore The controversial handover of land to the Mbangweni community at the Ndumo Game Reserve on the Mozambique border in Maputaland has been put on hold indefinitely, according to a statement issued by the Land Claims Commission. But according to a source inside regional land claim commissioner Thabi Shange’s department, the signing over of […]

David Beresford Another Country One of the most enjoyable pieces of television I have seen recently was a video recording of an attempt to interview JM Coetzee for Dutch TV. The writer’s distaste for the public limelight has become almost legendary since he failed to pick up his second Booker Prize – the first person […]

The Smashing Pumpkins were inspired by metal in a digital age to create a sound that, after their current tour, will be laid to rest Riaan Wolmarans It was very disappointing when, a few years ago, the Smashing Pumpkins were on their way to South Africa – and the concerts were cancelled. Then the band […]

Bill Clinton’s eight years in office have been a rollercoaster ride of scandal and comeback, disaster and triumph. Jonathan Freedland, who spent much of that time following the president, salutes a political genius with the common touch America has begun to say farewell. It will be a long goodbye, one that fits the outsized character […]