Staff Reporter

David Beresford Another country The end of the world is nigh and will be brought about by wind. This latest triumph in speculative physics (or is it meteorology?) arises from contemplation of the vexed question of what happened to the dinosaurs. For those who are not up to speed on this great scientific debate I […]

The HRC’s conference was characterised by much soul-searching about the definitions of racism Sechaba ka’Nkosi South Africa’s whites went on trial this week on charges of racism when black leaders attending the Human Rights Commission (HRC) conference on racism questioned their attitude towards black citizens and their willingness to reach out and reconcile. Unease and […]

Natasha Distiller crossfire Khadija Magardie’s article, “Put an end to prostitution by removing the demand” (August 18 to 24) contains a number of interesting legal and moral assumptions that warrant exploration. Decriminalising and regulating the adult commercial sex-work industry are important steps towards dealing with the violence and exploitation that occur in the industry. Decriminalisation […]

Nicky Blumenfeld If you’ve ever visited Cuba, Colombia, Mexico or Brazil, you’d realise that there’s a lot more to the Americas than the United States and it appears that with the inevitable influx of aliens, the “developed” world seems to have realised that there’s rhythm beyond its mainstream borders. Likewise, the recent explosion of Latin […]

Jeffrey Ndumo During the Oliver Tambo Memorial Lecture, on August 11 2000, President Thabo Mbeki delivered a fierce speech which had two main themes. The first was to chastise the “black petit bourgeoisie” and native intellectuals for reducing themselves to the status of foot-lickers of white capital at the expense of a contribution to the […]

Ivor Powell Abattle is developing between the government and Parliament as the state prepares a package of new laws to remove checks and balances introduced in the armaments industry to prevent corruption. If accepted, the already tabled Conventional Arms Control Bill and the draft Armscor Bill and Defence Related Industries legislation will allow the government […]

He was one of the greatest bowlers of all time – maybe even the greatest. So how come most of us have never heard of Bart King? Martin Kettle It was once said of Bart King that he was the best-known American of his time in England. When he went to Britain, people would recognise […]

Rosanne Buchanan LIFESTYLE Convention centres are usually horrible, sprawling spaces with vast, dark meeting rooms and tasteless dining halls. But the newly opened R400-million Sandton Convention Centre (SCC) is modern, airy and impressive looking. The 10-storey SCC already has a line-up of important events until the end of the year, including the National Conference on […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi Newly elected general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) Slumko Nondwangu this week began an uphill battle to stamp his authority on a union increasingly divided by tensions over ideology. At 36 Nondwangu assumes a difficult task: continuing the legacy of his predecessors that has made Numsa the […]

Jaspreet Kindra The tensions within the tripartite alliance are increasingly being blamed on President Thabo Mbeki, who is perceived by other alliance leaders as having systematically cut them off from debate on economic policy. Notwithstanding this view, expressed by several senior members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu)and the South African Communist […]

Khadija Magardie A landmark decision by the Constitutional Court last week endorsing crucial crime-fighting legislation brings to an end a string of legal attacks on the law. The ruling, which stemmed from a raid on controversial tycoon Billy Rautenbach, sets a precedent for similar cases in which targets of criminal investigations might use the constitutionally […]

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing into the crash was biased, crude and ignored the maxims of balance and fair play, writes Robert Kirby That the transcript of the secret Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings into the Helderberg accident has been kept from public view comes as no surprise. What is far more surprising […]

Nawaal Deane and Ntuthuko Maphumulo Statistics show that over the past 15 years South African youth have been having sex at an increasingly younger age. Of sexually experienced children polled in the Beyond Awareness Campaign survey, 10% said they had had their first sexual experience at or below the age of 11 years. In the […]

Thami Mazwai One understands Cosatu supremo Zwelinzima Vavi’s overriding passion for the welfare and well-being of workers. After all, fighting for workers is his profession as well as his bread and butter. But is he not being a bit myopic? There is no point in protecting rights if these result in investor wariness and the […]

The Rand Daily Mail fought a lonely battle on the ‘slippery slope’ of opposition to the National Party government in the 1960s. In his memoir, War of Words, Benjamin Pogrund recalls what it was like to be part of this publication The telephone on my desk in the Rand Daily Mail newsroom rang. I picked […]

Howard Barrell OVERABARREL Britain’s campaign to seize the Falklands Islands back from Argentina in 1982 provided the backdrop for a delightfully executed deception against a South African journalist. For a number of years, the journalist, who shall remain nameless, had maintained a fruitful (though proper) relationship with a locally based British diplomat who was not […]

