Shaun de Waal Johannesburg has plenty of room for second- hand bookshops, if the recent expansion of two groups is anything to go by. Eric Nofal and Irene Koch of Books Galore are about to open a new shop – their seventh – in the Hyperama Centre in Constantia Kloof, Weltevreden Park, and Doron Locketz, […]
ZAMBIA and Angola have finally agreed to meet to discuss persistent allegations that some top Zambian government officials have helped Angola’s Unita rebels rearm, president Frederick Chiluba announced on Wednesday. He said the Angolan authorities have provided the Zambian government with details of the accusations which Zambia responded to “detail by detail”. He did not […]
Powerful politicians have embarked on a two-pronged strategy to influence the ANC’s selection of the Gauteng premier candidate, writes Wally Mbhele As Gauteng Premier Mathole Motshekga’s tight grip on his post begins to falter, it appears that his political opponents are winning a battle to remove him from the most powerful provincial office in the […]
RESPECTED journalist Max du Preez, the producer of the popular Special Assignment investigative programme, was fired by the SABC on Thursday. Du Preez was given his marching orders by editor-in-chief Phil Molefe on Thursday afternoon. “They said I am arrogant and don’t show respect,” Du Preez told Beeld . Last Saturday the programme, which will […]
Ian Clayton Minister of Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development Valli Moosa announced this week that the government’s allocation to local authorities would be R2,3-billion during the current financial year, an increase from the R2,1-billion allocated in the last financial year. Moosa added that local authorities with greater need would “gradually” receive more direct government aid […]
Last year there was more hype around Josiah Thugwane’s participation in the London Marathon than about the millennium bug. This year, the Olympic champion is downplaying his chances after inadequate preparation, leaving Elana Meyer to carry the burden of South African hopes at one of the world’s top three big city marathons. The 32-year-old Meyer […]
Michael Finch Athletics South Africa’s top athletes and their agents have turned down Athletics South Africa’s (ASA) latest contract offer, saying that athletes will have too many obligations, but agree that a settlement is imminent. The initial deadline to sign the contracts was April 1, but due to disagreements over the amount of money being […]
Andrew Muchineripi Soccer The team and reserves walked on to the pitch holding hands Brazil-style, formed a circle, bowed heads and prayed, then kicked footballs into the sparse George Goch Stadium crowd. On the warm, partially cloudy weekend afternoon the future of Moroka Swallows Football Club was at stake when they tackled Dynamos from the […]
Peter Makurube It can only happen in South Africa: the most popular morning show radio host in the country is hardly known beyond his audience of 1,7-million. DJ Chomane Chomane started out at Lesedi FM as a junior presenter, and he had to deal with the bureaucrats of the old SABC. At the time each […]
AN East Rand bomb disposal unit defused two mini-limpet mines found by railway workers under railway tracks between the Lindella and Katlehong stations on Wednesday, police said. Police spokesman Captain Andy Pieke said the mines’ detonators were destroyed in a controlled explosion by a bomb disposal expert. He said the mines appeared old and could […]
Loose cannon:Robert Kirby Charlene Smith’s was an extraordinarily brave description last week, of the twin ordeals she underwent – at the brutal hands of a rapist and then at the equally brutal hands of those to whom she turned for help. With the exception of one compassionate and determined policeman, the people who should have […]
Andrew Worsdale Movies of the week Hate has always been a powerful driving force for movie narratives; whether it’s the supposedly morally correct vigilante hatred of Dirty Harry’s “Feeling lucky Punk?”, Ralph Fiennes diabolically loathsome Krakow Nazi Commandant, Amon Goeth, teetering on the brink of racial madness in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, or Malcolm McDowell’s […]
THE Stormers have made two changes to their line-up for Saturday’s clash against Super 12 champions, the Canterbury Crusaders, at Newlands. John Daniels comes in on the wing and Anton Leonard at flank for the injured Breyton Paulse and Robbie Brink. Paulse has a fractured finger and is expected to play against the Auckland Blues […]
A number of developments this week have offered yet another reminder of how fragile is our reliance on judges to hold society together. First of all we have had the Heath debacle. The “Caped Crusader” was humiliated twice over the past week. We had Trevor Manuel playing cat and mouse with him, making fun of […]
Marianne Merten Debates around the size and name of the new local government structure in Cape Town are expected to become heated. The mother city plans to be a “unicity” by the end of 2000. Already the number of councils in the Cape Town metropolitan area has been rationalised from 69 racially segregated bodies to […]
THURSDAY, 11.45AM: THE Northern Bulls have made six changes to the side that will clash with the Auckland Blues in a Super-12 match at Pukekohe on Friday. Three of the changes are forced, with Ian Macdonald suspended after raking an opponent last week, Franco Smith nursing an injury, and centre Andre Snyman back in South […]
