Staff Reporter

friend Mungo Soggot Hlengiwe Mkhize, the truth commissioner tipped to win a major government diamond contract, this week likened her prospective job of assessing the value of rough diamonds to that of compensating torture victims. Mkhize chairs the local arm of a consortium masterminded by a Belgian diamond broker which is the favourite in the […]

Angella Johnson : VIEW FROM A BROAD Sophia Jardim was trawling the aisles of her local supermarket, one of her “children” precariously balanced on her hip, when a woman approached and lobbed a gob of spit at her. It was just another in a string of unpleasant attacks this 43-year-old divorcee has had to endure […]

Deputy President Thabo Mbeki has stepped in to address deep concerns about the state of preparations for elections next year.

Mercedes Sayagues `I sing the body electric,” wrote Walt Whitman. I am reminded of this line as I watch the bulging biceps, palpitating pecs and throbbing quads of Vaughan Carl, Mr Zimbabwe Bodybuilder 1998. Harare’s 700-seat Seven Arts theatre is half-full for the finals of Mr and Ms Zimbabwe Bodybuilder. Mr Zimbabwe 1996 is the […]

Howard Barrell : Over a Barrel Nkosazana Zuma, it seems, takes the view that, if you want to bring about far- reaching change, do it early, do it hard and give your opponents no quarter. The way the tobacco companies, health insurers and drug companies are now bleating to the courts for respite suggests the […]

Philip Machanick Just when you thought it safe to use the Internet, junk mail sharks have started to bite. What’s more, they’re made of spam. Thanks to “bulk mail e-mail lists”, millions of users of the Internet can be hit at once with unwanted mail, selling anything from porn to more bulk e-mail lists. Sellers […]

MUNGO SOGGOT, Johannesburg | Friday 3.30pm. A CONSORTIUM headed up by head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s reparations committee Hlengiwe Mkhize is tipped to win a major government diamond valuation contract. The Diamond Board has yet to announce the winner, but rival bidders, who have expressed misgivings about the tender process, claim Mkhize’s consortium […]

Lauren Shantall A B-grade Barbie-rella babe in a yellow polka dot rubber bikini steps s on to the stage. Armed with a hairdryer-cum-ray gun she begins to blow up a flaccid yellow blob while the soundtrack blares a kooky, surreal mix of Plan Nine From Outer Space meets Mars Attack on an operating table. As […]

Joan Smith : First Person Why don’t women go cruising? When the media is full of the shortage of single men, why is this method of finding partners, briefly at least, unthinkable for women? The simple answer is danger. It is unthinkable for lesbians and straight women alike because we are so accustomed to recognising […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 9.30am. SOUTH Africa’s amateur golfers on Wednesday thrashed neighbouring Zimbabwe 11-1/2 to 3-1/2 in their golf Test over the Modderfontein course. Both teams fly to Chile on Thursday to compete in the world team championships for the Eisenhower Trophy in Santiago. The South Africans went into the second day with […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.15am. South Africa’s amateur golfers came from 2-1 behind in the morning session to beat Zimbabwe in five of the afternoon singles and share the sixth on the opening day of the one-off golf Test at Johannesburg’s Modderfontein course on Tuesday. The comeback sees the South Africans lead by 6-1/2 […]

CLAUDE KAMANGA MUTOND, Kinshasa | Wednesday 12.40pm. PEOPLE suspected of economic crimes such as hiking prices in the Democratic Republic of Congo will now be court-martialled and sentenced to death if found guilty, the DRC government announced. Counterfeiting money, hiking prices and setting arbitrary foreign exchange rates are now considered “high treason” in the DRC, […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Tuesday 11.30am. BUSINESS confidence rose above general economic uncertainty to remain unchanged in October, the South African Chamber of Commerce said on Monday. Sacob’s October Business Confidence Index (BCI) remained unchanged in October, with six of the sub-indices which make up the BCI deteriorating and seven improving. Sacob said that, despite […]

