Staff Reporter

Mercedes Sayagues The queues for paraffin at the petrol stations were longer than the queues at the polling stations. Some of the four million people, or 80% of registered voters, who abstained must have been queuing. Others instead voted because paraffin, petrol and diesel are scarce but hardship is abundant. On two days, 1,33-million Zimbabweans […]

Adam Sweeting When the American record industry dishes out its annual awards this month, all eyes will be on Carlos Santana, the 52- year-old guitarist who has been nominated for 10 Grammys. That would be a remarkable achievement in any circumstances, but only a year ago Santana was thought of as a 1970s throwback with […]

Sarah Bullen Last year the Insider Trading Directorate (ITD) dropped a minor bombshell on local markets by publishing a list of companies in whose shares insider trading was suspected. In January it added 10 more to its list of 43. Six claims have been settled, seven have been closed due to lack of evidence and […]

Fumane Diseko COLOURS OF THE MOUNTAIN by Da Chen (Random House) DAUGHTER OF THE RIVER by Hong Ying (Bloomsbury) Both these books are autobiographical texts dealing with life in China. Da Chen, born in 1962 into a “landlord’s family” during Mao Zedong’s rule, suffers for the sins of his family. The roller- coaster policies of […]

A NORTHERN Province taxi owner has been acquitted of attempting to murder Orlando Pirates defender Gerald Raphahlela. Raphahlela narrowly escaped injury when the vehicle he was driving was sprayed with bullets in Seshego township on December 21 1998. Kobedi Kubushi, 40, a taxi owner from Seshego, was discharged in the Pietersburg High Court on Wednesday. […]

Heather Hogan The South African Police Service’s fraud unit is investigating an empowerment company that promised entrepreneurs their own bread distribution businesses, accepted their investments and then went into liquidation. Despite assurances from police that the investigation will commence this week, disgruntled investors, believing police are taking too long, staged a demonstration outside the Germiston […]

mail Yazeed Kamaldien As South Africa continues to promote an international image of a country in transformation and reconciliation, most citizens of the world are confronted with a contradictory image on the website www.creativewebs.co.za/apologies/. Created in 1998 to encourage white South Africans to apologise to their black counterparts for the injustices the latter suffered during […]

Time is running out for a group of farmworkers who are waiting for state assistance to build new homes Marianne Merten A group of 14 Stellenbosch farm workers and their children may soon find themselves homeless following the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs’s failure to provide them with grants for the construction of new […]

There is still time for the Human Rights Commission (HRC) to avoid a train smash over the “racism in the media” inquiry. It can withdraw the “notices of intention” that it has served on a host of editors, back off from the confrontational nature of the inquiry and, in co-operation with editors and other press […]

A TEAM from French car manufacturer Peugeot arrived in Gabarone, Botswana on Thursday for talks about bailing out Hyundai’s bankrupt car assembly plant. The 193-million pula ($41-million) plant, Botswana’s biggest manufacturing enterprise, was placed under temporary liquidation last month after it could not service loans of about $127-million. The talks with Peugeot follow similar ones […]

Thebe Mabanga Upon selling his company for a cool R3,5- billion, information technology entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth noted that university life was about “partying, booze and sex. Repeat if necessary.” The highlight of this cycle is definitely orientation week, enjoyed last week by more than 50 000 first years at 21 universities across the country. There […]

Khadija Magardie The government is planning to use colonial- era legislation to impose a R5E000 fine or maximum five-year jail sentence on traditional surgeons who perform botched circumcisions. The proposals are contained in a draft proclamation, drawn up under the 1927 Black Administration Act, which is currently being circulated among health authorities, practitioners and traditional […]

One of Durban’s biggest police stations has been renting its car park and providing a private security service to a nightclub Paul Kirk As I pull up into the Point Road parking lot, a well-dressed car guard comes up and ensures me my car will be safe. Neatly dressed in blue, and sporting a bulletproof […]

Graham Greene’s love affair with the mysterious ‘C’ is revealed obliquely in his books and private papers. Robert McCrum has read them Graham Greene was a novelist who understood the meaning and mechanics of mystery. He patrolled with impressive vigilance the perimeter fence of his privacy, while at the same time scattering tantalising clues about […]

AFRICA’S largest single energy sector industrial plant, Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, will be officially opened in April by President Olusegun Obasanjo, the company said. The plant has been operating since last October and the second of its two units was completed this week. The official opening had been planned for November but was delayed after […]

South Africa’s free antenatal care is delivering – literally Khadija Magardie It’s 4.15pm in the labour ward at Johannesburg hospital, fondly known as “the Gen”, and staff have just delivered their eighth baby for the day. At the front desk, midwife sister Pretty Dubazana is talking to a patient. Her shift should have ended in […]

