Staff Reporter

torturer Howard Barrell The top National Intelligence Agency (NIA) official suspended from work on allegations that he stole R3-million from the agency is the same man who commanded the African National Congress’s infamous Quatro detention camp in Angola during the days of the worst excesses there. Sizwe Gabriel Mthembu, suspended from his job as head […]

Michael Walker It must constitute one of the most spectacular gestures of faith in the history of ex-offenders. At 4pm on Wednesday, in the ambassador suite of third division Darlington football club, the club chair George Reynolds – a one- time safe-blower with four years in prison on his CV – was handed the most […]

players’ Vivek Chaudhary The likes of David Beckham, Alan Shearer and Ronaldo may be idolised on and off the pitch and earn millions of pounds each year. But as far as Fifa, world football’s governing body, is concerned, the future is female. In a surprise attack on male professional football, industry delegates at a conference […]

Peter Dickson The Eastern Cape legislature’s minority of women members have established the first women’s caucus in a provincial legislature, in a determined bid to tackle gender imbalances and influence government policy over the next five years. Eastern Cape legislature deputy speaker and former welfare MEC Mandisa Marasha commented on the new body that comprises […]

Steven Friedman WORM’S EYE VIEW If Thabo Mbeki is serious about African solidarity, he might try encouraging it at home. An important feature of the early Mbeki presidency has been its stress on Africa. Besides the “African renaissance’s” new status as a symbol, Mbeki has been far more concerned than his predecessor to encourage peace […]

Barry Streek The number of regular farm workers in South Africa decreased by 2% a year over the past five financial years, but the number of seasonal workers increased slightly, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko Didiza has disclosed. She warned that there are difficulties in obtaining reliable statistics on farms, including commercial farms. […]

John Matshikiza WITH THE LID OFF I am aware that there are those sceptics out there who believe that I make up most of the unlikely things that appear as gospel in this column. I can only say to them, “Keep enjoying the ride,” and I take refuge in the old maxim that says “the […]

Lisa Buckingham and Dan Atkinson in London There were red faces all round at accountancy firm KPMG this week after a report was published disclosing that fewer than one in five takeovers produces any value for shareholders. The consultancy firm was playing down suggestions it had tried to pull the report at the last minute […]

NEW FICTION THE ARTIST’S WIDOW by Shena Mackay (Vintage) Now out in paperback, this is Shena Mackay’s first novel since her Booker- shortlisted The Orchard on Fire (1996). Though perhaps not quite as gripping, The Artist’s Widow has some interesting ideas and amusing characters. Through a private viewing of paintings by the recently deceased husband […]

Occasionally you happen upon a gem of television that makes all the other dross so much more insignificant. Such was the case in a half-hour documentary on e.tv last week, called JG Strijdom is Very, Very Dead: a faultlessly ironic examination of life around the gargantuan bronze head of “The Lion of the North”, which […]

Despite the storm surrounding the first visit of Sergio Garcia, Andy Capostagno tips Nick Price or Colin Montgomerie to pocket the prize money ‘I don’t know how we’re ever going to top this one, said Nick Price after winning the Million Dollar Challenge for the third time last year. Price had prevailed in exceptional circumstances, […]

As the new mediator in the Burundi crisis, Nelson Mandela will have to work hard to convince the key players in the strife that they can benefit from peace.

Tangeni Amupadhi Namibians went to the polls this week in the country’s second presidential and general elections since independence. The election started smoothly on Tuesday morning, but its credibility was later put in doubt when the main opposition party, the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), exposed that the ink used to mark the thumb of a […]

John Stremlau SECOND LOOK Whatever ails former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, his presence in a private Pretoria clinic carries a political disease that could weaken South Africa’s international image and the vitality of its foreign policy. Human rights define South Africa, domestically and internationally. It is the mainspring for the nation’s extraordinary prestige and […]

Philippa Garson CLASS STRUGGLE As protestors converged on Seattle to rant their opposition to the effects of globalisation on vulnerable communities this week, similar mutterings of dissent were being echoed at a small but significant gathering of South Africans. Entitled Construction Site: Good Governance for New South Africa – A Quest to Reinvent or Strengthen […]

Khadija Magardie Educationists from across South Africa attended a three-day conference organised by the Council on Higher Education (CHE), which has told the government that there is no common vision on the future of higher education. There are severe problems related to availability of financial and human resources, inadequate higher education policy expertise and a […]