TABBY MOYO, Windhoek | Tuesday 12.15pm. NAMIBIAN Minister Nangolo Mbumba on Monday defended his government’s budgeted N$30-million to support Namibia’s military intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo conflict as an “investment in democracy”. Responding to concerns raised by members of the National Assembly on the 1998-99 additional budget, Mbumba acknowledged that the military intervention […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Luanda | Tuesday 3.10pm. THE South African government said on Tuesday that it will do everything possible to negotiate the release of two South Africans who were taken hostage in an attack on a Canadian-owned mine in Angola on Monday. Speaking in Pretoria, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said that five people, including […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 12.00noon. THE West Indies cricket team arrived at Johannesburg International Airport on Tuesday morning. The players will start their tour against the Gauteng XI in Soweto, Johannesburg, on Wednesday. The planned opening match Tuesday against the Nicky Oppenheimer XI at Randjesfontein outside Johannesburg has been cancelled. TUESDAY, 9.00AM: WEST Indian […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 1.30pm. DYNAMOS of Zimbabwe scraped into the African Champions League final despite losing 1-0 at home to Hearts of Oak of Ghana in their final mini-league match Saturday. The clubs finished with 10 points each in Group A after the six-round competition and the Harare club qualified because they had […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 1.30pm. KAIZER Chiefs shot into second position on the Castle Premier League log when they beat ten-man AmaZulu 3-1 at King’s Park Rugby Stadium in Durban on Saturday. Chiefs took the lead in the 17th minute when Zimbabwean international Robson Muchichwa scored from the penalty spot after Thabang Lebese was […]

Tangeni Amupadhi The death of kwaito star Makhendlas brings into sharp focus the culture of violence and unrelenting proliferation of guns in South Africa. Behind the facade of success kwaito musicians are just as vulnerable to crime as the ordinary South African. Many can list incidents of criminal activities directed at them, particularly at performances. […]

Peter Makurube It has taken a long time but at last the real heroes of South African jazz are being honoured. The Untold Story, a show held in memory of jazz greats of an era gone by, is part of the ongoing African Renaissance series. Soloists will interpret the works of icons like Dudu Pukwana, […]

Janyne Simon-Meyer The rand may be down and interest rates up, but South Africans are not sitting at home these holidays. The mainstream traveller is seeking out good value destinations – like Asia – and sensible savings like all-inclusive or cut-rate package deals. Internationally, Thailand and Malaysia are the hottest best-value holiday spots. The shopping […]

Kate Herbert Imagine a room with two views: one a dusty, arid moonscape; the other lush, green and wet. This is the luxury “home from home” set- up at the Savuti Elephant Camp and Xaxaba in the Chobe Game Reserve in Botswana. The room at Savuti is too opulent for its “tent camp” status. It […]

Andy Capostagno Cricket Whatever the outcome of the ongoing talks between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and its players association, the squad preparing for a five Test tour of South Africa will not be representative of the best the islands can muster. At the time of writing the captain, Brian Lara, and the vice-captain, […]

the racing world An often dogged and sometimes disheartening slog from the ranks of the Formula One has paid off for 1998 world champion Mika Hakkinen. Alan Henry reports Mika Hakkinen of Finland clinched the 1998 Formula One world championship with a flawless flag-to-flag victory in the Japanese Grand Prix, a success which also gave […]

Not CDs of the week: Shaun de Waal It was reported a while ago that David Bowie had declined to be involved in Todd Haynes’s new glam rock movie, Velvet Goldmine. The reason given was Bowie’s desire to hang on to his seminal Seventies creation, Ziggy Stardust, for future exploitation by himself. I suspect, however, […]

Giulio Biccari started out in the movie business tearing tickets. These days he captures some of the most startling images in South African film. Andrew Worsdale reports You saw Zola Maseko’s The Life and Times of Sara Baartman on TV a couple of weeks ago, but do you know who gave you its luscious images? […]

Loose cannon: Robert Kirby It is with grim amusement that we have watched the lumbering egg-dance – or should we rather say egg-toyi-toyi – which has attended the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) final report. As a display of professional political hypocrisy, this one has been a winner all the way. First […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday 1.30pm. THOUSANDS of people from across Africa are streaming to South Africa seeking refugee status, most of them under false pretences, Home Affairs Deputy Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said in Parliament on Thursday. Speaking during debate on a new Refugees Bill that will bring the country’s laws dealing with refugees […]

John Crace It goes without saying that your choice of holiday destination is a statement of your aesthetics. After all, there’s precious little point in going to Ibiza if it’s peace and quiet and a few old masters you’re after. And an eco-tour to the Amazonian rain forest immediately identifies you as the caring, thoughtful […]

On a Warner Brothers press junket to Los Angeles Alex Dodd found a flip side to the dream factory For someone as hopelessly addicted to the glittery escape of celluloid as I am, the prospect of a trip to Los Angeles had me surfing waves of fantasy. Images of wild, wild Nicholas Cage cruising down […]

Review of the week: Matthew Krouse Classical music always garnered a heap of bad press in the old South Africa. Great works of Western music were, we were informed, part of a Eurocentric dominance – an unnecessary aberration in the lives of poor Africans. Apparently, so we’re told, times have changed. Today, a generation of […]

After a tiring week creating the universe, the earth and us, God rested. And being God, he foresaw that one day there would be war and high-rise buildings and traffic and technology that would speed up human life beyond endurance. And he said: “Let there be the Seychelles.” These 92 islands and islets, spread over […]