Former chief director of operations of the National Intelligence Service Maritz Spaarwater takes on a new role as researcher for the United Democratic Movement. Howard Barrell reports The apartheid superspook who set up the top-secret meetings with African National Congress leaders in Switzerland in 1989 that led to a negotiated settlement in South Africa has […]
Mail & Guardian reporter The ninth International Anti-Corruption Conference (IAAC) starts in Durban this weekend, bringing together world leaders and experts in the fight against corruption. The conferences are facilitated by Transparency International, which co- hosts this year’s event with the Department of Justice. The IACC was created in 1983 as networking forum for international […]
Louisa Young BODY LANGUAGE Product placement has never had it so good. According to underwear manufacturers Hanro, the Egyptian cotton camisole worn by Nicole Kidman in a scene from the Stanley Kubrick epic Eyes Wide Shut has been a hit all over the world. As the film opens in each country, sales of the skimpy […]
Robert McBride’s long-awaited testimony on the Magoo’s bar bombing started this week. Paul Kirk reports This week Robert McBride kicked off his amnesty application with an almost poetic explanation of why he decided to embark on the armed struggle – and then listed more than 10 bombing incidents which apartheid- era security police never even […]
Robert Colman Township theatre groups strut their stuff at the eighth annual Zwakala Festival beginning on October 11 at the Market Theatre Laboratory. As an open platform for new ideas, Zwakala is a forerunner in airing the best proponents of the marginalised voice – giving township talent the space it deserves. The Market Theatre Laboratory […]
the ANC’s shadow Ebrahim Harvey A SECOND LOOK The role of the South African Communist Party in the African National Congress- led alliance must rate as one of the most intriguing questions in the history of the South Africa liberation movement. There cannot be a harder act to follow. How is it that while proclaiming […]
corruption Where there is war, there is corruption, and in Southern Africa there are many conflicts. David Le Page reports on the SADC To find corruption in Southern Africa, first seek out war, tyranny and transition. These are the circumstances that create the space and opportunity for corruption, and among the 13 Southern African Development […]
Andy Capostagno in Edinburgh Rugby World Cup As it turns out we worried needlessly. A week into the fourth World Cup only England are sitting prettier than South Africa. Moreover, the Springboks got the kind of genuine workout against Scotland that no training camp can ever replicate: behind after an hour, convincing winners after 80 […]
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni Prostitutes conduct their business on the pavement outside the school walls, kwaito music blares from flats next door competing with the constant hooting of taxis. A teacher, who has just been mugged outside the school, arrives with her clothing ripped by criminals who fled with her jewellery. This is St Enda’s […]
Luvuyo Kakaza In his two current one-act plays, Bheki Mkwana avoids dealing with politics, instead he delves into the personal and, ironically, ends up revealing a clear insight into a society torn-apart by political violence. Protest Theatre, Mkhwana says “underestimates our creativity. Every piece of work produced during the heyday of apartheid dealt with experiences […]
The Boer War taught the Afrikaner to stand on his own and sometimes do unspeakable things for the survival of the Volk. A hundred years later it is time for a more inclusive story, says Antjie Krog It is early October 1899. At a farmhouse people are laughing, dancing, having a party. On a kopje […]
Donna Block Gold’s fortunes have risen like a phoenix out of the ashes as the price of the precious metal soared over $330 per ounce this week – a price that hasn’t been seen for two years. Bullion prices have risen dramatically since last week after 15 European central banks pledged to limit annual gold […]
The rise of powerful Indian gambling syndicates has led to some of the game’s biggest stars being ensnared in match- fixing claims. A special report by Jason Burke in Bombay, Denis Campbell and Kevin Mitchell The five men from Bombay sweated nervously as their plane passed over the Arabian Sea en route to Dubai. They […]
Stephen Gray Review of the week Well yes, it was a great pleasure on a day trip from Johannesburg last week to become a feverish festino at the second ever Aardklop National Arts Festival in leafy, springy, villagey Potchefstroom. To be part of not just one, but three, full houses for new shows ordinary people […]
WORLD Bank President James Wolfenson arrived in Nigeria early on Thursday for a two-day visit during which he is to meet President Olusegun Obasanjo and local leaders, officials said. Wolfenson is to make an address at an economic development conference on Thursday morning and then meet Obasanjo and key cabinet members for a working lunch. […]
CALL it early season nerves if you will, but time will tell if Free State’s first innings in their Supersport Series match against Boland will be enough. At close of play on the first day Thursday, the hosts were all out for 284 and Boland had resumed their first knock at 16 without loss after […]
