Staff Reporter

Mail & Guardian reporter The Council on Higher Education is a powerful and broadly based body advising the minister on every facet of the sector. The council was established under the provisions of the Higher Education Act of 1997, and the first council was appointed in June 1998 with Professor Wiseman Nkhulu as chair. It […]

Stefaans Brmmer South African and Italian police documents in the Mail &Guardian’s possession reveal shocking details of “mafia kingpin” Vito Palazzolo’s chequered career. Palazzolo, arrested last week for “lying” in his 1994 South African citizenship application, has been branded one of seven top Sicilian mafia leaders worldwide by the United States FBI. He is wanted […]

CABINET on Wednesday approved the licensing of two additional national mobile cellular telecommunication networks, details of which will be announced by Telecoms Minister Jay Naidoo on Thursday. The licensing of two new networks was recommended by the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Satra) two months ago, despite the opposition of the two existing networks, Vodacom […]

Not quite movie of the week It’s that old adultery theme again. It has become as much of a clich and a formula as most of the rest of Hollywood’s stock-in- trade, predictably playing out the conflict between the demands of family and the lure of freedom (or just excitement). And, as if influenced by […]

Dylan Evans ALMOST LIKE A WHALE: THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES UPDATED by Steve Jones (Doubleday) Steve Jones, the lovable professor of genetics at University College, London, has re-written On the Origin of Species. His new book, Almost Like a Whale, has the same format as Darwin’s great work, right down to the chapter titles and […]

Wally Mbhele and Paul Kirk A senior National Intelligence Agency (NIA) official was arrested on Monday in Durban for the alleged rape of a Department of Foreign Affairs official. Both were assigned duties at the high-powered Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM). The matter was kept under wraps as government officials believed it would “embarrass” […]

ORLANDO Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs fans will be ale to flaunt their support in an unusual way when cellular company Vodacom introduces branded cellular packs specially tailored for fans of the two soccer giants. The packs will include a state-of-the-art cellphone with an interchangeable Pirates or Chiefs front panel and a prepaid cellular card and […]

Cameron Duodu LETTER FROM THE NORTH I remember an immigration officer at Jan Smuts airport once asking me, “Is Ghana in the Commonwealth?” “Yes,” I said. He waved me through. But a Nigerian, whose country was also in the Commonwealth, was held up for several minutes. When he finally emerged to join me in the […]

Laurie Anderson has a new take on Moby Dick. She tells Renaud Machart all about it I caught up with Laurie Anderson in Charleston, South Carolina, in June. She was having breakfast at the hotel where she and her entourage were staying during the Spoleto Festival, an event that the Italian-American composer Gian Carlo Menotti […]

Heather Hogan Johannesburg police officer Lourentius Alberts appeared in court this week on charges of indecently assaulting a neighbour’s 11-year-old daughter. The girl’s mother said in her statement to the police: “I had some friends over for the afternoon and my daughter was playing outside. That evening I was standing washing dishes when she came […]

THE R7,6-million defamation lawsuit brought against United Cricket Board managing director Ali Bacher by former Pakistani player Younis Ahmed was postponed indefinitely on Wednesday. etv news reported that Ahmed asked the Johannesburg High Court to postpone the case as he is not ready to proceed. He brought the lawsuit after Bacher faxed a document, apparently […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 5.00pm. BLACK fast bowler Walter Masimula lined up for a combined provincial team against the touring England side in Centurion Thursday as a new race row hit South African cricket. There was an outcry when only white players were picked to represent a combined Gauteng and Northerns XI against […]

THE Democratic Party on Wednesday won two by-election seats from the National Party in the Eastern Cape. The party won by-elections Middelburg and Ward 5 in Port Elizabeth The DP won 55,2% of the vote in Middelburg and 86,2% in Port Elizabeth’s Ward 5.

THE Democractic Party on Wednesday demanded a meeting with visiting Chinese parliament chairman Li Peng over his country’s human rights record. DP spokesman Colin Eglin said in a statement the party wants to talk to Li about Chinese-occupied Tibet, the country’s crackdown on religious dissidents, as well as progress towards multi-party democracy. Li, China’s second […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Johannesburg | Thursday 6.30pm. SUNDOWNS increased their Castle Premiership lead to seven points with a 3-1 victory over Jomo Cosmos at Loftus Stadium while traditional rivals Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs faltered in midweek matches. Pirates drew 0-0 with Hellenic at Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town while Chiefs slumped to a shock 2-1 […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 1.00pm. THE Tunisian club assault on Africa continues this weekend in Cote d’Ivoire when Club Africain play local side Africa Sports in the first leg of the Cup Winners Cup final. Etoile du Sahel built a one-goal advantage over Moroccan visitors Wydad Casablanca last weekend in the CAF Cup final […]

