Neal Collins previews the English Premiership soccer season, which kicks off this weekend with the Charity Shield Arsenal Manager: Arsene Wenger. Odds on being sacked this season: 6-1. Last season: Uefa Cup final, second in Premiership. This season: Make no mistake, the loss of Emmanuel Petit and Marc Overmars will cut deeply into Wenger’s carefully […]
Torgeir Fjeld and Denise Pheiffer They made a brave effort, but were simply too short to make it to the finals. A South African under-14 team of players from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha won their group in the world’s biggest football tournament for kids, but were knocked out in the final rounds by Brazilian side […]
hearings Marianne Merten and Peter Robinson The interim report of the King commission into cricket match-fixing – to be submitted to the government this Friday – is widely expected to recommend disci- plinary hearings for suspended cricketers Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams, who admitted they agreed to underperform in a one-day match in India. The […]
Tim Payne Body Language What is a man? Who is he? What does he want? Why is he so prone to violence? When did he last brush his teeth? Why doesn’t he help with the housework? What drives him to bully and cajole? What’s happened to his sense of purpose? Does he really have to […]
Steven Friedman worm’s eye view We can let the police do what they want – or we can try to make them do what we want. Sometimes, an experience helps us understand issues better than abstract debate. The recent arrest of my colleague Xolela Mangcu is an example: it helped crystallise what is wrong with […]
Peter Dickson Four months after being suspended for allegedly running over and killing a teenager who had been dragged behind a patrol van, three Barkly East policemen are to be tried for culpable homicide and additional charges ranging from assault to attempting to defeat the ends of justice. The Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) has announced […]
Dot Keet crossfire South African trade negotiators must surely have learned from this country’s hard experiences with the European Union that trade negotiations have very little to do with the rhetoric of “partnership” and a lot to do with the ruthless promotion – and, where necessary, protection – of the interests of national and multinational […]
Barry Streek The draft Child Justice Bill will prohibit life imprisonment sentences for children who commit offences while under the age of 18 and compel the high court to review all jail sentences of children. Central to the proposal is that every effort should be made to keep children under the age of 18 out […]
Ebrahim Harvey left field When Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota played down press reports about a defence intelligence agent, Carien Pieterse, attempting to recruit an editor and other journalists to spy for them, and went on to say that he had no problem if this was done in the “national interest”, I recalled the controversy […]
Laws banning cellphone use by drivers are not yet being implemented Evidence wa ka Ngobeni, Pule waga Mabe, and Ntuthuko Maphumulo Traffic officials across the country have yet to implement the government’s tough new laws banning the use of cellphones while on the road and lowering the drinking limit for drivers. The new National Road […]
Neil Thomas taking stock The problem with anything popular or fashionable is the ineluctable allure of the unobtainable. As soon as you can’t have it, you want it even more. Offshore unit trust funds, at least those of the rand- denominated variety, have recently attained this Joycean status. The initial impulse, soon after South Africa’s […]
The anarchy caused by the crisis in the transport industry could end when the new Transport Act comes into force Glenda Daniels Taxi and bus wars will become a thing of the horrible past when the new integrated plan for an efficient public transport system, the government’s new National Land Transport Transition Act, is implemented. […]
Bob Woolmer from the pavilion South African cricket is in the process of re-establishing itself in the eyes of the world. The Hansiegate scandal and the ensuing mudslinging during the King commission ensured an enormous amount of rebuilding had to take place. Part of the rebuilding is in the hands of Shaun Pollock and Graham […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi The embattled Law Society of the Transvaal this week deferred a long-awaited election of its office bearers to 2001 in a move that could stall the transformation of one of the last remaining apartheid-era institutions in South Africa. The society’s bizarre decision comes in the wake of mounting calls for change from many […]
Peter Robinson cricket All things considered, South Africa could not have asked a great deal more of Shaun Pollock and his overhauled team than has been forthcoming in Sri Lanka over the past five to six weeks. The first post-Hansiegate tour has to be regarded as a success – not an entirely unqualified one perhaps, […]
Maggie Davey T he first Caine Prize for African Literature has been awarded to Leila Aboulela for her story The Museum, which appears in the Heinemann collection Opening Spaces: An Anthology of Contemporary African Women’s Writing, edited by the Zimbabwean writer Yvonne Vera. One of Aboulela’s strengths, mentioned by the judging panel and borne out […]
