Staff Reporter

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 11.45am. SUNDOWNS were stunned on Saturday when they went down 2-1 to Bloemfontein Celtic in a shock Premier Soccer League defeat at the Free State Stadium. Sundowns missed many opportunities that could have seen then take the match, but Celtic opened the scoring in the 25th minute through Stoffel Nikane […]

James Rupert in Kinshasa Three generations of Andre Miku’s family live in the concrete-block compound they have built over decades around a dirt yard and a mango tree. Of 11 people who live here, none has a formal job. Miku (70), a retired mechanic, receives a government pension of $7 a month. The family rents […]

Brenda Atkinson : On show in Johannesburg Looking at two Johannesburg exhibitions recently, it occurred to me that the position of the art critic – and of some artists – is increasingly one of impossibility. This is because one of the ironies of globalisation, transnationalism, and all those other terms that would suggest the dissolution […]

Ann Eveleth Six northern KwaZulu-Natal police officers received jail sentences this week for torturing an African National Congress- aligned community activist and his relatives. Magistrate Amanda Venter handed down the ruling in a tiny civil courtroom in the Empangeni Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, nearly two-and-a-half years after members of the Mtubatuba-based public order policing unit […]

Andrew Worsdale The French, arguably, invented cinema, although there is some contention that Thomas Edison was the founder. Either way, thanks to brothers Auguste andLouis Lumire, cinema became part of daily life with screenings at Paris’s Grand Caf in 1895. Frenchman George Mlis, probably the first cinema artist, developed special effects to create a pantomime […]

Tony Twine According to the cautionary tale, Goldilocks may well have been the archetypal consumer who fell foul of a bear trend. In search of that elusive economic entity, a free lunch (or was it breakfast?), she unleashed a sequence of events which left her at the mercy of the bears – quite a depressing […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday 9.45am. THE meeting called by National Assembly Speaker Frene Ginwala on Friday morning to discuss Thursday’s fisticuffs in Parliament has ended with Ginwala saying she gave all parties a copy of video footage of the fracas and gave them until Monday to decide what action to take. The meeting, […]

Peter Dickson A scam dubbed “Aircon” is the latest corruption scandal to rock the Eastern Cape legislature. On Tuesday, Eastern Cape legislature speaker Gugile Nkwinti announced that the secretary of the legislature, Connie de Beer, and finance director Bej Fatuse have been forced to take leave, pending investigation into allegations that they illegally converted R300 […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday7.00am. WESTERN Cape attorney-general Frank Kahn on Friday indicated he would not accept assault charges laid by either of the two MPs involved in Thursday evening’s punch-up in Parliament, because he has no jurisdiction over the institution. Speaker Dr Frene Ginwala has full jurisdiction over any offence committed in Parliament, […]

Mail &Guardian reporter Spatial Development Initiatives (SDI’s) have created 518 investment opportunities valued at R115,4 billion – with the potential to create 118 000 new jobs – across South Africa. By June this year, 144 of these projects, with an investment value of around R31- billion and the potential to create more than 32 000 […]

Angella Johnson : VIEW FROM A BROAD `Isn’t it great how you can get just about anything on the Internet these days,” says Gail Bentel cheerfully. We’re not talking about ordering a pizza. Bentel has run a cat-breeding business, made friends around the world, bought a house and found her dream man while surfing the […]

Richard Cornwell and Jakkie Potgieter Propaganda claims to the contrary, there appears to be a relative lull in the fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as the various forces regroup and resupply, while the deteriorating weather makes the large-scale movement of mechanised troops increasingly difficult. This provides a breathing space in which the region’s […]

Demutualisation hopes have lost their shine in the wake of turmoil in the financial markets, writes Belinda Beresford You could be forgiven for confusing the huff and puff over demutualisation with the sound of the gravy train pulling in for a lucky few. Since last year, the financial world has been talking up the conversion […]

Alex Dodd : CD of the week If, like me, you’re the kind of person who likes drifting into the realm of nod to strains of sweet music conjuring images of women in fuschia muslin and marble palaces on Indian lakes, Deepak Ram is the maestro you’ve been looking for. A pupil of the great […]

Howard Barrell : Over a Barrel One of our stranger habits as South Africans is to imagine the rest of the world owes us a living. It is not a feeling many readily admit to. It is more an underlying conviction which governs much of our political and economic behaviour. We did once represent a […]

Max Hamata and Thokozani Mtshali The flesh trade has found a niche on campuses across South Africa, but not because students are impoverished and battling to pay fees. Peer pressure to wear the latest brand of clothing and carry the smallest cellphone has prompted many young women into selling their bodies. A 23-year-old third-year business […]