AN average of 1600 people are killed in road accidents in Tanzania each year, the Tanzania Roads Association said. The TARA chairman Immanuel Kimambo said on Wednesday that an estimated 6400 people have been killed in road accidents during the past four years. Most of the accidents occur due to human error, he said, and […]

ANGLO-Dutch oil giant Shell has declared another force majeure in Nigeria, the seventh in recent months due to unrest in the Niger Delta region, a company official said Thursday. In recent months, amid ethnic clashes in which dozens of people have died, the company has suffered operational stoppages that have forced it to declare force […]

SOUTH Africa A captain Dale Benkenstein won the toss and elected to bat first against Sri Lanka A in their second four-day tour match at the Oval in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday. Teams: South Africa A: Mark Bruyns, Doug Watson, Dale Benkenstein (capt), Ashwell Prince, Arno Jacobs, Pieter Strydom, Justin Kemp, Wendell Bossenger, Shafiek Abrahams, Mornantau […]

POLICE, soldiers and traffic officials impounded more than 60 minibus taxis in Umtata in a five-day joint operation which ended on Wednesday, police said. Commander of the public order police unit, Senior Superintendent Wayne Hackart said the operation targeted all five taxi ranks in the Umtata town centre following clashes between different taxi groups.

FORMER president Nelson Mandela announced on Wednesday that the Heath special investigating unit would soon be restructured into a number of separate units. Speaking to journalists at his office in lower Houghton, Johannesburg, where he was visited by Judge Willem Heath, Mandela said the format of the restructuring would depend on discussions between Heath and […]

BRONWEN ROBERTS, Cape Town | Tuesday 8.15pm HEALTH Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang told Parliament on Tuesday that South Africa cannot afford to dispense the anti-AIDS drug AZT. Defending government’s much-criticised refusal to sanction the drug’s use to combat the spiralling epidemic, Tshabalala-Msimang said that it would cost government ten times the total health budget to administer […]

THE European Union said on Tuesday it has approved plans by Switzerland’s SAirGroup AG and South Africa’s Transnet to take joint control of South African Airways. SAirGroup, the parent of Swissair, in June bought a 20% stake in SAA for R1,4-billion. It has an option to acquire a further 10% in the South African airline, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday 9.50am. WITS University again failed to get a winner, recording their ninth draw in 15 matches when they were held to a goalless stalemate by SuperSport United in a Castle Premier League fixture at Milpark Stadium in Johannesburg on Tuesday night. The most disappointing aspect of the match will […]

ZAMBIA has increased the volume of its exports of non-traditional goods to Europe to a level now reaching more than $100-million, the Export Board of Zambia said on Monday. According to the EBZ, the European Union in general has become the largest market for Zambian non-traditional exports such as flowers, textiles, tobacco, coffee, cotton and […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 3.45pm. JOMO Cosmos will be in the line of fire on Wednesday when they meet a rampant Sundowns squad fresh from their 3-1 hammering of Orlando Pirates in Saturday’s Rothmans Cup semifinal. Sundowns will undoubtedly be full of fight, and coach Paul Dolezar will be expecting the Brazilians to […]

UGANDAN President Yoweri Museveni told a Durban press conference on Monday that gays and lesbians in his country are free to follow their own sexual orientation as long as they do not “flaunt” it in public and disobey the law. Speaking after the close of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Museveni said homosexuals have […]

ALLAN Donald, SA’s opening bowler, will miss this weekend’s SuperSport Series clash, after being left out of the 12 man Free State team named on Monday to face Natal at Kingsmead. Donald has a slight side strain and will rest ahead of next week’s first Test against England.

HIGH profile government and police officials have been implicated in the assassination five years ago of the former Transkei’s deputy police commissioner Lieutenant-General Wildon Mdluli Mbulawa, police announced on Tuesday. The case has been handed over to the Directorate of Special Investigations, also known the Scorpions, said senior investigating officer Superintendent Mark Magadlela. The Scorpions […]

TOP SA soccer club Kaizer Chiefs will end a six year, self-imposed exile from Pan-African soccer competitions by playing in the 2000 Caf cup. Also entering with the league runners-up are champions Sundowns and cup winners SuperSport United.

T HE South African Broadcasting Corporation recorded a R112-million surplus for the year to March 1999, the broadcaster said in a statement on Tuesday. This is a further increase on the surplus of R105-million for the 18 months ending in March 1998, compared to a deficit of R60-million for the 1997 financial year. Revenue improved […]

CELLULAR telephone company MTN announced that it is to invest R54 million into cricket development over the next seven years, making it the game’s biggest national development sponsor, and the biggest sponsor of national schools cricket. The programme, the single biggest development sponsorship in the history of South African sport, will run until the end […]