Staff Reporter

The CSIR has developed a unique system to prevent prison escapes, reports David Shapshak An innovative, low-cost motion detector system could be the solution to preventing the hundreds of escapes each year from police cells, say the police and its developers, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The new system consists of two […]

These days, the Million Dollar Challenge is more about cracking the nod than it is about the prize money, reports Andy Capostagno The most delicious irony of the Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge is that you have to be a millionaire in the first place just to crack an invite. A decade ago when Welshman Ian […]

Dave Hill: FIRST PERSON When the British High Court heard earlier this week that former airline pilot James Williams’ “life had been destroyed” by the failure of an operation to give him back a foreskin, some might have suspected a degree of overstatement. Some – but not an awful lot of men, especially if they’ve […]

Preview of the week: Anton Marshall `Hey, have you heard of Renaissance?” I ask experimentally, honestly believing the hype that clubbers are in and slacker journos are out. “Er … Wasn’t that a Leonardo da Vinci painting?” she replies innocently, sipping on a Mule as her low- key rave vest struggles to find a cling […]

Robert Mattes: A SECOND LOOK The details of the first Opinion ’99 survey (a consortium of Idasa, Markinor and the South African Broadcasting Corporation) have been widely reported. But once one backs away from the fine brush strokes of the numbers, what emerges is a distinct picture of the South African electorate six to seven […]

Etienne van Heerden’s most recent novel has been translated into English. He spoke to Shaun de Waal With the translation, one by one, of Etienne van Heerden’s novels (and a volume of stories) into English, his status as a major South African writer is becoming clearer to a larger audience. His multi-prize-winning Toorberg, translated as […]

rewards 30 years on David Gough from Nairobi As Kenya prepares to celebrate 35 years of independence next week, veterans of the guerrilla army who fought a brutal campaign against British colonial rule say that they have been rewarded with nothing but poverty and hardship, and have nothing to celebrate. Hundreds of survivors of the […]

Angella Johnson: VIEW FROM A BROAD `Please let him touch your breast. They’re beautiful and he loves breasts,” pleaded the light-skinned black woman sitting on a sofa beside me and my partner. Her boyfriend, a bespectacled German engineer, was draped over the side idly plucking at my suspenders. In a room down the hallway of […]

Andrew Hawks Enna Kayopa has never heard of the new drugs that are offering a future for so many Aids patients in Europe and North America. She lives in a village in rural Zambia, in Southern Africa. She will be dead before triple combination therapy is available through the public health care system here. After […]

Gregory Mthembu-Salter French President Jacques Chirac looked particularly pleased with himself when he announced progress towards a ceasefire in the Congo at the Paris Franco-African summit last week, but in reality the chances are slim. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s President, Laurent Desire Kabila, resumed his fighting talk immediately after the Paris discussions. Rebels in […]

Chiara Carter Two separate Day of Reconciliation ceremonies will be held at Blood River where the government is hosting a R800 000 feast to mark the opening of a new memorial to Zulus who fell in the battle. On one side of the drift that divides the Afrikaans and Zulu memorials, Afrikaners will commemorate the […]