Andrew Muchineripi soccer The fifth edition of the Castle premiership league football marathon kicked off this week with the leading actors half a continent away, passing the time waiting for a flight home from the Cameroonian city of Douala. Sundowns arrived in Johannesburg only on Thursday after a gutsy 2-1 African Champions League victory over […]
Grant Shimmin olympics On Wednesday, August 16, Sam Ramsamy, president of the country’s National Olympic Committee (Nocsa), will read out a list of track and field athletes at a press conference and, barring injuries to members of the teams within the overall squad which necessitate calling up a replacement, South Africa’s Olympic travelling party will […]
When Evander Holyfield steps into the ring again this weekend he takes with him a love of God – and money Gavin Evans When Evander Holyfield was searching for Bible verses to spirit him towards Mike Tyson, it was, intriguingly, to the New Testament he turned. Skipping the bits about turning cheeks and loving neighbours, […]
l Will be established in municipal areas; agreement on jurisdiction must be reached between the transport MEC and the municipality. l Will plan transport provision in the area of its jurisdiction. It is expected to facilitate public consultation through hearings, seminars. l Must develop land transport policy within its area and must plan the finances […]
Open declarations by the ANC and IFP of high stakes in the local government election have rekindled fears of renewed intimidation and violence Jaspreet Kindra The African National Congress sounded a warning to its coalition partner – the Inkatha Freedom Party – this week that their partnership in KwaZulu-Natal may not last beyond the local […]
In June MPs heard that domestic covert collection activities had stopped in 1996 – they were lied to Howard Barrell Defence force intelligence has continued to collect information covertly inside South Africa despite a ministerial undertaking to Parliament that it ceased doing so in late 1996. Its covert domestic intelligence activities have included surveillance and […]
you how I kill kaffirs’ A Free State court heard this week of the eight-hour ordeal of two Eskom workers at the hands of a local farmer Glenda Daniels The dusty clock in the court did not work, the skewed no-smoking sign – stuck on with Prestik – was upside down and the proceedings took […]
Congo Hadebe’s first staged play, about a group of women living in a park, covers everything from religion to sleep deprivation Merle Colborne The small man with the brown, knobbly face, wearing a GUD labourer’s jacket and a lean, infrequent smile, seems discomfited sharing a table at the Playhouse Coffee Shop with this umlungu poking […]
Commodore Dieter Gerhardt led a double life: he was a senior commander in the South African Navy, with access to ultra-sensitive information, and at the same time a master spy for the Soviet Union. Ronen Bergman spoke to him On the morning of February 3 1983 an Israel Aircraft Industries executive jet landed in Pretoria. […]
Khadija Magardie It is not difficult to find Dr Alan Peter, despite the sheer vastness that is Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto. “You mean the white moruti [Sesotho for doctor] who lives in Soweto?” people will say, and point you in whatever direction the youthful, friendly doctor may be doing his daily rounds. The […]
innovations You may or may not have heard of Echelon, but it has almost certainly heard of you. It’s a shadowy international intelligence-sharing network run by Western governments, in which they avoid legal restrictions on spying on their own systems by asking partner governments to do it for them. Duncan Campbell wrote a report for […]
Last month the Gerard Sekoto Foundation took the spirit of great art to the village of Ga- Mphahlele Pule waga Mabe July 29 will be remembered for a long time by pupils in the remote village of Ga- Mphahlele in the Northern Province who, last weekend, got the opportunity to explore their talents while playing […]
Thuli Nhlapo The South African Law Commission confirmed it is conducting research on the subject of commercial sex work within the ambit of reviewing current sexual offences legislation – but said the process was still at a “sensitive stage”. The discussion paper on the matter, according to the commission, might be available by the end […]
Roshila Pillay A battered guitar, an ethnic Dogon drum (all the way from Mali) and a beautiful silver flute compete for centre stage. The powerful beat, soulful strumming and high-pitched strains of the flute set an upbeat African tribal tone. Three students walk to the front of the classroom at the Atteridgeville Technical College to […]
army ‘deviants’ Paul Kirk Dr Aubrey Levin, the army psychiatrist who ran a bizarre programme to “cure” gay conscripts, has been linked to secretly – and illegally – testing drugs on homosexuals and other “deviants” in the South African Defence Force (SADF). Human rights lawyer Jenny Wild this week described Levin’s tests on conscripts at […]
Es’kia Mphahlele a second look I endorse everything that Arthur Maimane wrote in the Mail & Guardian (“A masterpiece in bronze”, July 14 to 20) concerning the relative merits of some of the former Drum writers. There was no reason for naming an award after Nat Nakasa for outstanding service to journalism above the greater, […]