John Rawling : Boxing Evander Holyfield is demanding a staggering $25-million to be tempted back into the ring to face Lennox Lewis in a rematch this year. According to promoters, Lewis would be looking for a 50-50 split rather than the one-third he took on Saturday but the American television company which underwrites the deal […]
A dynamic team is driving the vision of Johannesburg as the motor of African growth – and not not the Third World slum it is in danger of becoming Bafana Khumalo A trio of knights has ridden into the city of Johannesburg with plans to bring it back from the abyss. On the biggest steed […]
Charlene Smith and Aaron Nicodemus The company that produced the controversial Aids drug Virodene has conducted more human trials without the approval of the Medicines Control Council (MCC), according to papers filed before the Pretoria High Court. In 1997 the MCC suspended human trials of the drug. The documents reveal that despite no apparent financial […]
Friday night : Rudeboy Paul Kicking back after a week of Groove Kamikazes till 10, where to go since Y2K burned down? To get down till break of dawn with beautiful girls and chilled vibes? Nice and easy? Last couple of weeks, I’ve been mellowing out over a Jack Daniels and lime checking out the […]
on your Uys Some say Afrikaans is a dying language, but the Klein Karoo Festival shows that there’s still plenty of life there, writes Andrea Vinassa Afrikaans theatre is no stranger to controversy or progress, and if you imagine that the Klein Karoo Kunstefees in Oudtshoorn is some boerekonsert, you might be right and you […]
MEDICAL reports on the the three Americans awaiting trial in Zimbabwe for alleged espionage and terrorism show that they were not tortured during interrogation, state media reports. The state-controlled Herald newspaper quotes prisons medical officer Dr M Madhombiro and independent specialist surgeon AC Harid on Friday as agreeing in their reports that there was no […]
Karlin Lillington Here’s one for the “but enough about you; let’s talk about me” department. At the All About You website () you can take a personality test designed by a Berkeley PhD student and submit it for instant analysis of your key characteristics. You also get a percentile rating for where your quirks and […]
One of South Africa’s most promising middle-distance runners has made his comeback, reports Julian Drew They often say football’s a funny old game, but athletics, well, that’s such an ordered and precise sport, isn’t it? All those millimetres and hundredths of a second. There’s never any doubt about who came first and who came second. […]
Cameron Duodu : LETTER FROM THE NORTH `A great tree has been uprooted” in the Asante kingdom of Ghana! This is how the Asante – incorrectly dubbed the “Ashanti” by colonialist and neo-colonialist writers – announced the death of their king. He was Otumfuor Opoku Ware II, and he has just joined his ancestors at […]
Nicci Gerrard TONGUE FIRST: ADVENTURES IN PHYSICAL CULTURE by Emily Jenkins (Virago) I think she is sitting on the floor of her bathroom on the front cover – at least that’s what it looks like. She is wrapped in a short towel so that the tops of her legs disappear into its mysterious shadows; her […]
Loose cannon : Robert Kirby In a quick-draw response to an opinion expressed in this column some four weeks ago, Anita Kleinsmidt of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies – hereinafter referred to as “Cals” – dances intrepidly to the defence of the rights of nannies – hereinafter referred to as “childminders”. In the column […]
Andrew Worsdale picks his Oscar winners – and those the academy is likely to choose The race for the golden statuette is very interesting this year: more independently financed films than ever before and a foreign film nominated both as best picture and best foreign film – one of only three times. Roberto Benigni’s Life […]
The first newspaper in South Africa edited by a woman is a sports daily, writes David Shapshak Sports writers like statistics. Any game has some “first time since …” statistic that can be worked into a story. This week Bronwyn Wilkinson entered the record books three times. The 32-year-old became the first woman editor, and […]
AT least 40 people were killed and 70 were wounded in a battle early on Friday in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, between militiamen of warlord Musa Sudi Yalahow and gunmen loyal to Mogadishu Governor Hussein Ali Ahmed. The fighting has been between Yalahow’s Da’ud militiamen, supporting the governor — all belonging to the larger Abgal […]
THE former Rwandan army major freed by a United Nations court on charges of murdering 10 Belgian peacekeepers during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide remained in custody on Friday as Belgium and Rwanda sought his re-arrest. The UN tribunal freed Bernard Ntuyahaga on Thursday when the prosecution dropped charges against him but Belgium wants him for trial […]
Peter Dickson Thieves in Port Elizabeth’s Kwazakhele township this week stole Sophakama High School. On Tuesday its 11 classrooms were still there, but when pupils arrived on Wednesday morning, they had vanished along with the surrounding security fence. The only evidence the school had ever been there were concrete struts embedded in the foundation. “I […]
The Walkman is dead. Long live the Sony PlayStation, writes Faisal Islam Lara Croft’s newly released album on Sony Records is not available in the shops. Fans of the electronic games heroine turned virtual pop star will have to hook up their PlayStation to a Sony digital network and download directly to minidisc in seconds. […]
SWAZILAND’s King Mswati III opened the two-day Southern African Development Community defence and security committee meeting on Thursday with the recommendation that the regional trading bloc establish a peacekeeping force. Addressing delegates from 14 SADC countries in the Swazi capital, Mbabane, Mswati said an impartial peacekeeping force would be the most effective way to promote […]
David Shapshak Hydrogen, the world’s most plentiful substance, may be the energy source of future motor cars. With natural fuel resources diminishing, the need for alternative energy sources has been growing, and scientists have been looking for as efficient an option as petroleum. While part of the concern is environmental (fuel combustion engines damage the […]
FORMER land commissioner and African National Congress member Joe Seremane has been chosen by the Democratic Party to represent Mmabatho in the North West in June’s election. Seremane, a former Robben Island prisoner, joined the DP six years.
