John Matshikiza:WITH THE LID OFF Abstraction rules. I am one of many abstractions, queuing with my faceless peers for the chance to vote for abstract promises. Crime will be defeated. There shall be jobs and housing. Your neighbours shall end up loving you as you love them. An abstract situation. A man looks at me […]
THE Angolan state oil company, Sonangol, has signed a $575-million loan agreement with Union Bank of Switzerland, state television said in a broadcast monitored by the BBC. It said the four-year loan to Sonangol, backed by an oil sale contract between the Angolan oil company and British Petroleum, was signed in London on Tuesday.
Mercedes Sayagues:BODY LANGUAGE I saw my ex-boyfriend for the first time in the 10 months since we broke up. We live in different cities and I went to his for a reporting job so it seemed natural to look him up for a friendly chat. As we sat over a ridiculous, formal lunch where we […]
Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week `I took a course in speed reading and was able to read War and Peace in 20 minutes. It’s about Russia.” Or “My brain is my second-favourite organ.” These are two gem one-liners from Allen Stewart Konigsberg, who was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York in 1935. In 1952 […]
Howard Barrell:OVER A BARREL One of my more frequent experiences these days is being told by African National Congress supporters that I am a reactionary. There are various grounds for the charge. One is my backing for the spirit of pluralism and mutual tolerance that pervades our Constitution. The more common ground, however, turns out […]
Ted Leggett As if the South African Police Service (SAPS) wasn’t in enough hot water over the filming of police brutality by BBC-TV, it recently had to deal with a series of attacks from the country’s deputy president. At an election rally in the Indian suburb of Chatsworth recently, a police member asked Thabo Mbeki […]
SOUTH Africa has achieved much in the five years since its first democratic elections and its reforms are on track, but much remains to be done to end the legacy of apartheid, according to the World Bank. “This government inherited a very tall agenda … on the economic side, from our point of view, it […]
Tangeni Amupadhi Namibian artists are outraged over what they call “apartheid-style censorship” rearing its head in their democratic country. The outrage was sparked by the Namibian government’s decision to withdraw financial support for a popular play scheduled to be staged at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg next week. The Ministry of Basic Education and Culture […]
Friday night Isaac Chokwe and Tim Horwood We left the office at 7.06pm, unaware of what lay ahead on this autumn Friday night. At the intersection of Jan Smuts and Empire roads I noticed a movement through my open window and glanced to my right … but nothing happened, no one ran up to the […]
MORE than 45 pick-up trucks armed with anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft weapons and heavy machine-guns arrived in the south-central Somali town of Baidoa on Wednesday to protect a shipment of shillings due to arrive. The battle-wagons are manned by militiamen loyal to warlord Mohamed Hussein Aidid and the currency thought to be heading to Abdulrashid Shire […]
Crack cocaine is one of the most popular drugs in the Cape Peninsula. Marianne Merten reports Crack cocaine, or “rock” as it is known on the street, is fast becoming the drug of choice in the Cape Peninsula, according to researchers, addicts and drug counsellors, but the South African Narcotics Bureau (Sanab) regards it as […]
Andrew Muchineripi Soccer The draw for the 1999 African Champions League club competition was particularly kind to Sundowns as they dodged potentially awkward opponents from Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe in the preliminary rounds. They duly disposed of enthusiastic but limited Telecom Wanderers of Malawi in the first round, with burly Nigerian striker Raphael Chukwu scoring […]
With only two ministers expected to retain their positions, speculation about the look of the new Cabinet is growing, writes Howard Barrell Speculation is increasing in political circles over the composition of Thabo Mbeki’s first Cabinet after the elections on June 2. Most attention is focused on who will become deputy president and who will […]
Tom McGhie Computer games company Eidos has teamed up with rock star David Bowie, his wife Iman, and the best-selling author Michael Crichton in two deals designed to create hit games. Eidos has signed a long-term publishing deal with Timeline Studios, North Carolina, for games based on original material to be written by Timeline co-founder […]
A South African film is making a big impact in Cannes. Janine Stephen spoke to some of those involved in the production Start popping corks and quaffing champagne: a South African film has been shortlisted for a Palme d’Or award at the international Cannes Film Festival. It is only the second time in the festival’s […]
Dan Wylie takes a look at some recent volumes of South African poetry In the hand, Jeremy Gordin’s Pomegranates for My Son (Random House) feels solid, the font unpretentious on a cover of warm amber whose texture is at once rough and even. Ditto for the contents. These poems are generous as a bear hug, […]
Was Belgium’s King Leopold II a mass murderer on a par with Adolf Hitler, or a greedy despot who turned a blind eye to a few excesses? Stephen Bates reports As the sun sank slowly over Brussels, its fading rays glinted off the glass domes and towers of the magnificent Victorian greenhouses in the grounds […]
SUN International Hotels annouced on Tuesday that it is to buy the Desert Inn hotel and casino in Las Vegas from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide for $275-million. The complex has 715 rooms, an 18-hole golf course and 32 acres of undeveloped land. Starwood owns the Sheraton and Westin hotel chains.
