Staff Reporter

Mercedes Sayagues Zimbabwe’s fuel woes eased slightly on Tuesday when 10-million litres of diesel, expected to last less than three days, began arriving on the Beira pipeline. More diesel waits at Beira in Mozambique but will not be released unless the state oil procurement agency, Noczim, pays up front. Suppliers have cut credit lines to […]

Gregory Mthembu-Salter United Nations Security Council members are currently adding the finishing touches to a resolution on the deployment of a UN force in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This follows a request for troops from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and an impassioned appeal for assistance from African heads of state and government representatives, […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The report on taxi violence in Gauteng released this week catalogues extraordinary details of police officers in Pretoria joining forces with taxi assassins, even escorting them in police Casspirs. The report reveals details of how police officials leased government property, including firearms, bulletproof vests and police uniforms, to taxi associations for […]

ST ELMO’s restaurant in Camps Bay, Cape Town, which was ripped apart by a pipe-bomb explosion in November, was on Thursday provisionally liquidated after its insurers refused to pay its claim. The restaurant owners applied for provisional liquidation, saying they are operating at a loss, and thus can not meet their business obligations. But insurers […]

Movie of the week It is rather strange to see Brad Pitt, who has a body immaculately toned down to the last sinew, scoffing at the male models in Gucci ads. Is the irony deliberate? In Fight Club it is often hard to tell. This is a film that derides consumerism, but it is made […]

Donna Block The Alpine resort of Davos is where the world’s leading movers and shakers are gathered for the next few days to ponder the challenges of globalisation in the 21st century. New Beginnings: Making a Difference is the premise of the 30th annual session of the World Economic Forum which started on Thursday, with […]

Guy Willoughby speaks to Marthinus Basson about his latest collaboration with poet/playwright Breyten Breytenbach Marthinus Basson – design-directorial supremo, arts propagandist, all-round theatre maestro – is snatching coffee and koek between final rehearsals of The Life and Times of Johnny Cockroach, his latest explosive collaboration with poet-turned- playwright Breyten Breytenbach. Restlessly pacing the noisy Nico […]

Sarah Bullen Nerves of steel are no longer mandatory to fill in a medical aid application form if you are suffering from a chronic condition. Those polite questions inquiring about the state of your health can no longer serve as embedded red flags that will ensure your application lands neatly in the trash pile. The […]

THE remains of Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, as well as those of eight other activists, are to be exhumed by Human Rights in Port Harcourt. The Wiwa family will hold an official burial on April 24 in Ogoni. Saro-Wiwa, an environmental and human rights leader, playwright, and founder of the Movement for the Survival of […]

Matthew Krouse The fake stones that built Sun City, its intentionally haphazard forestry and its pretentious pools that look like ruins are part of the general lie it lives. Here, in the sad old North-West province – we’re supposed to pretend – a playful, lost African civilisation put down roots that can now be explored […]

Local markets should benefit this year from renewed international approval, writes Donna Block. Go along for the ride It requires a great deal of boldness and a great deal of caution to make a great fortune, and when you have it, it requires ten times as much skill to keep it. Ralph Waldo Emerson made […]

Web Watch At www.dogdoo.com you can send, anonymously of course, a box of dog turds to your worst enemy. It’s worth visiting just to read the thank-you letters and recommendations. Fan clubs, theatre troupes, football teams and similar groups can get organised on the Web using the free service at www.SmartGroups.com. Features include a message […]

The municipal demarcation process is being obfuscated by a misinformation campaign, writes Jubie Matlou The dispute that has erupted between the Municipal Demarcation Board and KwaZulu- Natal traditional leaders revolves around the role and powers of traditional leaders and the demarcation of traditional authority land under the municipal demarcation process. These two issues were the […]

A NEW drug combination developed in London offers hope to chronic malaria sufferers who have built up immunity to existing treatments, researchers said. It may also prove an effective initial treatment for the mosquito-borne disease that kills up to three million people each year.

Stefaans Brmmer The Mmakau villagers first knew there was trouble 18 months ago when the baboons came down from the hills. Little could they have known that the primates were harbingers of a saga that would split the community and draw in controversial granite magnate Fred Keeley, relatives of Minister of Public Enterprises Jeff Radebe […]

Steven Friedman Worm’s Eye View Politicians can – and should – pass laws extending our rights. But only citizens can – and should – ensure that we use them. For some, the four Bills struggling their way through Parliament signal an ambitious government attempt to create a new society. They deal with core issues such […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer The first round of the African Cup of Nations delivered 21 goals, seven enjoyable matches, more highs and lows than normally found on a weather chart, and further proof that the only certainty in football is uncertainty. Ghana and Cameroon set a lively pace in the opening match and it has barely […]