Marthali Brand : First Person `That’s incredible. I would never be able to do that.” That’s the first thing most people say when they hear that I am a volunteer at a care centre for children with Aids. The second thing is: “Isn’t it tough to know that those children are going to die?” I […]

After hundreds of years of research, the molecular spark that triggered life still puzzles scientists, writes Paul Davies In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, the monster is brought to life by a bolt of electricity. This procedure fitted in with the 19th-century view that living matter is somehow distinct from non-living matter, and that an organism […]

Peter Frost In a union which typifies the new reality of economic pressure on the arts as well as calls for broadening of artistic horizons, members of Gauteng’s State Theatre Ballet and the Cape Town City Ballet (CTCB) will join forces on Saturday night at the Nico Opera House for the first time. Dancers from […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kuala Lumpur | Thursday 8.30pm. SOUTH Africa will play a confident Australia in the cricket final at the Commonwealth Games, after the Australian team disposed of New Zealand in a crushing defeat in the semi-final on Thursday. Steve Waugh’s Australians warmed up for Saturday’s final with an emphatic nine-wicket win that was completed […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 9.00pm. A SAFETY system is needed that will warn of possible rockfalls and mudslides on Cape Town’s most scenic coastal drive, an engineering geologist told the Cape Town High Court on Thurday. Fredrick Stapelberg testified in a civil claim of more than R4- million against the Cape Metropolitan Council […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kuala Lumpur | Thursday 7.30pm. FREESTYLE artist Ryk Neethling picked up South Africa’s second Commonwealth Games swimming medal when he finished second in the men’s 1500m event in 15 minutes 02,88 seconds in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday night. He broke both a South African and African record for the event. Although he beat […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 10.00pm. REBELS from the Democratic Republic of Congo have accused the Southern African Development Community of “legitimising” President Laurent Kabila. In a propaganda war that is growing heated on all sides, the Congolese Democratic Coalition said in a press briefing in Midrand, near Johannesburg: “Granting legitimacy to the Kabila regime […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kuala Lumpur | Thursday 10.00am. BRENDON Dedekind has won South Africa’s first medal for swimming in the Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur. He picked up silver in the 50m freestyle, in 22,70 to touch just behind Mark Foster of England who set a Commonwealth record of 22,58. Multiple World Championship medal winner Michael […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 9.00pm. AMENDMENTS to the Electoral Bill allowing voters who are not in possession of a green, bar-coded ID book to use a temporary certificate to register for next year’s general election were approved by the National Assembly on Thursday. However, temporary certificat holders will still have to be issued […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 4.00pm. DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila on Wednesday said he wants to hold elections in the country in April 1999 , but first must “boot out” invading troops. “We want to go to elections. It was set for April. For that we will have to boot the aggressor […]

SARAH BULLEN,Johannesburg | Thursday 9.45am. SYNTHETIC fuel group Sasol on Wednesday reported a 18,6% fall in attributable profit to R2-billion for the year to June — its first fall in profits in a decade. The fall was despite a weaker rand to dollar exchange rate, R500-million in synthetic fuel subsidies and a R100-million transfer from […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kuala Lumpur | Thursday 7.30pm. THE South African women’s hockey team suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of New Zealand at the Pantai Stadium on Thursday night. South Africa needed to score a draw, if not a win, in this crucial match to advance to the semifinals against Australia. Instead they conceded […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Thursday 4.00pm. THE Zimbabwean central bank on Thursday produced a damning report on black banker Roger Boka, and blames the government of bending banking licensing procedures to allow his underfunded bank to operate in the first place. The report into the collapse of Boka’s “indigenous” United Merchant Bank accuses Boka of […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Port Elizabeth | Tuesday 10.00pm. NATAL hooker Chris Rossouw has been cleared of a charge of throwing a punch at Free State hooker Naka Drotske during last week’s Currie Cup game in Bloemfontein. He will now be free to play for the team in the Bankfin Currie Cup rugby match against Boland at […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Wednesday 11.30am. SOUTH Africa’s announcement that the Langa Commission report on alleged electoral fraud in Lesotho will be released on Thursday has been met with threats that the report will be rejected by Lesotho opposition parties. Frank Chikane, secretary-general in the office of the deputy president, announced Johannesburg on Wednesday evening […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Tuesday 4.00pm. MPUMALANGA Premier Mathews Phosa has scheduled a special provincial executive meeting at his Nelspruit home on Wednesday to deliberate an urgent recommendation for the suspension of the province’s parks chief, Alan Gray. The political fate of the province’s finance MEC, Jacques Modipane, is also expected to be discussed at […]