THE Tunisian football officials arrested in Zambia at the weekend for allegedly trying to bribe a referee were charged with corruption on Tuesday. Club Sportif Sfaxien vice-president Yaiche Fakary and committee member Bouset Fadhi had their passports confiscated and must report to the anti-corruption commission in the central town of Ndola twice a week. The […]
IVORIAN and French firemen finally on Tuesday extinguished a fire which has been raging in an oil depot since last week in the capital Abidjan. Abidjan residents were surprised by the fire outbreak last Thursday afternoon by at the depot of Cote d’Ivoire’s Security Petrol Stock, located at the Vridi Industrial zone, where 30000 metric […]
THE Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s amnesty committee hearing into the 1992 Boipatong massacre was thrown into disarray on Wednesday when a woman who was sexually assaulted in the attack queried the manner of her cross-examination and refused to answer questions. Attorney Rian Strydom fell foul of the committee as he questioned Molete about her sister’s […]
THE second of five toll gates on the multi-billion rand Maputo Development Corridor was opened on Tuesday. Trans-African Concessions (Trac) CEO Trevor Jackson said that the company has implemented a comprehensive incident management system along most of the route. He said the system integrated the services of Trac patrol vehicles, local emergency services, and protection […]
INDIAN cricket star Sachin Tendulkar on Thursday attended the funeral here of his father, whose death forced the batsman to return home from the World Cup in Britain. Ramesh Tendulkar, 66, who died of heart attack on Tuesday, was cremated Thursday in a private ceremony. His son immediately flew home to Bombay, missing India’s match […]
THE Japanese government is to finance the modernisation of Mozambique’s biggest fishing port in the capital Maputo, official sources announced on Wednesday. The national director of fishing, Herminio Tembe, told Radio Mozambique that Japan is donating about four million US dollars for the rehabilitation of the port. The donation comes as the government is striving […]
ARMY worms have invaded parts of east and central Africa, threatening food security in the region. Reports in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi say the worms, also known as moth caterpillars, have destroyed 6000 hectares of crops in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi since lastmonth. Governments in the five countries have urged farmers to […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cairo | Thursday 2.00pm AN Egyptian archaeologist announced on Thursday that he has discovered an ancient desert route which Moses might have taken to lead the Jewish people out of Pharaonic Egypt more than 3500 years ago. A series of dried up wells revealed an ancient route of around 200km from the Nile […]
MICHAEL METELITS, Johannesburg | Thursday 1.30pm. JUST one and a half months after the Libyan sanctions were suspended following the handover of the Lockerbie bombing suspects, Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin will lead a ministerial delegation to the mineral rich country in pursuit of closer economic ties. Both state oil company Soekor and private […]
THE African National Congress on Wednesday reacted with anger to an announcement by the Independent Broadcasting Authority allocating times for political party election broadcasts. The broadcasts — prepared by political parties to inform voters of their policies — will be run unedited between May 19 and 31. The ANC was allocated the most broadcast time […]
THOUSANDS of residents of Makapanstad in the North West province gathered at a local police station on Wednesday demanding the release of 11 people who allegedly set alight the homes of two women accused by the community of practising witchcraft. The protesters submitted a memorandum to police asking for the women to be arrested for […]
GHANA will host the Zone 3 qualifying competition for the All-Africa Games from July 10-18. Winners at this stage will go on to the finals held in Johannesburg from September 10-19. Fixtures: July 10 – Burkina Faso v Ghana, Liberia v Nigeria July 12 – Burkina Faso v Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire v Nigeria July 14 […]
A MAN arrested on Monday in connection with the arms cache found in KwaHlongwa near Hibberdene on the KwaZulu-Natal lower south coast last week made a brief appearance in the Scottburgh Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday afternoon. David Hlongwa asked the court to appoint a state lawyer for him and was not asked to plead. Hlongwa […]
NIGERIA’S outgoing military ruler General Abdulsalami Abubakar on Wednesday welcomed the decision of the Commonwealth to readmit Nigeria from May 29 as a diplomatic “breakthrough”. Commonwealth Secretary-General Emeka Anyaoku earlier on Wednesday announced the decision of the heads of government to lift the suspension of Nigeria’s membership from the day it returns to civilian rule, […]