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 […]
AN 11-year-old American boy was attacked and killed last month by a hyena while he was sleeping in a tent during a safari in Botswana’s Moremi Game Reserve, a tour operator has told a local news agency. Reports yesterday named the boy as Mark Garrat Shea, from Baltimore. Bridget Hedges, a spokesperson for Botswana tour […]
EGYPTIAN women are looking for more and more ingenious “anti-lecher weapons” to ward off bottom-pinchers and arm-strokers in Cairo’s buses and cinemas, the weekly Al-Ahram Hebdo has reported. Marwa, a 22-year-old student, told the paper she had to threaten to hit a man with one of her shoes before he stopped pressing himself against her […]
AFRICAN EYE NEWS, Washington DC | Tuesday A GROUP of reformed Soweto teenagers – described as former “tsotsis” – have undergone an extensive empowerment programme in street-smart New York to learn how to help their peers. The 23 teens were trained by a New York helpline, Youthline, which uses teenagers to help youths caught up […]
AFRICAN EYE NEWS, Pietersburg | Tuesday A TEAM from the American space agency NASA has arrived at the Pietersburg International Airport in preparation for a science initiative to monitor the earth’s environment and atmosphere. Airport corporate relations manager Howard Khosa said a Washington University Convair 580 transport plane will soon be joined by two more […]
POLICE will today continue the search for the missing babies born out of an alleged incestuous relationship between Delmas brother and sister Heibrecht and Robert Fedder, after finding nothing on the farm Witklipbank near Delmas yesterday. The excavations at two sites on the farm formed part of the investigations in the case, in which police […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT AND REUTERS, Windhoek | Tuesday SOUTHERN African leaders have come out strongly in support of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe’s controversial land reform program, saying Britain should “honour its obligations” and provide resources for land reform in the embattled country. Ending two-day talks on the region’s simmering conflicts and tepid economic growth, the leaders […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday SOUTH Africa’s entertainment community, still reeling from the death of singing legend Bles Bridges in a car accident earlier this year, has been shaken to its core by the death of Afrikaans comedian and TV star Tolla van der Merwe in a horrific car smash in Mpumalanga. Van der Merwe’s […]
A SOUTH African microbiologist jetted off to Siberia at the weekend on a mission that sounds like it’s straight out of a Hollywood sci-fi movie. Frank T. Robb plans to capture as many ‘extremophile’ microbes as he can from Siberia’s volcanic geysers and sulphur pits before shooting them into space in rockets. Once in space, […]
AFP, Arusha, Tanzania | Tuesday ETHNIC Hutu rebels have killed 27 military cadets and five civilians in an ambush near Bujumbura, on the eve of renewed talks aimed at finalising an accord to end seven years of civil war in Burundi. A military source said the cadets had been returning to the capital from the […]
TELEVISION entertainer Tolla van der Merwe was killed in a car accident near Belfast on Monday morning. Mpumalanga police said Van der Merwe died soon after being admitted to a Middelburg hospital at 7am. Television producer Ollie Viljoen and Afrikaans story-teller Koos Meyer were also seriously injured in the accident. Viljoen’s wife Estelle was killed […]
THE strong chance that South African Airways (SAA) will list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and perhaps even on an international bourse, is seen as a good reason for Swiss Air to exercise its option to buy a further stake in the airline. Last November it bought a 20% stake in SAA for R1.4bn and […]
BANKING group Nedcor has shrugged off its failed bid to acquire larger rival Stanbic by reporting an increase in attributable income by 27% to R1.23bn for the first six months of the year. This translated into earnings per share increase of 25% from 415 cents to 517 cents. Nedcor was the only major South African […]
THE government could spend more than R800m on four new maritime patrol helicopters in addition to the country’s R30bn arms package, a local newspaper reported. The Cabinet, the paper said, will decide whether Armscor will be given the go ahead to finalise a helicopter purchase with British arms marker GKN Westland or possibly re-issue the […]
IN an attempt to put to rest a row last month over French comments on forthcoming elections, Ivory Coast’s army ruler, General Robert Guei, praised former colonial power France as the most loyal of friends. “Amongst our friends, right at the front, let us mention France, the most loyal of the loyal, which has not […]
PAUL KIRK and NIKI MOORE, Durban | Friday 9.40am. AFRICAN National Congress MP Bheki Mkhize, killed in a police raid on his home at Mahlabathini, near Ulundi, was shot through his open palm – an indication, say the provincial ANC leadership, that he was killed while trying to surrender. While the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) […]
The president of Burundi, Pierre Buyoya arrived in South Africa on Thursday for talks with former President Nelson Mandela aimed at resolving problems over a proposed peace plan for Burundi.
Get the best out of your Internet service provider David Mallinson Some things are easier to get into than out of. Subscribing to an ISP (Internet Service Provider) is one of these things. The problem is that many people discover what they really want from an ISP only after subscribing (possibly to an unsuitable one). […]
Barbara Ludman and Mungo Soggot LIFESTYLE Not so long ago, Greenside+s main shopping parade was known not for haute cuisine but for several antique shops, the Spar, Woolworths and -the doggy stylist+. The suburb, however, is currently undergoing something of a gastronomic renaissance, with three new restaurants replacing the late lamented Pizzaghetti and keeping company […]
The current debate in South Africa is obscuring, not illuminating, the issues David Le Page Genetic modification of organisms (GMO) has become an extremely emotive subject in South Africa, which has led to a swift decline in the quality of debate. The gulf between proponents and opponents was demonstrated in South Africa this week at […]
Proposals calling for an end to commission caps have already evoked criticism – but this may be shortsighted Neil Thomas Many consumers buying or holding insurance products are probably blissfully unaware that a portion of the premium they pay every month is going to the broker who sold them the product. They will not see […]
Andrew Muchineripi soccer After winning the Castle Premiership for three consecutive seasons, Sundowns Football Club have decided the time has arrived to raise their sights a little bit higher. The natural progression from being champions of a country is to become champions of a continent and that is what the Pretoria-based club has set its […]
forward Paul Kirk For more than 30 years the South African military and state medical systems have been performing sex change operations on the quiet. This revelation came out this week when the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality was approached by one of the oldest victims of the stateOs secret programme to change […]
Colleen Lowe Morna South AfricaOs WomenOs Budget Initiative (WBI) is receiving more accolades abroad than commitment at home. Launched in government three years ago as part of a high-profile, two-year pilot project on gender and economic policy supported by the Commonwealth secretariat, the gender implications of public expenditure received extensive commentary in the 1998 and […]
Andrew Gilder The yearly FNB Vita Dance Umbrella in Gauteng is the premier showcase for emerging and established choreographic talent. Over the years its solitary position, and the abundance of talent, led to the Umbrella becoming over-populated and unwieldy. To remedy this situation FNB Vita organised -satellite+ festivals to give artists not able to make […]