Staff Reporter

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 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, Maseru | Monday 9.30pm. LESOTHO’S Prime Minister has been accused by opposition parties of victimising civil servants after claims that over 30 alleged mutineers would be court-martialled instead of receiving a general amnesty as demanded. The 11 opposition parties, in a letter to South African Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi, said that […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Monday 7.00pm. RUTH First had turned away from active involvement in the African National Congress to concentrate on her academic career at a university in Maputo in Mozambique some time before she was killed by a letter bomb sent by the apartheid security forces, Transport Minister Mac Maharaj said on Monday. […]

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 […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 1.00am. VAAL Professionals earned three valuable log points when they beat Moroka Swallows 1-0 in a Castle Premier League soccer match at Iscor Stadium in Sebokeng on Sunday. The was not exciting by any stretch of the imamgination, but it was tough and physical enough to see the first half […]

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 […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Johannesburg | Monday 7.00pm. WINNIE Madikizela-Mandela, former wife of President Nelson Mandela, was on Monday nominated as a parliamentary candidate for the African National Congress. This emerged on Monday when the ANC released a list of Gauteng nominees for the 1999 general election. Madikizela-Mandela — who last week hit the headlines […]

JOE KAUNDA, Luanda | Monday 7.15pm. ANGOLAN police announced last week that all Unita-aligned members of the national police service will be demobilised. This comes after the Angolan parliament two weeks ago passed a resolution to strip rebel leader Jonas Savimbi of his special status. In announcing the demobilisation, National Police commander Fernado dos Santos […]

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 […]

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 […]

Thomas Olver THE MOMENT by Stefanus Stephanus Nel (Mortem Post) The realm of “experimental writing” is littered with the burnt-out corpses of many a poor volume of poetry or stories. So it is gratifying to discover new colour (albeit it black and white) in the local literary landscape. Stefanus Stephanus Nel’s booklet is such a […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

As the Japanese Grand Prix looms, two teams will be aching to celebrate victory -in their own separate ways. Maurice Hamilton reports If Michael Schumacher brings the world drivers’ championship to Ferrari this weekend, the town of Maranello in northern Italy will go berserk – even in the early hours of Sunday when the results […]

CDs of the week: Phillip Kakaza Although this country still boasts a lively jazz tradition, so much of the best of it was shipped away to flourish abroad. The Blue Notes, founded by innovative pianist Chris McGregor, went to exile in 1965. Apartheid prohibited them from performing as a racially mixed band in South Africa. […]

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 […]

Ann Eveleth The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC)final report has found Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi responsible for all the gross human rights violations committed under his leadership of the party, the KwaZulu government and the KwaZulu police. “Chief MG Buthelezi served simultaneously as president of the IFP and as the chief minister of […]

In his first column for Smart Money, David Gleason surveys gold and wonders why Barlow sold investment company PGM for so little Is this a good time to buy gold shares? The evidence supporting the view that gold may be on the verge of a better period (not fantastic, you understand, just modestly better than […]

Ann Eveleth: IN THE ACT The public health system must have heaved a sigh of relief when the Cape High Court turned down a challenge to Minister of Health Nkosazana Zuma’s Medical Schemes Bill. Cleared of the legal hurdle created by Business South Africa’s attempt to shift the debate into the National Economic Development and […]

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 – […]

Blue Bulls vs Western Province Andy Capostagno Rugby On Tuesday the fixtures for the 1999 Super 12 competition were released. Coincidence, or is the Sanzar (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia Rugby) committee concerned that the Currie Cup is stealing its thunder? For all the advances made since South Africa was readmitted to international competition in […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

In the week the TRC released its final report, Penuell Maduna was trying to hide the name of an African politician who enjoyed the National Party’s largesse, writes Mungo Soggot The bizarre saga of how the apartheid government bankrolled the election of a West African president by inflating the South African taxpayers’ crude oil bill […]

Cameron Duodu: LETTER FROM THE NORTH She never allowed the leaders of the Soviet Union to forget what horrible creatures they were. And she plotted, with her “virtual boyfriend”, Ronald Reagan, to bring down the Soviets’ “evil empire”. To listen to her waxing lyrical about the “values of the free world” you would have thought […]

Johnny Masilela MY WARRIOR SON by Mary Anne Fitzgerald (Penguin) This is the story of the relationship between Mary Anne Fitzgerald – who grew up in the United States and South Africa – and Peter Kepaeka, a Masai lad, allegedly an orphan, whom she adopted. She was working as a foreign correspondent in Kenya at […]

Shirley Kossick OKAVANGO GODS by Anthony Fleischer (David Philip) CHILDISH THINGS by Marita van der Vyver, translated by Madeleine van Biljon (Penguin) In Okavango Gods, Anthony Fleischer tells the story of Pula Barotse, a Hambukushu youth who straddles the divide between Western modernity and the ancient beliefs and myths of his own “people of the […]

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 […]