Staff Reporter

LEONARD NDZHUKULA, Nelspruit | Monday 10.00am. SIX Mpumalanga medical students have returned from studying in Cuba where, thay claim, they were held in a “concentration camp from hell” where they were discriminated against in a manner similar to aprtheid. According to the students, Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma lied to them about their contracts and publicly […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 5.45pm. THE Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration on Saturday presented Edgars and its two labour unions with a settlement proposal in a bid to end a protracted strike. CCMA spokesman Sithembele Tshwete said that negotiations concluded on Saturday morning with parties preparing to take the proposal to their respective […]

OWN CORRESPONDENTS, Lubumbashi and Harare | Monday 10.30pm. ZIMBABWE and the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday signed a technical, scientific and co-operation agreement that is expected to pave the way for economic and trade relations between the two countries. Zimbabwe’s foreign minister, Stan Mudenge, and his Congolese counterpart, Victor Mpoyo, signed the accord at […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 10.10pm. DIAMOND conglomerate De Beers may be considering offering rival diamond producer Russia a loan to help the financially stricken government, officials at Russia’s State Treasury said on Monday. De Beers chairman Nicholas Oppenheimer is due to visit the Russian capital Moscow this week, and is scheduled to meet Prime […]

DUDUZILE NKOMO, Harare | Monday 11.00am. THE Zimbabwean fuel price has been increased by 67% with effect from Friday night, President Robert Mugabe’s government announced at the weekend. Leaded petrol now costs about US$0,28, from 17c per litre, while the price of diesel now costs 23c, an increase of nearly 68%. Additional increases are expected […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Monday 5.30pm. LOCAL markets had a strong day across the board on Monday, bouncing off stronger international markets that found touch with news of US support for an International Monetary Fund relief package. Dealers said the announcement that the United States Senate has passed an IMF plan to assist ailing economies […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Dhaka | Monday 1.00am. SOUTH Africa’s cricket side continued its good run of form in Dhaka in Sunday, beating the West Indies to claim the Wills International Cup. South Africa finished at 248 for six in 47 overs, led by captain Hansie Cronje’s 61 and his astute leadership. The South Africans […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Johannesburg | Sunday 5.00pm. WEST African leaders ended their summit meeting in Nigeria late on Saturday night after failing to to find a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Guinea Bissau. The two-day leaders’ summit of the 16-member Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) had been dominated by the crisis […]

DENIS BARNETT, Johannesburg | Sunday 7.00pm. SHARP contradictions on Sunday undermined the ANC’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s findings that it violated human rights when fighting apartheid, highlighting differences between President Nelson Mandela and his deputy Thabo Mbeki. Mandela backed the report’s findings, saying that nobody could deny that people died in African […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Lumbumbashi | Sunday 7.00pm. ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe flew to the Democratic Republic of Congo for a one-day summit on Sunday in the wake of failed peace talks in the Zambian capital Lusaka last week. The summit, to be held in Lumbumbashi, is expected to be attended by leaders of three […]

Stuart Hess A student at Peninsula Technikon, Max Hamata, has received death threats for writing a story on campus prostitution for the Mail & Guardian. Technikon management has also placed pressure on him to reveal his sources. After the article, “Sex for sale on campus”, appeared on September 18, Hamata was harassed and verbally abused […]

ROB DAVIES, Johannesburg | Friday 9.35am. THE Giants of South African soccer, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, will clash in the first-leg semifinals of the multimillion-rand Rothmans Cup on Saturday, and fans can be sure that the battle will be one of epic proportions. What is certain is that the match will be a tight […]

enough Guy Oliver When Nomonde Calata speaks of the defining moment of her life – the death of her husband, activist Fort Calata, in 1985 – 13 years disappear as if they had never been. The moment has not been dulled by the grand designs of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In many ways, it […]

Ken Saro-Wiwa’s prison comrades have been freed. But they are still struggling to come to terms with the horror of ordeal, reports Alex Duval Smith Aa ke, Aa ke Pya Ogoni aa ke Iilee yira na ko Yoo-ue a zia-i Arise, arise, Ogoni people arise We shall no longer allow people to cheat us – […]

Ferial Haffajee `The owner needs the cow because of its milk. The cow needs the owner because he provides it with hay. But when the cow ceases to produce milk, the owner may well decide to slaughter it. The cow cannot do the same to the owner.” This is what Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano said […]