They’re fighting over your personal information, and you’ll need some armour to maintain your privacy online Rupert Neethling The unflattering picture of a person who wants to safeguard his online privacy is typically of a man who doesn’t want to get caught visiting porn sites. Especially if he’s cyber-leching on company time. But the issue […]

A critic gets paid $10E000 a day to tell designers not to be too clever Jack Schofield For only $10E000 a day, usability expert Jakob Nielsen will tell you why your website is rubbish. Surprisingly, what you get for the money isn’t a high-powered marketing executive, or even an expert in Web programming. He’s just […]

Khadija Magardie The Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference has received a $5-million (R31- million) grant to fight the HIV/Aids pandemic in South Africa. The Catholic newspaper The Southern Cross reported last week that the grant is part of a R600-million package to various non- governmental and medical organisations, including churches. The money is the lifeline […]

SARAH BULLEN, Cape Town | Friday 5.30pm THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange ran out of steam on Friday afternoon, after climbing marginally higher earlier in a day dominated by futures trade. The major indices closed mixed, with only the industrial and IT counters ending in positive territory. Boosting the IT sector was news that Prism rose […]

Andrew Muchineripi SOCCER One question central to any discussion on the future of national soccer coach Trott Moloto is whether third place at the African Cup of Nations represents success or failure. This humble member of the Muchineripi clan has never been known for fence- sitting and I have no intention of changing good habits […]

Barry Streek Minister of Correctional Services Ben Skosana has told Parliament that there were only 2E600 known HIV cases in South African prisons at the end of December last year. His figures of HIV-infected prisoners have, however, been hotly disputed by the Democratic Party. In reply to questions tabled in the National Assembly by Johann […]

Bob Woolmer FROM THE PAVILION Lance Klusener, our hero, and Guy Whittall from Zimbabwe have both been given suspended sentences for swearing at each other. Big deal! If match referees had been in business in 1975, none of the Australian players would have played all year. I was fortunate enough to spend more than eight […]

Jill Waterman FNB Vita Dance Umbrella has a record 200 entries for this year’s Johannesburg contemporary dance platform. The development and promotion of contemporary dance is the key concept driving the Dance Umbrella and the sister dance festivals in Cape Town, Durban and Grahamstown. FNB Vita is clearly achieving its goals through the success and […]

ITALIAN Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini said in Cairo Wednesday that the first Euro-African summit will be a chance for his country to look into alleviating the debts of Africa’s poorest countries. However, “executive decisions (on debt cancellation) are not on the agenda of the summit,” scheduled for April 3-4 in Cairo, he said. Dini said […]

Greek Goddess MAINROLE PLAYERS Kaizer Motaung Earned the name Chincha-Guluva – make a fool out of a defender – for his dribbling wizardry. Affectionately known as Boy-Boy, from childhood. Recruited into professional soccer – Orlando Pirates – by the late Eric “Scara” Sono, father to Jomo Sono. Left for the United States in 1969 to […]

Howard Barrell OVER A BARREL You are not alone if you, too, are beginning to think that Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe is a few marbles short of a full bag. It is not a question on which we should expect our own Thabo Mbeki or his officials to comment. They are currently engaged in manoeuvres to […]

Heather Connon SHAREWORLD When FTSE International meets on March 8 to decide who is in and out, up and down, in the London stock market, construction company BICC’s lowly 330-million market capitalisation means it could be demoted to the small-cap index – of the smallest companies in the market. But Baltimore Technologies, a supplier of […]

Marianne Merten ‘Anyone who believes in his innocence has no trouble sleeping. I sleep like a baby.” That’s how outspoken senior Western Cape New National Party member and former poverty relief MEC Peter Marais reacts to his sacking. He is awaiting formal charges ahead of a disciplinary hearing, having been fired by Premier Gerald Morkel […]

SHARES in steel giant Iscor extended early losses on Thursday on news that recent floods will impact negatively on its production. The counter, which was down almost 3%, slid further to be 3,19% lower at R22,75 on the news. The company said that floods are expected to result in a loss of 500000 tons of […]

Ian Fife TAKING STOCK IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE SOUTH AFRICA’S LAST PROPERTY BOOM. THE LAST ONE PEAKED IN 1983, SO ALMOST EVERYBODY UNDER 40 HAS YET TO EXPERIENCE THIS KIND OF SOUL-STIRRING EVENT. THEN, ONLY WHITES COULD BUY GOOD PROPERTIES, SO MOST PEOPLE OVER 40 WERE SIDELINED AS WELL. A residential property boom is […]

Between Madagascar and the African mainland lie several small islands that time forgot Jacqui Pile ‘Slap ze seat before you sit down,” shouted Freddie, the mad German who picked us up at Nosy B airport. We vigorously hit the seats before we climbed into his convertible Kombi. A cloud of mosquitoes rose up and buzzed […]