Staff Reporter

Civil wars, civilian bloodshed and Western inaction – these are the hallmarks of a 21st-century conflict, write Richard Norton-Taylor and Owen Bowcott There is a deadly new pattern to the world’s armed struggles, in which civil wars are escalating into regional conflicts while the international community is increasingly reluctant to intervene, according to a military […]

Reg Rumney and Janet Wilhelm offer tips gleaned from research for their book, Movers &Shakers: An A-Z of South African Business People What makes a “captain of industry”? Our encounters with the top people in business suggest that touching 2m tall would help. The heads of our major corporations often tower over lesser mortals, like […]

Economists say the recent spate of liquidations are a sign that an 18-month recession is over. Donna Block and Mungo Soggot report The gold price has slumped below $300 again, there is a spate of liquidations and world markets are jittery – but economists remain bullish about South Africa’s growth prospects next year. The liquidations, […]

PIETER Strydom’s hard hitting century led Border to a respectable total of 324 for six wickets at the close of play on the first day of their SuperSport Series match against Griqualand West at Buffalo Park on Thursday. Strydom’s innings was split into two distinctive halves with the first 50 being a quietly composed affair […]

Mirjam Asmal takes umbrage at Brenda Atkinson’s review of towards-transit: new visual languages in South Africa, a recent exhibition in Zurich Out of anxiety for aesthetic, political or cultural ghettoisation, South African art critics seem to escape into shouting “colonial misappropriation”, “voyeurism” or “European gaze” instead of facing the challenge of an international art discourse. […]

Shaun Harris South Africans’ relatively new, partial freedom to invest offshore has been warmly welcomed this year, providing a growing flow of business for financial consultants and global unit trust management companies. Increased investor knowledge and sophistication here now closely follow the wisdom that a long-term, low-risk portfolio must be well diversified, and that means […]

>From Paul Simon’s Graceland to the Rugby World Cup, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has brought traditional a cappella to the rest of the world, writes Lucy O’Brien ‘You can buy the biggest house in America, but it’s not home. Where the mother lives – that is home,” says Joseph Shabalala, leader of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. He […]

finals? Andy Capostagno in London Rugby World Cup Francois Pienaar and Nick Farr Jones were very insistent. “Don’t write off France,” they said. “They may be a shambles at the moment, but they have a habit of getting it right when it matters.” They didn’t say that this week, they said it three months ago […]

Cameron Duodu LETTER FROM THE NORTH There is a hidden agenda behind the defiant decision of the governor of Zamfara state, in northern Nigeria, Ahmad Sani, to introduce Sharia law into his state with effect from October 27. Nigeria is split almost equally between Muslims and Christians, and to have laws based on one religion […]

Thirty years ago the world as we know it changed. Simon Jeffery looks at the communication revolution that became the Internet 1958: Dwight D Eisenhower creates the Advanced Research Projects Agency (Arpa) to further American military science after the Soviet Union launches Sputnik. 1962: Arpa works on computer technology. Head scientist Dr JCR Licklider sees […]

Getting pay-outs from the Unemployment Insurance Fund has become a nightmare for many women, writes Khadija Magardie South Africa has legislation that ensures relative job security to women whose work is temporarily or permanently interrupted by motherhood. This is extended to cover not only childbirth, but cases of miscarriage, stillbirth and even adoption. According to […]

CL Dallat ‘TIS by Frank McCourt (Flamingo) As 19-year-old Frank McCourt embarks for America to escape the poverty and gloom of another damp Limerick winter and the degradations of Irish patriotism and drink, it is unclear whether the ship will dock in Montreal or New York. Eventually orders are received to proceed to Albany – […]

Howard Barrell OVER A BARREL Greater numbers have never guaranteed greater quality. Four hundred MPs are as likely to include 201 fools as they are a majority of sensible individuals. Likewise, if we have a cabal of, say, 20 people making all our important national decisions, they are as likely as 400 MPs to be […]

Ann Eveleth and Aaron Nicodemus Roelf de Waal lived his life to the full, revelling in dare-devil sports such as hang-gliding and flying, and keeping active as a competitive cyclist, horse-riding teacher and falconer. These days, De Waal (49) spends his mornings navigating the stairway of his Pretoria home with the help of a walking […]

Neil Manthorp Cricket Sometime in the mid-1980s Malta’s football team manager said, after a 9-0 reverse against Italy in a European Championship qualifier, “We need to work on our defence a bit, but there were some good things …” With the same delicious sense of understatement, Zimbabwe’s embattled cricket captain Alistair Campbell admitted a few […]

Timor conflict As tension in East Timor remains high, South Africa is set to get involved in the conflict in the former Indonesian colony, write Paul Kirk and Ivor Powell Within days a team of 40 South African bodyguards will set off for the East Timorese capital of Dili – their mission: to protect Jos […]

