Staff Reporter

Philippa Garson CLASS STRUGGLE The decision by Minister of Education Kader Asmal to appoint an independent panel of educationists to review Curriculum 2005 is welcome news indeed. After so much speculation, confusion and controversy about the new curriculum and its bumpy implementation, a cool, collected look by a group of people who do not have […]

NET WATCH During a recent Guardian debate over the commercialisation of the net, ntk.net’s editor Danny O’Brien complained that banner advertising was now taking longer to download than the actual content of most web pages. Users with local dial-up connections find this particularly frustrating, so finding a way to circumvent the bandwidth- eating ads could […]

The Mail & Guardian’s sister newspaper, The Guardian, is launching a campaign to bring education to the world’s millions of illiterate people. Victoria Brittain, Larry Elliot and John Carvel explain why it’s necessary Imagine that all children aged six to 14 in Europe and North America did not go to school. The figure is huge, […]

David Le Page TAKING STOCK As dot.coms scream up the graphs in the United States and Europe, it’s hard for local investors to ignore the lure of the information technology sector. Media stories about the Y2K problem have been replaced by predictions for likely IT developments in the next 20 or 30 years that would […]

THE case against Dudu Nkosi, the lover of alleged cash-heist kingpin Collin Chauke, was postponed on Thursday to allow the State to prove she used her sister’s alleged death to make false insurance claims. The Nelspruit Regional Court postponed its hearing against Nkosi to next Wednesday, February 9, to allow the State to call witnesses […]

TEN years to the day after he announced Nelson Mandela would be freed from prison and the African National Congress and other organisations opposing apartheid would be unbanned, F W de Klerk is a happy man. “I look back and I say: ‘No regrets,’” he said on Wednesday in an interview with Cape Talk radio […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Thursday 5.45pm. ZIMBABWE will have an unlikely ally in their Davis Cup tie against the United States at Harare this weekend: altitude. On Thursday, world number-one Andre Agassi said that the team’s first campaign on African soil will be very tough because of the 1500m altitude and the fervent home support. […]

SARAH BULLEN, Cape Town | Thursday 6.00pm MARKETS bucked around on Thursday in a volatile day’s trade as they were presented with a volley of economic and company news from both domestic and international sources and heavy futures trading. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange moved into the black in early trade before dipping into negative territory […]

A TORNADO and blinding rain ripped through several townships near Newcastle on Wednesday night, and the local MP wants them declared a disaster area. More than 100 injured people were admitted to Madadeni and Newcastle hospitals. Details of their injuries are expected later, and it is not yet known whether anyone was killed, or how […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 9.00pm. SOUTH Africa’s cricketers start the long climb to the final of the triangular limited-overs international series anew when they face a hyped England in East London. The Proteas’ two-wicket defeat on Wednesday to Zimbabwe at Kingsmead has seen them toppled from the top of the log, and they […]

THE Organisation of African Unity has decided to impose travel and financial restrictions on leaders of the Anjouanese separatist movement in the Comoros islands. The sanctions are a bid to force the separatists to commit to negotiations on the future of the break-away island, according to a statement issued by OAU Secretary General Salim Ahmed […]

AN Eastern Cape farmer has been diagnosed with the deadly and contagious Congo Fever. An intensive program has been launched in the province to prevent the spread of the disease. The farmer, Francois Retief, 51, is in a critical condition and is being treated in strict isolation. He was initially admitted to hospital at Graaff-Reinet […]

EASTERN Cape doctor Costa Gazi has been fined R1000 for criticising former health minister Nkosazana Zuma over the government’s refusal to issue the anti-AIDS drug AZT to infected pregnant women. The health department disciplinary committee in the Eastern Cape also warned Gazi of “serious action” should he repeat the criticism. Gazi told an East London-based […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Abidjan | Thursday 7.30pm. THE Cte d’Ivoire’s national soccer squad were released from a military camp outside Yamoussoukro on Thursday after being held since their defeat in the African Nations Cup. The players, who were detained at the Zambakro “School for the Maintenance of Peace,” arrived late afternoon in Abidjan, where they are […]

MEMBERS of Côte d’Ivoire’s football team were being held in the capital Yamoussoukro on Tuesday, following their elimination from the African Nations Cup, reliable sources said. The players passports and cellphones have apparently been confiscated, although a source said this was standard practice when the players regrouped for a rest. The source, who asked not […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday 8.00am. RIOT police were called in on Tuesday to break up clashes between drivers fighting over scarce diesel in Harare’s working-class suburb of Kuwadzana, the domestic Ziana news agency reported. Witnesses said drivers engaged in fistfights and hurled rocks at each other after some mini-bus drivers tried to jump a […]