ANDY CAPOSTAGNO, Sun City | Thursday 1.30pm. WITH South African sport from rugby to cricket being dragged kicking and screaming into the new millennium, the only hangover of the apartheid days is the Million Dollar Challenge. The tournament was created in 1981 as an attempt to popularise Sol Kerzner’s new casino complex, something which it […]

KENYAN football premier league champions, Mumias Sugar, have been stripped of their title and banned from all football activities for one year for match-fixing. The disqualification, announced on Thursday by the Kenya Football Federation’s National League and Competitions Committee, means that Mumias will not play in the African Club champions’ Cup or the African Cup […]

FIFTEEN workmen were killed in Harare on Thursday when a construction hoist dropped 17 floors to the ground. Government inspectors have launched an investigation into what is being described as one of Zimbabwe’s worst construction accidents. The hoist carrying the men and construction materials fell more than 67 meters to ground level shortly after 7.30 […]

FLIGHTS from three of South Africa’s international airports were delayed on Wednesday following a major computer crash. The Star reports the breakdown of the checking in and boarding computer system delayed flights to Swaziland, Dubai, Harare and Luanda from Johannesburg International Airport. South African Airways said the crash also affected Cape Town and Durban international […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Pretoria | Thursday 8.00am. WORLD rugby’s elite coaches gave lineouts the thumbs-up on Thursday but will continue the debate over scrummaging problems following the first day of an International Rugby Board conference on the playing of the game. Set pieces were the major topic scrutinised by a brains trust of national coaches including […]

President Bill Clinton on Wednesday proposed giving the world’s poorest countries greater duty-free access to US markets. The United States is discussing the initiative with Japan and the European Union, which has floated a similar proposal ahead of the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle this week. The initiative, announced in a White House statement, […]

The United States said it supports the appointment of former president Nelson Mandela to be the new mediator in Burundi.

Robben Island have been declared world heritage sites by the United Nations’ culture and science body.

ZAMBIA beat Malawi 4-1 in a Cosafa Cup under-20 Group B soccer match at Vosloorus Stadium in Johannesburg on Thursday. The Zambians were much too strong and opened the scoring in the 22nd minute through January Zyambol. They extended their lead in the 38th minute when Emmanuel Zulu beat goalkeeper Swadick Sanudi and went into […]

A WOMAN and four men were kidnapped and killed in KwaZulu-Natal province, apparently by a group of minibus taxi drivers, police said on Thursday. The bodies of the five — three of them teenagers — were discovered on Wednesday around the Inanda area, just north of the east coast city of Durban. “All five victims […]

GRIQUALAND West captain Pat Symcox has withdrawing from the the team facing play North West in the Shield Series match beginning on Friday in Potchefstroom. Symcox recommended that the provincial selectors use December’s two Shield matches for blooding promising young players. Opening batsman Martyn Gidley will captain Griquas in their remaining four-day fixtures and Pieter […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Pretoria | Thursday 8.00am. Sundowns ……… (1) 1 (Alain Amougou 10) Santos ……….. (1) 1 (Duncan Crowie 3) SO the seemingly invincible Castle Premiership pacesetters Sundowns are human after all! Okay, they did not lose on Wednesday night, but no one expected mid-table Santos to hold the star-studded squad. It could have been […]

SOUTH Africa picked up from a tentative start to beat Lesotho 4-1 in a Cosafa Cup Group A under-20 soccer match at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg on Thursday. Lesotho took the fight to the South Africans early on and the locals had to defend mightily to avoid conceding a goal early on. The South African […]

AS part of a comprehensive restructuring process, the former Department of Constitutional Development has now been renamed the Department of Provincial and Local Government. The Department, together with its Ministry created in June, will concentrate on key programmes pertaining to the development of provincial and local government and intergovernmental relations. The function “constitutional development” is […]

JACQUES Kallis has again been ruled out of bowling in South Africa’s second Test against England in Port Elizabeth next weekend. Kallis has been ruled out of taking the leather after being advised by Cape Town specialist “Spike” Erasmus that his knee tendon should be rested a while longer. “And we accept that diagnosis,” said […]

THE Freedom of Expression Institute warned on Wednesday, World Aids Day, that patients exposed to the virus had the right to be told about medicines even if they could not afford them. “Prevention is not limited to informing South Africans about the ways they can get the disease,” the FXI said in a statement. “In […]