Staff Reporter

Former Springbok media liaison officer Alex Broun examines how over a period of almost two years Nick Mallett was slowly forced out of his position as Springbok coach, nearly causing a breakaway by the Springbok team in the process Despite what the South African Rugby Football Union’s (Sarfu) public relations department (better known as certain […]

The government has tabled a Bill proposing that all rights of a former homeland statutory body be ceded to it, but a local community says some of its assets belong to them Pule waga Mabe On the dusty and mountainous roads on the outskirts of Tzaneen in the Northern Province lies a big open pit […]

Lehlohonolo Shale Buchaki Theatre’s projects have always had the ability to infuse comedy in order to penetrate some of our social taboos – principally betrayal in relationships. This is the line that runs through Wrong Day, its current offering at Hillbrow’s Windybrow Theatre. Formed during the turmoil of the Eighties, the company produced some of […]

The art world is becoming more intimate due to bonds forged at a cultural development conference in The Netherlands Alex Sudheim A seminal, international art initiative has been launched by 12 young artists from India, Indonesia, Mexico, Mali, Argentina and South Africa. In June, at the behest of the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten and the […]

Nicky Boje has moved from being the second-choice spinner to the star of the South African batting attack Peter Robinson In some respects it seems as if it’s all happened for Nicky Boje in the blink of an eye. One minute he wasn’t there, the next he’s everywhere, knocking off run-a-ball centuries, taking wickets, holding […]

Cedric Mayson Spirit Level Banishing poverty is simple, but not easy. It is a spiritual problem, not merely economic, when prosperous South Africa allows half its population to live in desperate need. No human being should be forced to endure constant hunger, live in a crowded, leaking shack, dice with disease and death as a […]

James Astill Directly inspired by the popular uprising that felled Serbia’s strongman, street protests in Cte d’Ivoire swept out the West African state’s first and only military dictator this week, after less than a year in power. General Robert Gue is in hiding after trying – like Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade – to declare himself […]

Picasso was one of the most valued members of the French Communist Party – until a portrait of Stalin put him at the centre of an ideological row. Gertje R Utley on an artist true to his beliefs On October 4 1944, less than six weeks after the liberation of Paris, Pablo Picasso, then 63, […]

Neal Collins soccer Lucas Radebe’s career has been thrown into doubt after two serious head injuries. The Bafana Bafana and Leeds United captain has been knocked out twice in less than a month – and admits he fears further problems after a series of brain scans. First he clashed heads with team-mate Michael Duberry in […]

The community is said to be undergoing an identity crisis which has become more profound recently Howard Barrell Indian South Africans feel more deeply alienated from the government and the country’s political institutions than any other racially or ethnically defined community, according to a recent opinion survey. The surprise is that they have a significantly […]

Mark Ouma soccer Improved physical conditioning and better team cohesion are keys to a better performance by Banyana Banyana in the Africa Women’s Football Championships next month. The two-week competition – which kicks off on November 11 in Johannesburg – features defending champions Nigeria, runners-up Ghana, Cameroon, Morocco, Runion, Uganda, Zimbabwe and hosts South Africa. […]

Greg Bowes CD OFTHEWEEK The mother city has its designation as a prime party destination confirmed with a scintillating set from Dave Seaman, simply called Cape Town(Global Underground). The mix, a cross-section of the tunes that wowed audiences here earlier this year, emerges all hazy and dubby but by track four – a Futureshock mix […]

When it comes to filling senior posts in the judiciary, a judge’s ability is no longer determined by the number of gray hairs on his head Khadija Magardie When the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), the body tasked with appointing judges, met this week to interview its latest batch of candidates, its preoccupation with “transformation” appeared […]

The Gunners are through to the next round of the Uefa Champions League with a game to spare Neal Collins That’s more like it. Arsenal’s emphatic 4-2 win over Czech champs Sparta Prague on Wednesday will have the rest of Europe sweating – and boy, did the Brits need a result like that after the […]

Ten people were killed on the R66 route to Eshowe in KwaZulu-Natal after a taxi driver allegedly overtook on a barrier line in rainy conditions and crashed head-on with an oncoming truck. Five men, including the taxi driver, and five women died instantly. Four other women were taken to hospital in a serious condition. The […]

David Le Page An extraordinary new vehicle with a unique power source is lined up for production in South Africa, offering hope for those incensed by the cost of hydrocarbons. The car, called the Taxi ZerO Pollution (TOP), runs off motive energy stored as compressed air in tanks resembling those of scuba divers. The compressed […]

