Staff Reporter

THE expertise of South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu could be called upon to help with plans to put on trial leaders of the Khmer Rouge, according to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. “We are looking at the South African example of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission as an interesting one, where they have the end […]

POLICE detained South African national soccer star Steve Lekoelea for reckless driving, on Saturday. Lekoelea, 19, was arrested Saturday and his name was only made public after he was charged and released on bail. A traffic officer said the Bafana Bafana player “nearly caused a pile up before he was forced to pull of the […]

THE South African Under-23 soccer squad play their Egyptian counterparts in a two-match friendly encounter next week in further preparation for qualification for the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. The sides meet next Thursday at Dobsonville Stadium, followed by a clash at Vosloorus Stadium on Saturday. “This will also be preparation for the All-Africa […]

SENTENCE in the 17-day trial of former Zimbabwean head of state, Canaan Banana, will be delivered on Monday by judge president, Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku. The judge last year found Banana guilty of 11 counts of sodomy, indecent assault and attempted indecent assault.

ACTIVITIES at the Lagos docks were at a standstill on Thursday, the third day running, due to a strike by licensed customs agents protesting against the continued presence of unauthorised security agencies at the waterfront. The customs agents said they will continue with the strike until the banned agencies leave the ports, as directed by […]

THE ratio of profitability — measured by net profit on turnover — in the South African manufacturing industry jumped 4,1% in the third quarter of last year, from 3,7% in the second quarter after seasonal adjustment. However, the profitability ratio at 4,1% was slightly lower than the corresponding period in 1997 when it was at […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 7.30pm. Ernie Els shot a four-under-par final round of 68 on Sunday to win the Alfred Dunhill PGA Championship in Johannesburg, the opening event of the European Tour, by four strokes. Els finished at 273, 15-under-par, for his third PGA title. Fellow South African Richard Kaplan was second on 277 […]

THE total mining production for the three months ending in November increased by just 0,7% after seasonal adjustment compared with the previous three months. However, the total mining production for the first eleven months of 1998 fell by 2,2% compared with the first eleven months of 1997. Seasonally adjusted value of mineral sales for the […]

JAPAN’S ex-premier Ryutaro Hashimoto left Johannesburg on Saturday after a four-day visit to South Africa that an embassy official said was “very successful.” Hashimoto met Deputy President Thabo Mbeki twice during the visit, aimed at cementing ties between the countries. Hashimoto, now a senior foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, arrived in South […]

Chiara Carter Several senior members of the New National Party are expected to announce their defection to the Democratic Party within a matter of days. They include three candidates on the NNP’s Western Cape list for the National Assembly, as well as several candidates for the province’s legislature. The DP is also expecting the defection […]

SOUTH Africans tuned in to watch the launch of South Africa’s first satellite from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, USA, were disappointed on Friday when controllers ruled the launch a “no-go” at the last minute. This was the second attempt to launch the satellite named Sunsat, which was built by the engineering faculty […]

Friday night: Khalo Matabane `Where should we go?” This became the most popular Friday- night question of 1998. Every Friday we moved from sushi bars to kwaito bashes, lefty parties to restaurants and clubs. Driving back home, we complained about the lack of entertainment for young black professionals to such an extent that Tumi decided […]

Salman Rushdie: A SECOND LOOK We are celebrating the 2 000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, as Catholic cardinals and believers of all stripes continually remind us. Never mind that this will put Jesus in the odd position of having two birthdays in the space of a week (Christmas Day as well as […]

listed on website for deadbeats South Africa’s leading black `wine ambassador’ is listed on an American `Deadbeat Hall of Shame’ Internet site for not paying child support. Cliff Matheson and Justin Arenstein report He is world renowned as South Africa’s leading black “wine ambassador”, but Jabulani Ntshangase has a shady secret. He is featured in […]

Wally Mbhele and Justin Arenstein Discredited members of the Mpumalanga African National Congress provincial executive committee – including some who have been axed from the provincial government on charges of corruption – have sought to influence Deputy President Thabo Mbeki to oust Premier Mathews Phosa. According to senior ANC sources, the people heading a campaign […]

Marital problems, greedy relatives, difficulties with the law? Wilson Mugwegweni can put an end to your troubles, writes Sam Zulu He is so respected and feared that people in his village pay him protection money, criminals have fled his district and the Zambian national soccer team probably owe their international reputation to his ministrations. Former […]