NADER al-Sayed had the rare experience of collecting the ball from the back of the net as defending champions Egypt stormed into the African Cup of Nations quarterfinals on Tuesday. Al-Sayed surrendered a 489-minute unbeaten record spanning two editions of the biennial football showcase on Tuesday when Ismael Koudou of Burkina Faso blasted the ball […]

EGYPT is demanding $1.4-million from the organisers of the Paris-Dakar motor rally to make good the damage it inflicted on a nature reserve, the government daily Al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday. It said the Egyptian Environment Affairs Agency, part of the environment ministry, has lodged a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office against the organiser of […]

REBELS and their Rwandan military allies beheaded 12 women in an attack on a village in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a Kinshasa daily reported on Tuesday citing a local medical source. The massacre took place on January 5 in the village of Kasika in Mwenga territory in Sud-Kivu province, according to La Reference […]

THE greater Johannesburg metropolitan council is selling Johanesburg’s athletics stadium as loan repayments drain council coffers. The council is paying R11m a year to service the R164m outstanding on a R87m loan that the council took out in 1995 to finance the building of the stadium. The aim was to use the stadium, situated next […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Wednesday 11.00pm. ZIMBABWE beat South Africa for the first time on home soil when they triumphed by two wickets at Kingsmead in Durban. In a thrilling finale, the Zimbabweans scampered the winning run off the last ball, after a succession of dot-balls brought the required rate down to a run a […]

DUDU Nkosi, the lover of alleged cash-heist kingpin, Collin Chauke, pleaded not guilty in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Wednesday to defeating the ends of justice and to seven of 10 fraud charges against her. Nkosi told the court she was convinced Chauke was Max Shirhami Zikhale and that she had no reason to doubt […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 9.30am. TEST players Daryll Cullinan and Makhaya Ntini were handed suspended sentences on Tuesday following a verbal confrontation in the final of the Supersport Series. Gauteng batsman Cullinan was suspended for two matches while Border fast bowler Ntini was banned for one match. Both sentences were suspended until the end […]

CAPE Town dropped out of the running of the for the 2008 Summer Olympics, when they did not submit their preliminary bid application with the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday. Beijing is the early favourite of the ten cities which submitted bids, including Bangkok, Cairo, Havana, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Osaka, Paris, Seville and Toronto. Buenos […]

FORMER African Footballer of the Year Kalusha Bwalya bade farewell to the Nations Cup after Zambia drew 2-2 with Senegal in Group C on Tuesday and were eliminated. Senegal went through as runners-up while Egypt finished on top having maintained their 100% record coming from 2-0 down to beat Burkina Faso 4-2 in Kano. Bwalya […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday 4.15pm. THE Southern African Develpment Community has warned that at least 200 people are dying of hunger each day in Angola, where fighting has disrupted farming activities. “An escalation in civil strife has made an already precarious food situation even worse,” the SADC said in a report released this week. […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Wednesday 6.10pm. SOUTH Africa produced a late charge to set Zimbabwe a target of 223 in their triangular series limited-overs match at Kingsmead in Durban. The South Africans started well, but a huge collapse saw them in desperate trouble on 112/6 before Klusener and Jacques Kallis produced a partnership of 82 […]

COACH Jo Bonfrere has appealed for Nigerian fans to support the Super Eagles properly and not turn against the team if it fails to score early in Thursday’s crunch match against Morocco. Nigerian supporters went on the rampage last week, throwing bottles, attacking the players and smashing up the team bus and local football association […]

CHRISTIAN Solidarity International (CSI) said on Tuesday it bought the freedom of 4_ 092 slaves in Sudan last week. The Zurich-based Protestant non-governmental organization said it had liberated 25053 slaves since 1995 using the controversial method at the price of 50 dollars per head paid to slave traders. Most had been abducted in southwestern Bahr […]

DEON POTGIETER, Johannesburg | Wednesday 5.00pm. WORLD Boxing Organisation junior middleweight champion Harry Simon will have to defend his title against the WBO’s top-rated contender before embarking on his campaign to meet International Boxing Federation kingpin Fernando Vargas. It was announced on Tuesday that Simon will face Rodney Jones on 19 February in Dagenham, England. […]

BLACK empowerment group New Africa Investments Ltd (Nail), said on Monday that it has spun off its media assets into a separate entity as part of its ongoing restructuring. “New Africa Media (NAM), at this stage a wholly owned subsidiary of Nail, will assume control of all Nail’s media assets and hopes to list in […]

A FIRE broke out in the mountains above Cape Town’s plush Llandudno suburb on Wednesday afternoon, but was quickly bought under control. About six hectares of mountainside was burnt in the Suikerbossie area, but no property was threatened and all roads remained open, South Peninsula nunicipality officials said. Three helicopters were used to waterbomb the […]