Fight Club, starring Brad Pitt, is one of the most violent films ever made. It has shocked audiences, but director David Fincher feels misunderstood, writes Damon Wise There’s a scene in Fight Club where Tyler Durden, the evil genius played by Brad Pitt, is working as a projectionist in a downtown multiplex. He’s working frantically, […]

THE president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has “surprised” bank officials by winning Z$100000 in a promotional draw carried out by Zimbank for its clients. Zimbabwe Banking Corporation (Zimbank) said Mugabe’s name emerged from the promotional draw on Wednesday out of thousands of qualifying account holders who participated in the promotion. “Master of ceremonies Fallot Chawawa […]

Mail & Guardian reporter Get those stories out of your bottom drawer – or start writing now! The South African Internet literary journal, LitNet, which has been a notable success in Afrikaans and is now expanding into English, is running an online creative writing workshop and is calling for stories. WriteAgain, sponsored by Penguin publishers […]

Eddie Webster and Glenn Adler A Second Look There is an increasingly widespread view in business circles and among conservative columnists in the press that trade unions are the main obstacle to job creation, foreign investment and a new growth path. Some even evoke the labour-repressive Chilean or South Korean options to clear the way […]

Sharon Gill Choosing a healthy bottom line and attacting new members has seen medical schemes develop some innovative products in the past few years. “We really changed the rules of the game. We structured a wellness programme called Vitality, because if people lead a healthy lifestyle, it will lead to reduced healthcare costs,” says Neville […]

Fiachra Gibbons Seamus Heaney, the Irish Nobel laureate, won the Whitbread book of the year award this week when his ancient warrior Beowulf slew the upstart young wizard Harry Potter. It is the fourth year in a row that a poet has won the 22E000 prize. Heaney’s translation of the ancient Anglo- Saxon epic poem […]

SPORT and Recreation Minister Ngconde Balfour wants greyhound racing legalised. Briefing the national Assembly’s sport and recreation committee on Tuesday, Balfour said greyhound racing is legal in most developed countries. He asked the committee to start investigating the possibility of legalising the sport. Balfour said his office had received a flood of correspondance on the […]

David Beresford Another Country South Africa is about to ban discrimination, which, considering this country’s track record in the 20th century and previously, seems a reasonable thing to do. In fact, it is to be outlawed from February 4 2000. This can be stated with the certainty of constitutional edict, the founding document of our […]

Channel vision Last week I was harping on about how television delivers up its little shock tactics. Some crafty incubus waits until the audience is deep in mindless acceptance mode, then slips in a dart so sharp as to horrify. Last Saturday this happened in the middle of an SABC3 news bulletin. The effect was […]

Deon Potgieter Boxing Acknowledged as one of the top 10 South African boxers of the past century, “Baby” Jake Matlala is intent on earmarking a place in the top 10 list of the new century as well. He meets the power-punching Hawk Makepula for the vacant World Boxing Organisation (WBO) junior flyweight title on February […]

Lucretia Stewart Body Language `Why can’t a woman be more like a man?” was Professor Higgins’s bewildered complaint in My Fair Lady, as Eliza Doolittle led him a merry dance. How times have changed. Now men want to be more like women, sometimes even to be women. Failing that, the question today seems to be: […]

MPUMALANGA’s sacked deputy speaker, Cynthia Maropeng, and three co-accused admitted to using almost R1-million in State funds to buy themselves houses and other personal items on Wednesday. Maropeng, legislature secretary Wilson Ngwenya, legislature finance director Jomo Siboza and former legislature secretary Alfred Mahlangu signed the admissions as part of a bid to speed up their […]

THE SABC has axed the award-winning consumer series Fair Deal. According to SABC spokeswoman Marge Murray, the series, presented by Isabel Jones, has been axed due to sponsorship problems with Absa bank. The show’s producers, Paul Zwick Productions, said however that the SABC decided that the programme does not fit into the new SABC 3 […]

POLICE investigating license fraud at three Mpumalanga vehicle testing stations were forced to abandon their probes in 1998 after systematic intimidation of witnesses destroyed their court case. Nelspruit fraud investigator Sergeant Jan Ngwenya confirmed on Wednesday that police managed to arrest five senior traffic officials in 1998 during a sting operation at the Elukwatini test […]

A NIGERIAN lawyer is threatening to sue organisers of the on-going African Nations Cup after he was beaten up by security agents and officials at the Nigeria-Tunisia match on Sunday. Austin Mamedu told the television station AIT he had been invited by organisers to the match but was caught up in a stampede when spectators […]