There’s more to investment clubs than starting a stokvel. Alex Brown explains how to get your savings on the stock exchange `Give me an acorn and the passage of time and I’ll give you an oak tree.” So it is with money – but the problem is that few of us are Zen enough to […]
David Gough in Kampala The Ugandan Ministry of Health is initiating a voluntary door-to-door HIV screening programme in an effort to check the Aids epidemic that has claimed the lives of 700 000 people in the country. After a successful pilot scheme, the Ugandan Aids Commission plans to take the testing nationwide by the end […]
A ZAMBIAN magistrate on Friday charged with espoinage the 12 Postjournalists arrested last month. The journalists from the Post newspaper, who include the managing director and editor, Fred M’membe, were separately arrested and charged with espionage, which carries a minimum jail term of twenty years, after their paper carried a story comparing Zambia’s military capabilities […]
TALKING on a cellphone while driving could be outlawed by the end of the year if a draft regulation by the Department of Transport is approved. The regulation was published in the Government Gazette on Wednesday for public comment, in line with legislation in Switzerland and Australia. Traffic Legislation Section manager Deidre Briech told SABC […]
There are several ways to commit suicide. One is just to do it, another is to threaten it repeatedly, while a third is to mount half-hearted attempts at it. If you do the latter two often enough, people soon discount you in anticipation of your final departure. Zimbabwe seems to be alternating between the latter […]
Marianne Merten A lack of change in their lives and disillusionment with politics are key reasons why many Cape Flats youths are likely to stay away from the polls on June 2. One youth who will not be voting is Dale, of the working-class area of Heideveld. Now 23 years old, he was a first-time […]
Ian Clayton Some “struggle accounting” was uncovered in the Department of Trade and Industry by Auditor General Henri Kluever when he examined its accounts for a R3,1-million small business conference. The department spent an extra R1,2-million without authorisation over and above the R2-million it received from the Danish government for the second national conference on […]
KING Mswati III of Swaziland said on Thursday he will not be abolishing the death penalty, as capital punishment remains an effective deterrent to crime. Speaking in Mbabane, Mswati said serious offences such as ritual killings would soar should the death penalty be scrapped. In the meantime, he added, the harshness of the penalty will […]
Coenraad Visser Tenors at the end of their careers. That is what the State Theatre’s production of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s I Pagliaci and the Three Tenors Bravo Africa Concert on Sunday at the Union Buildings have in common. In the bloody twins, Maurizio Frusoni manages Turridu with musicality and little voice, but then […]
Lisa Buckingham The Bank of England has begun a discreet investigation into index tracker investment funds. It is worried that the burgeoning growth of such “passive” stock market vehicles risk destabilising London’s financial markets. A team of senior executives in the bank’s financial stability unit is monitoring the issue amid growing fears that tracker funds […]
A PAY strike in Zimbabwe paralysed postal and some telecommunication services went into its second day on Wednesday, Post and Telecommunications Corporation human resources manager Mike Nxele said. Nxele said the parastatal has offered workers a 15% pay rise in addition to the 20% cost of living adjustment demanded by the country’s powerful national labour […]
FOUR illegal Mozambican immigrants who escaped from Skukuza police cells in the Kruger National Park this week were still at large on Thursday, bringing the total of escaped prisoners in the province since January to 151, with only 42 rearrested. Sergeant Thabisile Gama said the men escaped at 6pm on Tuesday, as police prepared to […]
ALLEGED dealer Gavin Carolus won his case against the state on Thursday when the Cape High Court set aside a court order authorising the seizure of his fixed and loose property. Judge AP Blignaut ruled that the Prevention of Organised Crime Act did not have retrospective effect and could therefore only be applied to crimes […]
SOUTH Africa has imposed a R181 a ton import levy on wheat and a R272 a ton duty on imported flour, the National Chamber of Milling said on Wednesday. The milling industry representative body welcomed the introduction of tariff protection for SA’s wheat farmers in the face of continuing state support for producers in leading […]
ZAMBIA has reduced trade tariffs on goods produced by the Common Market for East and Southern African (Comesa) member states by 60%. Comesa general secretary Erastus Mwenchamade the announcement in a speech read on his behalf by Comesa’s director of trade, customs and monetary issues division Charles Chanthonya, at a week-long Automated System for Customs […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kampala | Thursday 2.30pm. REBELS in western Uganda killed at least 10 people during an attack on a trading centre, press reports said on Thursday. The independent Monitor newspaper said the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels early on Wednesday attacked Nyakigumba Trading Centre in the Kabarole district. Among the dead were a Ugandan […]