Sixty years ago this week, Walter Hammond’s Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) side in South Africa disembarked from the Durban night train at Cape Town and made haste to the waiting ship, Athlone Castle, for the voyage home. The day before, March 14, the Timeless Test, unparalleled in cricket history, had been abandoned as a draw […]
A TWO-DAY summit called by the Organisation of African Unity and slated for March 30-31 has been cancelled, Burkina Faso’s presidential office said on Wednesday. Burkina Faso, current holder of the OAU’s rotating presidency, called the summit, which was to have been held in its capital Ougadougou, to “examine initiatives and mediation efforts under way […]
NIGERIAN-led Ecomog intervention force troops repelled a rebel attack against the northern Sierra Leonean town of Kambia earlier this week, Ecomog officials said on Thursday. They said rebels entered the town of Pamalap, close to Kambia and about 80km north of the capital, Freetown, on Monday. An Ecomog contingent of Guinean troops “opened up with […]
OUTSPOKEN Mpumalanga African National Congress youth league secretary James Nkambule is being treated for burn wounds after attackers petrol-bombed his car and front yard early on Thursday morning. The unknown attackers reportedly hurled two petrol bombs at Nkambule’s brand new car outside his Barberton house just after 3am. Nkambule sustained slight burn injuries when he […]
NATURAL resources group Minorco annouced on Wednesday that its earnings fell $60-million on weaker commodity prices to $202-million in the year to December 31. Earnings before exceptional items, at $154-million, is R165-million lower than last year. Minorco said its annual results reflect the continued weakening of commodity prices throughout the year.
AUSTRALIAN international Phil Kearns withdrew on Wednesday from the New South Wales Waratahs team who play the Bulls on Saturday. The hooker injured his knee in last weekend’s 36-30 win over the Chiefs which maintained the Waratahs’ unbeaten start to the series. Former ACT Brumbies hooker Tim Tavalea replaces Kearns and Mark Crick joins the […]
THE Industrial Development Corporation (ICD) has agreed to underwrite R1,5-billion for a R1,1-billion expansion project at Indian Ocean Fertiliser, based in Richard’s Bay on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast. In a statement on Thursday the IDC said the project involves the expansion of existing operations by adding a new sulphuric acid and phosphoric acid plant, as […]
AUSTRIAN journalist Peter Cvetko was shot dead after his car broke down in Houghton Drive, Johannesburg on Wednesday morning. Cvetko (39) was a temporary resident in South Africa. Police spokesperson Inspector Mark Reynolds said he was on his way home from visiting friends in Hillbrow when the car broke down. He called the Automobile Association […]
WESTERN Cape political leaders on Wednesday signed a peace pledge committing their parties to a path of non-violence ahead of the general elections scheduled for May. This comes after five political leaders — four members of the United Democratic Movement and an African National Congress councillor — were murdered last week in Nyanga and KTC […]
SOUTH Africa donated R940000 to the United Nations Development Programme on Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced on Thursday. It said the money will be used to help cover the programme’s operational costs in South Africa. Acting Foreign Affairs Director-General Abdul Minty presented a cheque to the programme’s resident representative David Whaley as South […]
THE Independent Electoral Commission announced on Wednesday that three provincial legislatures will be smaller after the general election. It said that the Gauteng legislature will lose 13 seats, bringing it down to 73 members, the Western Cape three seats and North-West legislature one. The number of seats in the National Assembly will remain at 400. […]
SPRINGBOK flyhalf Franco Smith was the high-profile victim as Northern Bulls coach Eugene van Wyk took the drastic measure of axing four players for Saturday’s Super 12 showdown against the New South Wales Waratahs. Clearly fed-up with his under-achieving team who lost their three opening matches against the Stormers (42-19), Otago Highlanders (65-23) and the […]