The workers’ compensation system fails to protect those it claims to serve Paula Howell Khadija Magardie’s article “Workers’ fund crippled by ‘steady rot’” (October 13 to 19) was an accurate description of what is happening in workers’ compensation. There is, however, a more fundamental problem, which is whether the current system can adequately serve the […]

Peter Dickson The African National Congress and its ally, the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco), have split in the Eastern Cape ahead of the December 5 local government elections. Sanco’s provincial executive has resolved to back independent candidates in the elections, citing as its reason the ANC’s “delaying tactics” in finalising lists of local […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday THE South African Revenue Services (Sars) has proposed substantive amendments to its proposals to shift this country to a worldwide tax system, including concessions for headquarter companies and contract workers. Briefing Parliament’s finance portfolio committee, SARS law administration general manager Kosie Louw defended the government’s reasons for changing the […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Thursday THE growing economic meltdown and attendant food shortages in Zimbabwe have eroded public support for President Robert Mugabe and his campaign to confiscate prime agricultural land from white commercial farmers, a hard-hitting international opinion poll has found. The poll, based on a sample of 2 000 Zimbabwean adults in both […]

OWN CORRESPONDENTS, Johannesburg | Thursday CORRUPTION in South Africa has reached “epidemic” proportions, demanding hard-hitting laws and a more ethical environment, say business and political leaders. Addressing a two-day Anti-Corruption Conference for national and provincial Public Works Department officials, National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka said the urgency of addressing the problem and creating […]

ANGOLAN security forces have arrested two South Africans accused of bringing cocaine worth an estimated $2m into the country. Customs officials found 60kg of the drug hidden in containers on a flight from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil by the Angolan national carrier TAAG. The South Africans, who were not named, are accused of organising […]

RWANDAN forces fighting with Congolese rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have lost control of Pepa in the south of Katanga province, Rwanda’s foreign minister said. The Rwandan army is backing rebels opposed to the regime of DRC President Laurent Kabila in the civil war which has raged for two years. The RCD […]

PRESIDENTIAL spokesman Parks Mankahlana has died after a long illness at his parent’s home in the Eastern Cape, the African National Congress has announced. Mankahlana, a former president of the ANC’s Youth League, served as President Nelson Mandela’s media spokesman for his entire term between 1994 and 1999. He worked with Mbeki until earlier this […]

THE Mozambican government has predicted weaker than expected economic growth this year as a result of the catastrophic floods that hit the southern and central parts of the country in February. The government initially hoped for growth of between five and six percent, but the current projection is for 3.8%. Total losses due to the […]

SOUTH African authorities have confiscated about R1bn worth of hashish destined for Montreal in the country’s biggest drug bust, police said this week. Acting on a tip-off, police and customs and harbour officials at Durban intercepted a container and recovered 11.5 tonnes of compressed hashish in packets labelled “milk” and hidden under linen in the […]

AFP and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Ivory Coast | Thursday IVORY Coast socialist leader Laurent Gbagbo, who has claimed power after junta leader Robert Guei fled the country, faces immediate calls for a new election from rival candidates barred from the ballot papers. While the official results from Sunday’s presidential race have yet to be announced, Gbagbo […]

EMMANUAL GIROUD, Dar Es Salaam | Thursday A DECADE of liberalisation has earned Tanzania, which goes to the polls this weekend, a reputation as a star pupil of the International Monetary Fund, yet its people remain among the poorest in the world. Annual per capita income hovers between $200 and $250. More than half the […]

SUSPENDED Mpumalanga Parks Board (MPB) chief Alan Gray has won yet another reprieve when a disciplinary hearing scheduled for this week was postponed to November 1. Gray was suspended in September 1998 for his role in the illegal use of 31 game reserves as collateral for a series of dodgy promissory notes worth over R1,3bn. […]

THE outbreak of deadly Ebola, which has claimed 64 lives in northern Uganda should be over within six weeks, an expert with the World Health Organisation (WHO) said this week – but a communicable diseases expert who is just back from northern Uganda said a close eye would then need to be kept on the […]

CRAIG BISHOP, Ncome | Thursday THE national deputy director general of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Professor Musa Xulu, has been charged with misconduct and suspended following a forensic audit into tender processes totalling R2m. Director general Dr Rob Adam said the contracts were awarded by the former National Monuments Council, now the SA Heritage […]

AN alleged rapist has escaped arrest after trapping two policemen in a shack and opening a box of bees, police said. The policemen were inside the shack at the Duduza informal settlement near Nigel when the suspect closed the door and opened the box of bees. A 26-year-old alleged rape victim and her daughter were […]