Mail & Guardian reporter Senior executives of The Saturday Star and The Sunday Independent were this week informed of plans to collapse their newspapers under the editorial control of The Star. Executives were shown paper plans of the new arrangements which are part of the profitable Independent Newspapers group’s plans to retrench staff and dramatically […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Wednesday 6.00pm. THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange, pining of late for some positive domestic data, largely ignored an early Christmas present by the Reserve Bank in the form of a significant drop in the repo rate on Wednesday. The market closed almost flat, with the all share index a negligible four points […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Tuesday 6.30pm. IT was an “utterly miserable” day on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange as it shook off the sleepy mode of late and headed into a free-fall that saw just under 5% shaved off the market value. Dealers were largely bracing for a downturn on Tuesday morning after Wall Street’s two […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 7.00pm. ERNIE ELS, Tiger Woods and last year’s winner Nick Price will make their appearance as favourites at the Sun City Million Dollar Golf challenge which starts on Thursday. The three are part of the competition’s strongest-ever field, which includes six of the top seven players in the world. Woods, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 7.00pm. ENGLISH flyhalf Mike Catt will not be asked to take any place kicks against the Springboks on Saturday, after he missed what would have been a match winning conversion against Australia last weekend, the English rugby camp said on Wednesday. The South African-born player, who replaced the injured Paul […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, London | Tuesday 9.20am. SPRINGBOK rugby coach Nick Mallett believes that if his team can set a world record of 18 consecutive Test wins with victory over England on Saturday, the landmark will stand for ever. The Springboks equalled New Zealand’s record of 17 triumphs, set over four years from 1967, when Mallett’s […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 10.30am. DEMUTUALISED insurance giant Sanlam makes its long-awaited listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Monday, having raised R4-billion in its pre-listing offer to take its market capitalisation to R15,7-billion. The figure suggests a listing price of 600c, with analysts predicting the shares will trade between 700c and 900c, especially […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Monday 6.30pm. THE listing on demutualised life assurer Sanlam dominated the market on Monday, accounting for some 40% of trade. Dealers said without Sanlam providing R370-million worth of trade, which totalled R1,82-billion, on the day would have been dismally thin as investors start to consolidate their positions ahead of the Christmas […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Friday 3.30pm. PANDEMONIUM broke out in ABSA Bank branches nationwide on Friday morning when thousands of the new-look bank’s customers were denied access to their finances. A well-placed source in ABSA head office told ZA*NOW that the bank had a complete system crash on Thursday night, leaving it unable to process […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 11.00pm. AN unbeaten 57 by Jacques Kallis guided South Africa to a four wicket win over the West Indies on the final day of the first Test at the Wanderers on Monday — their first test win over the tourists since they returned to international cricket. Kallis, who made 53 […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 3.00pm. 3.00PM SCORE: SOUTH Africa has won the first test at the Wanderers by four wickets — after a bad start and a last-second disaster, when man of the match Sean Pollock was caught from a full-toss, with only a run to go. South Africa made a shaky start, losing […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 9.00pm. THREE domestic airlines, British Airways-Comair, Nationwide and Sun Air on Monday filed a complaint against South African Airways with the Competitions Board, accusing the parastatal of predatory behaviour. A joint statement issued by BA-Comair MD Pieter van Hoven, Sun Air MD Johan Borstlap and Nationwide GM Hugo Smit, said […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 9.00pm. FUGITIVE former Zimbabwean president Canaan Banana, on the run from a conviction charges of sodomy and sexual assault, is hiding out in South Africa, a South African diplomat said Monday. “I talked to him on Thursday and he expressed an interest in going to South Africa,” the diplomat said, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 4.00pm. Life assurance giant Sanlam’s listing dominated trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange early on Monday, opening at 600 cents a share and closing one cents down at 599c. Turnover in Sanlam shares was close to R200-million, representing half the JSE’s turnover early Monday, analysts said. The life assurance company […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 11.00pm. SOUTH Africa are firmly in position to take the first Test against the West Indies in Johannesburg after dismissing the tourists for 170 runs in their second innings, a slender overall lead of 163 runs. Only a sixth-wicket partnership of 68 between Carl Hooper and wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs gave […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Saturday 8.30pm. KAIZER Chiefs beat Mamelodi Sundowns 2-1 on penalties to retain the R1-million Rothmans Cup at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday. The final was decided on penalties after the sides drew 2-2 after 120 minutes of thrilling football. Striker Pollen Ndlandya’s score in sudden-death secured the match for […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 11.00pm. ZIMBABWEAN Nick Price won the Zimbabwe Open by five shots with a 17-under-par total of 271 after a final day nine-under-par 63 saw him drive back the field at the Royal Harare course on Sunday. Price’s win makes him the first player to win the title for the second […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 11.00am. HOME Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi had an extremely close relationship with the notorious Bureau for State Security (Boss) during a decades-long collaboration with apartheid-era security structures, according to explosive in-camera testimony presented to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This testimony “leaked to the Mail & Guardian this week” was […]

Nevanji Madanhire The farce goes on at Town House, seat of the Harare City Council, but the government is reluctant to fire executive mayor Solomon Tawengwa. The city is tottering on the brink of collapse and all fingers point to one man. Recently, half the city went without water for three weeks and a quarter […]

Andy Capostagno Golf The finest tribute that anyone could hand to the Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge is that since South Africa emerged from international isolation, it has got better. That is no small feat. Consider the crowds who used to flock to Newlands for the traditional festive season Currie Cup cricket match between Western Province […]

Planning your retirement is your responsibility, writes Michael Metelits The dream of retirement is to spend your golden years savouring life and doing things you never had time to enjoy when working – the soft-focus approach favoured by advertising agencies. But a prerequisite is enough money, otherwise you can fall into a grim and grey […]