Neal Collins olympics For those of you who think nandrolene was the bad guy with a cheap torch in Captain Scarlet, think again. It is, in fact, a steroid which helps build muscle, reduce fat, increase stamina, and disappears from the system in two weeks – and has been an enduring Olympic star. That said, […]

New laws are soon to be introduced that will overhaul the billion-rand fishing industry Marianne Merten In an effort to root out widespread corruption and fraud in the fishing industry, Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) has launched one of the most decisive recent policy reviews and adopted “a carrot and stick” approach. It is understood […]

Rhoda Kadalie Is President Thabo Mbeki playing the race fiddle while Rome is burning? Has he not learned that when one uses race as a political rallying point, racial conflict gains a momentum of its own that is often difficult to reverse in times of crisis? Has ethnic conflict in Bosnia, Rwanda, Burundi and Serbia […]

Nawaal Deane and Ntuthuko Maphumulo The first in-depth investigation into the efficacy of South Africa’s Aids awareness campaigns on the country’s youth shows that while the information is getting through, few believe it applies to them. The survey, conducted by the Beyond Awareness Campaign, reveals that most young people see HIV as a threat to […]

Rose Dingaan Thobela takes on Glenn Catley in a world title bout this weekend. But the Rose of Soweto’s opponent is not your average pugilist Gavin Evans When you see Glenn Catley in the ring you might decide this is the kind of fellow who expects you to drop your eyes when you pass him […]

THE Zambian kwacha is expected to slide further against the dollar in the final four months of the year amid huge corporate and retail demand for dollars and lack of central bank intervention, senior dealers said. They said the kwacha could close the year as low as 3500 against the U.S. unit, from 3250 now […]

Shaun de Waal WE FEAR NAUGHT BUT GOD: THE STORY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN SPECIAL FORCES, “THE RECCES” by Paul Els (Covos Day) There must be many fascinating stories to tell of the men who were the elite troops of the apartheid military machine, and many lessons to be drawn from their history. A rivetingly […]

Underperformance in public education has been blamed for tertiary institutions’ failure to produce enough black professionals Glenda Daniels, David Macfarlane and Thebe Mabanga The number of black professionals graduating in South Africa has remained alarmingly static since the mid-Nineties, with experts identifying the poor level of mathematics and science teaching in schools as a major […]

Barry Streek A Cape Town-based NGO, Ikamva Labantu, which services more than 1 000 community-based projects, was saved from imminent collapse by the business community following years of government bureaucratic bungling in processing its funding applications. Ikamva needs about R150000 a month to operate, but is getting R8 500 a month from the government to […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and REUTERS, Johannesburg | Friday JOHNNIC Communications, which is preparing to bid for South Africa’s second fixed-line telephone licence, has raised R3.8bn from a rights offer to consolidate control of acquisitions and eliminate debt. The offer, which was 78.78% subscribed, saw more than R800m rand raised from minority shareholders, with the balance being […]

Cape Flats residents who were left homeless after last year’s tornado feel that the municipality has not done enough to provide new housing Marianne Merten A year to the day after her daughter Ghaironisah Moosa was killed when a tornado hit Manenberg on the Cape Flats, Maraldia Ajam died. The elderly woman lived for much […]

Fiona Macleod Southern Africa’s most newly endangered species on the verge of extinction is the winter impala lily, a plant used by traditional healers to treat stomach ailments. Conservationists warn that agriculture and development have virtually wiped out the plant in the wild and unless drastic steps are taken it will soon be extinct. Mpumalanga […]

Belinda Beresford It’s all in the packaging! That, at least, is the hope of the Department of Health, which has decided that colour counts in the battle against Aids. In an attempt to make condoms more popular among the majority population, government-sponsored Condom Cans could soon be stocked with brown condoms as well as the […]

INFORMATION technology giant Dimension Data (Didata) has become the third largest South African company in terms of market capitalisation, replacing diamond giant De Beers. This comes in the wake of Didata’s share price increase of nearly 5% to R68 a share, which brings the market capitalisation to R78.77bn. De Beers’ market capitalisation stands at R77.40bn. […]

Tim Radford Scientists claim this week to be on the track of a “universal” cancer vaccine. They have targeted a natural protein that makes tumour cells immortal and therefore lethal. The scientists have isolated part of the protein and used it to trigger immune system cells into killing both mouse and human cancer cells in […]

Jaspreet Kindra The acting Minister of Intelligence, Penuell Maduna, has denied the existence of an investigation into an alleged plot to replace President Thabo Mbeki with Cyril Ramaphosa, the former secretary general of the African National Congress. In a separate comment, the Inspector General of Intelligence, Fazel Randera, questioned whether it would have been appropriate […]