THE latest Ugandan coffee season boasted a year-on-year rise in exports of 20,3% by weight and, because of a fall in prices, 2,1% by value, officials announced in Kampala on Wednesday. Exports totalled 3,65-million 60-kilo bags and $282,2-million, according to the regulatory Uganda Coffee Development Authority. The increase in exported volume was a result of […]
MICHAEL VLISMAS, Cape Town | Thursday 2.45pm. BRADFORD Vaughan will be aiming to become the first player to win back-to-back titles on the Vodacom Tour this year when the R200000 Vodacom Series: Western Cape tees off at the Rondebosch Golf Club on Friday. Vaughan claimed his first victory in two years when he won last […]
ENGLISH wingers Austin Healey and Dan Luger have been told there is only one way to stop New Zealand’s Jonah Lomu in the Group D showdown at Twickenham on Saturday – throw dung in his face. As right-wing, Healey, one of the smallest players in the competition, is in line to to play opposite the […]
THE United Kingdom and the United States have pledged to bolster the treatment of Tanzania’s former president, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, who is critically ill at the Saint Thomas hospital in the UK, an official source in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam said. Nyerere is suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. A medical report issued on […]
SOLID top order batting, ordinary bowling and a flat pitch conspired in Northerns’ favour on the opening day of their Supersport Series match against Easterns in Benoni on Thursday. The most important piece in the puzzle was a second-wicket partnership of 134 between Quentin Still and Neil McKenzie. That aside, it was a useful enough […]
MOBIL Oil South Africa on Wednesday announced the launch of a joint venture company in partnership with an empowerment company, Mlando Investment Holdings. The joint venture company, Sibuyile Petroleum, will operate from Durban providing the KwaZulu-Natal market with the full range of Mobil lubricants and Fluidlink fluid management services. Mlando Investments Holding will be the […]
DEON POTGIETER, Johannesburg | Wednesday 6.00pm. TWO of South Africa’s finest boxers have been offered big pay-day bouts. Following the impressive first defence of his International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior featherweight world title on September 25, Ledwaba has been approached to unify his title with that of World Boxing Organisation (WBO) junior featherweight kingpin Marco […]
A FRENCH judge on Wednesday opened an inquiry into allegations of Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi involvement in the deadly 1989 bombing of a French airliner over Africa, judicial sources said. The sources said anti-terrorist magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere decided to open the inquiry following complaints filed by relatives of the 170 victims of the attack, who […]
MERCURIAL centre Jeremy Guscott is back in the England side for Saturday’s crucial Group B clash against New Zealand at Twickenham. England coach Clive Woodward has made one change from the side that demolished Italy 67-7 last weekend, recalling Guscott in place of fellow British Lion Will Greenwood. Guscott came on as a replacement against […]
ENERGY Africa said on Wednesday that it and its United States partner Triton Energy Ltd have made a rich oil discovery off the coast of Equatorial Guinea. “The result is as good as could have been expected,” the company said in a statement, adding that preliminary tests pointed to an initial production rate in excess […]
RUNS, runs and more runs. So it would seem after Griquas ground their way to what seems an imposing total in the making on the flattest of pitches, scoring 267/2 on the opening day of their Supersport Series match against Gauteng. Mickey Arthur and Martyn Gidley were so bored with what was supposed to be […]
DEFECTS in Botswana’s single largest development project have delayed the commissioning of the controversial 367km water pipeline until late November, a government spokesman said on Wednesday. The 1,2-billionpula pipeline is designed to supply water from the northern Okavango Swamps region to Botswana’s parched capital, Gaborone, in the south east. The pipeline was supposed to be […]
AN ancient skeleton, thought to be of the San people, has been found by an archaeologist at Melkbosstrand, on the Cape west coast, the Cape Times reported on Thursday. The skeleton, thought to be between 500 and 1000 years old, was found in an old sand dune due to be flattened for the development of […]
THE worst flooding in 30 years in northern Nigeria has affected at least 300000 people, submerging hundreds of villages and putting thousands of hectares of farmland under water, authorities said on Wednesday. Niger State appears to be the area the worst affected by the flooding which began several weeks ago following unusually heavy rains. The […]
ANDY COLQUHOUN & AFP, Edinburgh | Tuesday 1.30pm. NICK Mallett knows his Springbok side will have to improve vastly on their performance against Scotland if they are to win what he calls the “hardest” quarter-final of the tournament. Sunday’s 46-29 Group A victory at Murrayfield came courtesy of some bad Scottish errors at vital times […]
BRITISH mining group Lonmin confirmed on Tuesday that it is discussing a merger with Ghanaian mining outfit Ashanti Goldfields, a tie-up that will create a new African precious metals giant. Lonmin said it already owned 32% of Ashanti and that talks “have been taking place for some time with a view to creating a leading […]