Robert Kirby A FIELD GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS OF KWAZULU-NATAL AND THE EASTERN REGION by Elsa Pooley (Natal Flora Publications Trust) Let me begin by declaring a thoroughly personal interest. I have known Elsa Pooley for many years. She and her family have been close friends of mine since we first met in 1960s. Her […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 10.00am. FORMER All Black coach Laurie Mains, infamous in South Africa for his claims that the New Zealand All Blacks were poisoned by a waitress ahead of their 15-13 loss to the Springboks in the 1995 World Cup final, on Thursday signed a three-year contract to coach the Golden Lions […]

Maureen Barnes Down the tube Of all the irritating things about SABC TV, I think the one which bothers me the most is its inflexibility – a hangover, like so many aspects of the present service, from the previous policy-makers. SABC3 decided – and please don’t think I’m knocking this decision – that on Saturday […]

Jim McClellan meets a man who wants to sweep away the concept of the home computer Here’s a question to ponder: how many electric motors do you have in your house? Probably more than you realise. But you don’t think of them as electric motors. Instead, you just get on with using your food mixer […]

The Jobs Summit must ensure the creation of jobs in a fast-changing, multi-layered economy. A trip down a Johannesburg city street shows just how diverse an economy it is, writes Ferial Haffajee The disappearing economy Fourty-four Main Street is the headquarters of the Anglo American Corporation, where an imposing bronze door greets visitors. Yuppies in […]

David Shapshak Debt relief topped the agenda at the Second Tokyo International Conference on African Development between October 19 and 21, when Japan announced a grant bail-out for some African countries. This was perhaps the most significant and concrete achievement of the conference, which adopted an ambitious “agenda for action” to halve the present levels […]

year David Shapshak Desmond Tutu’s personal story of the time he spent as head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has been sold to publishers Random House and is scheduled to be in print by late next year. The deal was confirmed this week by Stephen Johnson, the head of Random House in South […]

Justin Arenstein Mpumalanga’s government battened down the hatches this week and refused to release any information about its dealings with a shadowy business network reported to be channelling funds into the African National Congress’s 1999 election coffers. The network was reportedly set up in 1996 under the control of three holding companies and relied heavily […]

Andy Capostagno Cricket Against all odds, the Mini World Cup in Bangladesh is set to be a huge success and the development committee of the International Cricket Council (ICC) headed up by our own Ali Bacher should pat themselves on the back. Before proceedings began there were questions and worries aplenty. Why, if it was […]

Andrew Worsdale Movies of the week With more than 29 shorts and 30 features, the fifth gay and lesbian film festival is expanding with massive hard-on proportions. This is because the “queer” film industry is doing so well, and is regarded internationally as the vanguard of cutting edge independent cinema. As more than 15 000 […]

The TRC has found that torture and executions occurred in ANC camps in exile. Some of those targeted were killed as a result of bad leadership, jealousies and paranoia, writes Charlene Smith Chris Hani was once sentenced to death by Umkhonto weSizwe’s (MK) high command in Tanzania for putting forward the grievances of MK cadres. […]

Many whiteys prefer Soweto to Sandton. Tangeni Amupadhi and Thokozani Mtshali talk to the township’s paler inhabitants Soweto’s majita (the guys) wave at Rudolf “Thokozani” Blignault as he travels the township selling coal for household use. Blignault is well known in large parts of the country’s biggest township, not only because he works there but […]

Wally Mbhele Winnie Madikizela-Mandela stands accused of being central to the formation and activities of the Mandela United Football Club, whose members were involved in at least 18 cold-blooded murders. In a harsh judgment on her association with the football club, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) final report said most Mandela United operations were […]

Howard Barrell The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was ready to declare FW de Klerk “an accessory to gross human rights violations” before the former president brought an urgent court action to stop this conclusion being carried in the TRC’s final report, released in Pretoria on Thursday. The commission had provisionally concluded that De Klerk’s […]

as a 23-year-old French man A 13-year-old boy goes missing in San Antonio, Texas. Three years later, he is found, alive, in Spain, with an appalling tale of kidnap and a paedophile ring. His family is overjoyed to have him home safe. But things are not quite as they seem. Nick Davies reports Just more […]

Friday night: Martin Nel I had intended spending my weekend club- hopping, and was psyching up for (some) Therapy in Braamies, and was crossing Rockey Street in Yeoville when I got highjacked by Tony from Rockerfellas, bursting to show me his new club in Picadilly Centre, for “black queers”. His last statement confused me, but […]

Paul Farrely: SHARE WORLD The irony is delicious. The despair in markets the world over has just made Wall Street’s biggest optimist very, very rich indeed. Last week, Abby Joseph Cohen, cool- headed chief investment strategist at Goldman Sachs and the United States’s most influential market guru, finally claimed one of the biggest prizes on […]