Reflecting the changing face of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz is an economist who is a hero in some left- wing circles. Ferial Haffajee reports World Bank leaders have traditionally been whipping boys. In the ranks of the international left wing, there is no type of banker more maligned or caricatured as the cold-hearted architects […]

David Beresford highlights aspects of FW de Klerk’s soon to be released autobiography, in which the former state president describes his stormy relationship with the `vicious’ Nelson Mandela Former state president FW de Klerk has prepared a broadside against President Nelson Mandela in their long-running feud over their respective places in history, with his long-awaited […]

Joan Smith:FIRST PERSON Bob Dole is too old to run for president in the year 2000, but his wife is not, Elizabeth Dole has stepped down as president of the American Red Cross, encouraging speculation that she intends to declare herself as a contender for the White House. Elizabeth Dole, who was transport secretary in […]

Just a week ago economists were hailing the rand’s recovery. Brazil this week dashed their hopes, writes Donna Block The nightmare scenario world economic leaders have struggled to avoid has begun. Brazil has hit the slippery slopes of destitution. China, Mexico, Venezuela, Chile and South Korea may follow. The world economy looks set to head […]

ANGOLAN President Eduardo dos Santos sacked his health minister on Thursday at the request of dissident members of the Unita rebel movement. Ruben Sikato had refused to join the dissidents, who in September disavowed Unita leader Jonas Savimbi, splitting the movement. The Luanda regime has broken off relations with Savimbi and now says it recognises […]

Peter Conrad A MAN IN FULL by Tom Wolfe (Jonathan Cape) The brash, skyscraping egos of America love to build monuments to themselves. In his second novel, Tom Wolfe surveys the skyline of Atlanta, the country’s latest mushroom metropolis, and notes that those spires of ghostly, uninhabited glass are sustained by nothing more than speculative […]

A columnist in the American journal Business Week pointed out in the New Year that the single most important improvement in the quality of life of Americans during the past two decades has been the fall in crime. This, he said, had punctured the views – commonly trotted out in South Africa – that poverty […]

places Andy Capostagno Golf The Alfred Dunhill PGA Championship returns to Houghton Golf Club in Johannesburg this week and, festive season ennui and geographical impossibilities notwithstanding, it marks the beginning of both the Vodacom Southern African and the Volvo European PGA Tours for 1999. This is the fourth year that the event has been co-sanctioned […]

JOHANNESBURG youth radio station YFM was hit by robbers late on Thursday night, who assaulted staffers and stole their possessions. Ten armed men stormed the station’s studio in Troyeville at about 11.30pm, forcing late-night presenter Msizi Shembe and his producer Desmond Mashaba to open the station’s safe. When they discovered there was no cash stored […]

Ferial Haffajee speaks to Fred Khumalo, the editor of a new weekend newspaper which is set to roll off the presses in March The editor of Sunday World, Fred Khumalo, is the epitome of his new reader: black, stylish, discerning and upwardly mobile. He struts through the empty offices of his new empire, kitted out […]

THE Human Rights Commission said on Thursday it is ready to begin its investigation into racism in the media with the publication of draft procedures for the probe. In a statement, the commission said the investigation will provide an objective and honest assessment of the incidence and effects of racism in the media. The statement […]

lap of agony Andy Capostagno Cricket For Brian Lara and his beleaguered team, the agony is almost over. The fifth Test, which begins on Friday at SuperSport Centurion, is the last proper cricket that the West Indies will have to play on this tour of South Africa. From next week on Philo Wallace will be […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi This is Sisi Modise (not her real name). She is four years old and lives in Mapetla, Soweto. In April last year, she became a statistic in the growing list of children sexually abused by adults in South Africa. But in Sisi’s case, the man charged with indecently assaulting her, Leqhoba Tsotetsi, was […]

A STONE-age site about 10000 years old has been discovered in Midrand near the Jukskei Valley, the Midrand Metropolitan Local Council announced on Thursday. The discovery was made with the help of Professor Revil Mason, retired head of the archaeology research unit at the Witwatersrand University. “This is the first time ever that a constructed […]

SOUTH African boxer Soon Botes is angry after being notified from Germany that WBU super middleweight champion Norbert Noriega has refused to meet him in a return bout. Botes lost a disputed decision against the German with the vacant WBU title at stake in Dortmund last year, and was assured by WBU president Jon Robinson […]

Iden Wetherell The Zimbabwean government continues to be less than frank about how it is funding its forces in Democratic Republic of Congo. Ministers at first suggested it cost no more to keep troops in Congo than it did at home. When that argument failed to fly, conflicting statements followed. Zimbabwe’s finance minister said the […]