rights Liesl Gerntholtz There can be little doubt that women have made great strides since 1994. We have seen a large number of laws put into place to empower women and improve their status. As Nohlanhla Mjoli-Mncube says: “Gender equality is receiving more attention than in any other period in the history of South Africa. […]
Thuli Nhlapo Taiwan Buddhist Compassion Relief, a charity organisation, has come to the rescue of scores of Alexandra residents who have been homeless since the February floods while the government dallies over how to spend R557- million set aside for flood relief. The flood victims have been living in squalid conditions in a transit camp, […]
Andy Capostagno RUGBY Nick Mallett can be thankful for one thing this week, and that is that the Springboks’ opponents on Saturday are the All Blacks. If there is one team that South African players need no motivation for it is the men from New Zealand. There are several other things the Springbok coach has […]
Andy Capostagno GOLF This has been an Oedipal year for professional golf. Before the new millennium was ushered in we knew Tiger Woods was good, but we didn’t know how good. Now Ernie Els has summed up the talent of the man by admitting that every other pro golfer on the planet is living in […]
Mark Ouma OLYMPICS In a country where rugby, cricket, and football are the best-paying sports disciplines – and monopolise media attention – it is unusual for anyone to abandon one of the “big three” for a so- called small sport. But a conscious decision to opt for athletics over rugby has produced one of South […]
Howard Barrell over a barrel I have spent several days this week trying to understand the basis on which Thabo Mbeki says Tony Leon is a racist. I have read, reread and read again the speech in which Mbeki did so – the second Oliver Tambo Lecture, delivered in Johannesburg last Friday. I have enlisted […]
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality has called for a commission of inquiry to probe allegations of illegal sex- change operations, medical torture and chemical castration performed by the South African Defence Force (SADF) on gay men and lesbians before 1994. The coalition, whose call for an inquiry is […]
A new committee of inquiry has been tasked with meeting the needs of the poorest of the poor Glenda Daniels An integrated and comprehensive social security system, to include the government’s current R18-billion social assistance programme, is on the cards now that a committee of inquiry has begun its work. The draft plan has to […]
cut off James Hall A Swazi man who instructed a traditional healer to cut off his wife’s clitoris has been fined R120 by a traditional court – a fine his wife, who almost bled to death, ended up paying. The case has sparked debate about the judgement of conservative elders who hear cases involving abused […]
Paul Kirk A Gauteng attorney has mysteriously vanished with tens of millions of rands he was supposedly helping to spirit out of the country. Johannesburg-based attorney Spyrodon Akritides is being investigated by police and the South African Reserve Bank on suspicion of having illegally ferreted up to R300-million out of the country, using fraudulent documentation. […]
With contenders like Penny Heyns, South Africa’s women are more likely to bring home Olympic medals than the men. Why, then, is women’s sport so under-funded? Grant Shimmin My Women’s Day began early and, appropriately, surrounded by women. Actually, make that future women. When my daughters, Caitlin (nearly four) and Bridget (just gone two) decided […]
Barry Streek The Office of the Auditor General eventually had to foot a bill of R6,5-million to clear its name in the inquiry by the public protector into a claim by former minister of minerals and energy Penuell Maduna that the accounts watchdog covered up the theft of R170-million of oil. The current Auditor General, […]
Barry Streek Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko Didiza wants provincial land MECs to consider taking advice from the Zimbabwean government on farming policy. Didiza convened a workshop of provincial MECs this week to discuss an offer of support from her Zimbabwean counterpart to help South Africans understand what is involved in helping to […]
THE Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Friday announced the death of the chair of the amnesty committee, Judge Hassen Mall. According to the TRC, he passed away in hospital in Durban after a short illness. Judge Mall leaves his wife Sylvia, son Envor and daughters Marciana and Shireen. 17
Jeremy Cronin Crossfire Last Friday the Mail & Guardian ran an emotive banner headline, “SACP to grill free-thinker”. A long article by Khadija Magardie evoked the same heretic burning imagery (“SACP to grill outspoken McKinley”). On April 12 there was, indeed, a disciplinary hearing; it considered articles written in local and international newspapers by Dale […]
Barry Streek Although Cape Town has grown significantly faster than other metropolitan areas during the 1990s, the scale and seriousness of the challenges facing it represented “a loud wake-up call” to all its citizens and stakeholders, the local unicity commission has said. A bleak scenario for the unified Cape Town, to be formed later this […]