Alan Henry Grand Prix World championship leader Eddie Irvine this week turned up the psychological pressure on his rival for the drivers’ title, Mika Hakkinen, effectively warning the Finn not to try any dirty tricks in the deciding Japanese grand prix at Suzuka on Sunday. Just days after Irvine’s Malaysian grand prix victory was restored […]

Alex Dodd spoke to Wayne Barker and Susan Glanville about how to get artists to speak for themselves “Sorry I couldn’t get back to you sooner, but we’ve had two babies in the last 24 hours”, breathes Susan Glanville down the phone, sounding frayed and mysterious like Judy Davis in Woody Allen’s Celebrity. Editor Christine […]

Paul Kirk On Monday, the Department of Justice declined to prosecute street trader Goodman Msomi on a string of criminal charges, which were laid when he attempted to uphold the law. Msomi is no ordinary street trader – he is a founding father of Traders against Crime, a group that has helped to stop the […]

Barry Streek speaks to former (and future?)politician Van Zyl Slabbert, whose new book is just out Van Zyl Slabbert, whose book Afrikaner Afrikaan (Tafelberg) was released in Cape Town this week, says he is not involved politically today and that he is not involved in any discussions with President Thabo Mbeki, whom he openly respects. […]

Movie of the week As in all narrative or temporal art, movie endings are very important. “It copped out at the end” is a familiar, negative judgment of a film, though in Hollywood movies especially there is often a mad rush in the final reel to tie up the loose ends strewn about the story. […]

Paul Trueman goes online to chat to like- minded souls about his passions Before free Internet service providers (ISP), Amazon.com, portals, broadband and browser wars, before even the World Wide Web itself, there were newsgroups. A great example of an often overlooked facet of the Internet, newsgroups are an online reminder of when the Internet […]

Chris Gordon Unita troops have moved into the Cuango Valley, threatening diamond mining operations there, as the war moves into a guerrilla phase. Diamond mining company Sociedade Desenvolvimento de Mineiro (SDM) has withdrawn its staff to Luanda, except for security and senior management, who remain to protect equipment and assess the degree of threat from […]

libraries William Pretorius The Greater Johannesburg Library is in a crisis. Display cases in the foyer are full of book covers, ranging from non- fiction to African novels and literacy readers, a piquant selection. But these are not coming attractions. They are books the library wants to buy but can’t afford. There just isn’t any […]

Gavin Foster He stands there, day after day, letting the good guys in and keeping the baddies out. Well, that’s what he’s supposed to do. But the chances are he’s just a pawn in paranoid South Africa’s scam of the century – pseudo-security. It’s difficult to say how many of the 160 000 workers registered […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer A glance at the headlines says it all: “Pirates, Chiefs get ultimatum”, “Missing file: Ndhlela accused”, “We’ll expose PSL corruption – Stars”, “Motimele report not Balfour’s baby”. As if that assortment of words was not depressing enough, there was also, “Buccaneers bite the dust”. Where will the gloom and doom end, this […]

Marianne Merten The Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) wants the government to address the alleged failure of black empowerment companies to help transform the fishing industry. The call was made as part of the strike by 5 000 Fawu members at 10 West Coast fishing and fish processing companies with black empowerment components. “The […]

Charlene Smith Glenn van Wyk, a physical education teacher at Queens High School, was this Wednesday charged with one count of rape and two counts of statutory rape. The charges relate to an allegation of raping three 14-year-old pupils at Queens High in Jeppe, Johannesburg. After a four-hour bail application opposed by the state, Van […]

organisation Rural community-oriented NGO EcoLink will not be defeated by the alleged misappropriation of R200 000 of its funds, write Clive Lloyd and Fiona Macleod EcoLink, one of the country’s oldest and largest environmental NGOs working with rural communities, says it will lay charges against its former administrator following the disappearance of more than R200 […]

Bruce Mhlongo, the new state witness in the Sifiso Nkabinde case, was registered and paid as a police agent, report Ivor Powell and Paul Kirk Two guns used to assassinate Richmond warlord Sifiso Nkabinde have been traced back to the Pietermaritzburg branch of the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) murder and robbery unit – where […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Bloemfontein | Friday 1.45pm SOUTH Africa are in a strong position as Zimbabwe lost three wickets for 47 runs before lunch on the opening day of the historic first Test Bloemfontein on Friday. Hansie Cronje won the toos and sent the visitors in to bat on a pitch that looked bouncy and lively. […]

Stephen Gray Review of the week Jana Cilliers’s wonderful solo performance is by now so esteemed that another recommendatory report on it would seem irrelevant. Currently well into her run at the Momentum in Pretoria’s State Theatre (until November 6, when it will be transferring to Johannesburg’s Civic Theatre), she is fast confirming her status […]