BRONWEN ROBERTS, Durban | Friday 8.00pm TWELVE schoolchildren died and five were seriously injured in a stampede in a crowded disco in Chatsworth, Durban on Friday afternoon. The stampede was apparently caused when a canister of gas — thought to have been teargas — was released in the early afternoon in the Throb nightclub — […]
As floods continue to wreak havoc across Southern Africa, a look at the conservation of water resources may seem irrelevant, but delegates at an international water conference took a longer-term view Jubie Matlou in The Hague, The Netherlands A draft blueprint for fair and equal access to the Inkomati River by South Africa, Swaziland and […]
M&G reporters A group of American private investors on Monday made a last minute attempt to rescue the $5-billion satellite telephone service Iridium, which was forced into liquidation last Friday. Iridium, which has United States electronic giant Motorola as a shareholder and backer, was set a deadline of last Friday by the court to attract […]
THE West Indies have named an unchanged 13-man squad for the second and final test against Zimbabwe starting in Kingston, Jamaica, on Friday. On Monday, the Windies dragged themselves off the floor to score a remarkable 35-run victory in the inaugural test between the two sides. Zimbabwe, chasing a target of 99, were bowled out […]
Fiona Macleod When tourists in the Letaba rest camp in the northern Kruger National Park saw an animal swimming furiously across the flooded Letaba River last Sunday, they thought it was a hippo. The river had breached the camp’s perimeter fence and the animal headed straight towards them. As it emerged from the water, they […]
Nawaal Deane On Friday morning Robert Mugabe bashers will have the rare opportunity to squirt diesel in his face or throw darts at him. All they will have to do is tune into a new youth website, www.gal.co.za, where Mugabe’s face will be bouncing around on screen. The player who scores the most hits in […]
Barry Streek The South African Human Rights Commission (HRC) has strongly criticised the government for not taking it seriously, accusing some ministers of regarding it as a nuisance and condemning Parliament for not giving its reports meaningful attention. The 1999 HRC report, which has been tabled in Parliament, says the commission believes there is “a […]
SOUTH Africa’s Bradford Vaughan, a two-time winner on the Vodacom Tour, has a one shot lead after the first round of the Zambian Open at the Lusaka Golf Club. Vaughan, the elder of two brothers competing for the R500000 on offer this week, shot a magnificent six under-par 67, to lead by a stroke from […]
Fiona Macleod Graa Machel, the “first lady” of South Africa and Mozambique, has agreed to be co-patron of the Nedbank/Mail & Guardian Green Trust Awards. She will share patronage of the country’s premier environmental awards with Anton Rupert, founder of the Rembrandt Group and long-time conservationist. The new patrons have been asked to attend this […]
Paul Kirk Chris MacAdam, the head of KwaZulu- Natal’s investigating directorate (organised crime and public safety), is facing a multimillion-rand lawsuit from soldiers who claim he wrongly arrested them for a massacre that followed the assassination of Sifiso Nkabinde. Within hours of Nkabinde being gunned down in Richmond, a family of 11 African National Congress […]
Is normal service resumed? Markets surge as the blue chips bite back – and dot.coms dwindle Heather Connon It is a corporate remake of The Empire Strikes Back. Just 10 days ago a clutch of new technology stars soared into the elite of the FTSE 100 index. Since then, the shares of Freeserve, Psion and […]
TELECOMS firm Ikwezi has pulled out of a consortium that won a bid to buy a majority stake in state-owned Uganda Telecommunications Limited (UTL), government officials said on Friday. They did not say why Ikwezi pulled out of the consortium and company officials were not immediately available for comment. But the head of Uganda’s privatisation […]
Cameron Duodu LETTER FROM THE NORTH ‘We have told everyone we will shave our heads to be like Mr [Abdoulaye] Wade. After that, we are going to stand naked in front of the presidential palace – to proclaim that we are like new-born babies and that a new Senegal is born.” With these words, the […]
Peter Dickson Costa Gazi, the outspoken Eastern Cape state doctor, has offered to personally fund the introduction of Nevirapine, an anti-retroviral drug used to combat Aids, in community clinics if the Department of Health fails to provide the drug. Gazi, the health secretary of the Pan Africanist Congress, said this week he is prepared to […]
UGANDAN security officials have exhumed at least 40 bodies from two graves in a compound of the doomsday cult of which hundreds of members burnt to death last week. Security officials in the area found one grave in which they discovered 20 bodies, mainly women and children. They then found a second bigger grave in […]
Donna Block SHAREWORLD I’ve just returned from holiday in Plettenberg Bay, during which time my family and I decided to take a tour boat. We spotted lots of sea creatures but the waves were throwing us around quite a bit, causing my six-year-old to say, “Mommy looks just like a robot – red, yellow and […]