Khadija Magardie The South African Law Commission has proposed a radi-cal shake-up of customary laws of inheritance to bring them in line with the Bill of Rights. The Draft Bill for the Amendment of the Customary Law of Succession proposes that women, under-age heirs and illegitimate children be allowed to inherit from a relative who […]
Jaspreet Kindra Deputy President Jacob Zuma has intervened to save the African National Congress and Inkatha Freedom Party coalition in KwaZulu- Natal, following a threat by the provincial ANC leadership to walk out. Zuma stepped in following an IFP and ANC fall-out over whether municipalties in the province should have executive mayors or management committees […]
David Le Page An unprecedented alliance between top computer companies and anarchic Internet fundis looks set to produce the first serious competition to Microsoft’s Windows family of operating systems. On Tuesday IBM, Compaq, Sun, Hewlett-Packard and nine other United States companies announced the Gnome Foundation, which will speed the development of the Gnome desktop system. […]
Cedric Mayson Spirit level All our religions are imports. Christianity originated in a Jew from Galilee and Jerusalem. Numerous variations of it reached Africa after journeying through centuries of adaptation in the tortuous politics and economics of the Mediterranean, Europe, the Americas, and colonialism. Six hundred years after Jesus, Islam began in a small community […]
Ted Leggett In yet another move limiting the flow of information between the police and the public, Commissioner Jackie Selebi has announced a moratorium on the release of certain crime statistics and threatened to fire those police members who communicate with the media. While he initially denied the existence of a moratorium, Selebi now asserts […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday ZIMBABWE is facing a critical shortage of fuel because of a debilitating lack of foreign currency, with no immediate solution in sight, a fuel industry source said on Wednesday. He confirmed that the supply of fuel in Harare was critical and said the country’s second city of Bulawayo had “a […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT AND REUTERS, Johannesburg | Thursday SIZZLING oil prices are unlikely to cool off in the near future fuelling speculation that South Africa may have to move away from its neutral monetary policy. OPEC has indicated it is not keen to take any action to reduce the current crude price of around US$32 per […]
The South African Communist Party (SACP) has expelled freelance journalist Dale McKinley from the party for “consistently and publicly” attacking leaders of the African National Congress. McKinley was summonsed to a disciplinary hearing at the weekend where he was allowed to present a defence. The SACP’s central committee then endorsed the decision to expel him. […]
THE release of a dozen foreign hostages – including South Africans Callie and Monique Strydom – held for up to nearly four months by Moslem rebels in the southern Philippines has been postponed at least until Friday, officials said. A spokesman for chief hostage negotiator Robert Aventajado said bad weather over Jolo, the southern island […]
UNDERWATER rescue capsules fighting to reach 118 seamen trapped on a Russian nuclear submarine have failed again as new evidence suggested a massive explosion shattered large areas of the vessel. Navy officials said there were no signs of life, but some of the crew could still be alive. Rescue capsules trying to link up with […]
BACTERIOLOGISTS at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute in Pretoria are baffled as to what is causing chunks of meat to glow and frighten rural villagers in Northern Province. Head of the bacteriology division Dr Maryke Henton said it was the first case of its kind that she had investigated, and that she believed it was something […]
THE shooting of a 15-year-old boy in an apparent gang-related attack in Factreton brings to 19 the number of people killed in gang-related violence on the Cape Flats since the beginning of August, despite the deployment of extra police and soldiers to the trouble spots. At least eight people were killed in separate incidents of […]
THE world’s last Concordes stopped flying this week after authorities told British Airways they were about to brand the jet unairworthy, three weeks after an Air France crash killed 113 people. BA, the only other airline to fly the supersonic jet, said it had grounded its entire fleet of seven within minutes of hearing that […]
SIXTEEN people died instantly when a bakkie collided head-on with a school bus in Northern Province on Tuesday morning. The 16 people were in the bakkie and were going from Vhulaudzi village to Louis Trichardt when they hit the bus in misty weather on the Witvlag road at about 6.20am. Provincial police spokesman Senior Superintendent […]
A RAPE suspect allegedly leapt to his death at the Wynberg Magistrates Court in Cape Town on Tuesday, shortly after he was denied bail. Police said the man, a 22-year-old rape suspect, appeared in court in connection with the rape of a Guguletu woman. He apparently jumped out of a window on the fifth floor […]
The Nigerian naira fell further in inter-bank open market trading, dropping to 114.30 naira to the dollar from 114 at the start of the week. The naira slipped to 168.50 from 168 naira against the pound sterling, and dropped to 163 from 162.50 to 1,000 CFA francs but held steady at 55 naira to the […]