Staff Reporter

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 […]

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.

flashpoints Jubie Matlou A: Eastern Cape/KZN cross-border district council Resistance to the demarcation border proposal has triggered some of the bloodiest conflicts since the 1960 Pondo peasant revolt. At least seven people have been killed in the Lusikisiki area, alongside the provincial border with KwaZulu-Natal. The cross-border proposal seeks to bring together the Eastern Cape […]

William Boot The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF)top three officials and the vice-president of the World Bank flew to Gabon last week to introduce 20 African leaders to a new initiative to make it easier for countries to escape the bonds of debt and grow their way out of want. Arriving in private jets at Libreville’s […]

Jubie Matlou Who are … Tumi Makgabo, Charles Mogale and Jeremy Maggs? For a woman who earns her living by talking, current affairs presenter Tumi Makgabo was surprisingly cagey about her prospects of joining Ted Turner’s Cable News Network (CNN). For Makgabo (25), Atlanta beckons with not just the promise of life captured by Coca- […]

Letter from the North

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 […]

Reports and interviews by Cameron Duodo In 1994 Christian Solidarity International officials discovered a booming slave trade in Sudan. Here they tell the stories of some of the slaves for whom they bought freedom Since 1995, an organisation based in Switzerland, called Christian Solidarity International (CSI), has spent $1-million redeeming 20 000 Dinka slaves, captured […]

guard Paul Kirk KwaZulu-Natal women’s groups reacted with outrage this week when the wife of one of the premier’s bodyguards could not find a police officer willing to arrest her husband for violating a domestic violence interdict. Inspector Kenneth Ndlovu, one of Premier Lionel Mtshali’s bodyguards, appeared in court this week on charges of contravening […]

Howard Barrell A small black economic elite has benefited most from the democratisation of South Africa over the past 10 years. While the black share of wages, salaries and other income in South Africa rose dramatically over the five years to 1996, almost all of this increase occurred among the top 10% of black earners, […]

I am snowed-in in the United States, and although it is initially quite exciting, the novelty begins to fade as the implications begin to sink in.

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 […]

I read today Of a little girl Whose face was burned away. She cannot see, She cannot speak, Her hands are gone, She cannot eat. Unless someone helps her, She is alone. Her youthful mother Could not rescue the infant >From the flames of a shack fire. The pain, the shock, Was too much for […]

Neil Manthorp Cricket Boardroom back-stabbings and committee politics are as much a part of sport as scrotal rash and bad feet, so while the country’s “thinking sports fan” ponders whether Hansie Cronje’s team is distracted by the forced resignation of United Cricket Board (UCB) president Ray White, Cronje’s men are “just playing cricket”. Wednesday’s remarkable […]

hard Scotch Tagwireyi South African universities are experiencing a dramatic fall in enrolment, with the viability of some campuses threatened by a drop of almost 30% in student intake between 1998 and 1999. Exceptions to this are the University of Pretoria and the University of Cape Town, both of which claim to have stable enrolment […]

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 […]

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 […]

FOURTEEN people were killed and 11 were injured when a lorry packed with people and produce plunged off a bridge into a river near Calulo in Angola’s Cuanza-Sul province, LUSA news agency reported on Thursday. Most of the casualties in the Luime river accident were travelling traders on their way to the town of Dondo […]

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 cash-strapped government of Lesotho on Wednesday finalised the sale of 80% of its government vehicle pool to a South African company in the kingdom’s latest privatisation venture. The government’s R80-million deal with Imperial Fleet Services was signed in the kingdom’s capital Maseru. The sale includes the transfer of about 1200 vehicles which will now […]

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 […]

DEMOCRATIC Party Chief Whip Douglas Gibson said on Friday that statements to the effect that the DP will support the draft Firearms Control Bill in its present form are unmandated and factually incorrect. It was reported earlier this week that the party had decided to support the legislation. Gibson said in a statement that the […]

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 government is setting up a national disaster management centre in the wake of the devastating fires that swept through the Cape Peninsula last week. Water Affairs Minister Ronnie Kasrils says the centre will concentrate on strengthening co-ordination and our ability to manage disasters as well as taking steps to reduce community vulnerability to their […]