NET WATCH Ever been frustrated by Junk Mail’s insistence on obscuring phone numbers in their online edition? Well, now you can advertise free online at consumer.co.za, and read the ads free as well. It’s a new service from online store etenga, and you can leave your ad up as long as you like. Those who […]
PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki’s office has denied that Mbeki has gone soft on Aids, insisting that he is committed to help curb the spread of the disease. But Mbeki’s spokesman Parks Mankahlana said the president will continue to seek views on the problem from any sector of society. The comment follows widespread criticism of Mbeki after […]
Rodney Victor Jewish leaders are scrambling to avoid involvement in a row over the food given to Jews in prisons after an awaiting-trial inmate at Pretoria Central Prison complained that Jewish prisoners are offered halaal food prepared for Muslims instead of kosher fare. Rabbi Michael Katz of Chabad House in Johannesburg said he is aware […]
John Matshikiza With the Lid Off Lusaka looks sadly dilapidated these days. You can tell that no one really comes here because the huge, pompous international airport that was built in Kaunda’s heyday, shortly after independence in the 1960s, stands gaunt, faded and out of step with the times. The car park is the same […]
FOREIGN minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is due to meet Chinese President Jiang Zemin on Friday to discuss his upcoming visit to South Africa. Dlamini-Zuma is currently in Beijing for bilateral talks. The four day visit begins on April 24th and is the first to South Africa by a Chinese head of state. It is part of […]
Jaspreet Kindra The government’s plan to privatise municipal services countrywide has created a gruelling test for the ruling alliance of the African National Congress, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party as they gear up for November’s local government elections. Cash-strapped municipalities will now have the option of […]
De Beers has recently declared that its Central Selling Organisation (CSO) can guarantee, from March 26, that no diamonds from rebel-held zones will contaminate its sales. This is laudable, if late, but the diamond giant also seems to be trying to airbrush history and tell us that it has no idea how it is that […]
IMPERIAL Motor Holdings announced on Friday that it is to start importing Hyundai motor vehicles and that a number of Hyundai dealerships will begin operating from the first of April. The new vehicles will be imported and distributed by Associated Motor Holdings, a subsidiary of Imperial Holdings. Imperial spokesman Alan Ross said that all remaining […]
With the help of a few visionaries, the apartheid struggle’s ‘young lions’ are learning how to come to terms with their past and move on with their lives Charlene Smith ‘How many people have you killed?” Jabulani and Max look at each other and shake their heads. Jabu answers: “It’s impossible to know. Some you […]
Microsoft’s games console aims to blow away the competition Jack Schofield Microsoft plans to go head-to-head with three giant Japanese corporations, Sony, Sega and Nintendo, for the games console market. Leading games companies have already started developing for the system, which is based on PC technology, and which will go on sale in the United […]
Ivor Powell The South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Satra) ignored the reports of its own technical experts committees in recommending the Cell C consortium for the country’s third cellular phone licence. Documents in the possession of the Mail & Guardian show that Satra’s own specialist committees placed Cell C only third among the five shortlisted […]
WARATAHS centre Tim Horan admitted on Thursday that he risks aggravating a troublesome foot injury by resuming for the Queensland Reds in Saturday night’s must-win Super 12 rugby match against the Waikato Chiefs. “You could set yourself back obviously if I hurt it again, there’s always a risk in that, but there’s a risk in […]
Period pieces have dominated the Oscars for a decade. Will the pattern be broken this year? Mark Morris Over the next few days people will eagerly tell you American Beauty has the best picture Oscar in the bag. After all, it’s hard to think of a film that has ever come out to such a […]
… John Naughton If your children are wondering what they should do for a living in the next decade or two, just whisper two words in their ears: intellectual property (IP). Even Bill Clinton and Tony Blair have tumbled to this, as witnessed by their well- intentioned but vacuous statement last week about patenting the […]
Brenda Atkinson MIXED MEDIA There is something unnervingly seamless about the public face of Andersen Consulting’s high-profile investigation into electronic commerce in South Africa. Called “dotcoza”, the project was launched on March 6 this year and goes like this: a volunteer – a kind of Consumer Zero – is installed in a Johannesburg house, empty […]
IN the first successful land claim dating back to the colonial era, more than 900 members of the Hlubi tribe are set to return to their ancestral lands in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The claim is for some 8600 hectares, comprising 43 farms near Estcourt. The transfer, which is expected to be made official in November, will […]