Staff Reporter

Marion Edmunds The South African government is seeking to play down a report by Amnesty International linking South African arms sales to recent bloodshed in Rwanda. The office of Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Kader Asmal, which oversees South Africa?s international arms trade, questioned Amnesty International?s findings that South Africa was Rwanda?s largest arms […]

TUESDAY, 12.30PM: THE South African golf tour on Monday received a massive R2-million boost from Dimension Data, which decided to pull out of the European Tour and concentrate on the local circuit. Chairman of the PGA Tour in Southern Africa Arnold Mentz said the development is one of the greatest in South African golf in […]

TUESDAY, 4.30PM The truth commission hearing into the 1989 Motherwell bombing on Tuesday saw two former state assassins pitted against one another in their bid for amnesty for their part in in the car bombing that killed three policemen and an informer. De Kock’s lawyer Schalk Hugo challenged Nieuwoudt’s testimony to the commission’s amnesty committee, […]

TUESDAY, 5.00PM ZIMBABWEAN war veterans have accused the commission screening liberation war veterans of corruption and inefficiency at both district and provincial levels. Ziana news agency on reported that former fighters said the present provincial vetting team should step down and give way to a more efficient and transparent team from Harare. War veterans who […]

FRIDAY, 6.00PM SHARES on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange ended mixed on Monday as gold shares gained on the steady bullion price, while industrials and financials fell victim to futures manipulations and caution ahead of the release on new economic data after the close of local markets. At the close the all gold index had gained […]

MONDAY, 1.00PM: VAAL Professionals scored a 5-4 win over league champions Manning Rangers in a first-leg Rothmans Cup quaterfinals match at Chatsworth Stadium on Saturday. Rangers defender Liswa Nduti opened the score in the fourth minute through an Innocent Chikoya corner kick. Rabbie Nkoane’s equalising goal in the 28th minute brought Pros back in the […]

DRC EDITOR HELD POLICE in the Democratic Republic of Congo have detained the managing editor of the daily Le Palmares, Michael Luya, for questioning, inspector Raus Chalwe said on Monday. Chalwe said Luya was detained “in connection with an inquiry” and will be freed once certain checks have been carried out, without giving further details. […]

MONDAY, 3.00PM JAILED former commander of the Vlakplaas police hit-squad Eugene de Kock was forced to take part in the 1989 Motherwell car bombing to ensure he did not testify against his superiors at the Harms commission of inquiry, his lawyer told before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Monday. De Kock, who is serving […]

MONDAY, 11.30AM MARKETERS of agricultural products have been caught unawares by a notice in the Government Gazette extending government’s regulatory powers over the marketing of several farm products. In terms of the notice, Land and Agriculture Minister Derek Hanekom acquires regulatory powers over a range of previously unregulated products including coffee, tea, poultry and sugar […]

MONDAY, 1.00PM: ZIMBABWE finished the fourth day of their test match against New Zealand on 153/3 on Sunday. This gave them a 210 lead with seven wickets in hand. Grant Flower and Gavin Rennie gave the Zimbabweans a fine start with a run a ball 75 run stand for the first wicket. Captain Alistair Campell […]

MONDAY, 8.00AM MATHOLE MOTSHEKGA, the outsider the African National Congress worked so hard to keep out of the Gauteng leadership, won the provincial chairmanship by a landslide on Sunday. In the final round of voting for the chairmanship, he beat favoured candidate Frank Chikane by 343 votes to 179. The vote ends a three-month power […]

MONDAY, 1.30PM MONDAY’S Zambia Post claims that Lusaka police chiefs sent radio messages ordering snipers to fire on opposition leader Kenneth Kaunda last month. Kaunda and fellow opposition leader Rodger Chongwe were shot and injured when police broke up an opposition rally in Kabwe on August 23. The Post says it interviewed unnamed policemen who […]

MONDAY, 1.00PM: FREE STATE collected muximum points when they beat Border 50-3 in a Currie Cup encounter at the Basil Kenyon Stadium in East London on Sunday. Free State led 28-3 at the break from four goals and a penalty. After 13 minutes, Free State were leading 21-0 through tries by hooker Naka Drotske, left […]

MONDAY, 1.00PM: SOUTH AFRICA’S Amanda Coetzer lost 6-2 4-6 6-3 to world’s second-ranked player, Jana Novotna, in the final of the $450 000 Leipzig Open in Leipzig, Germany on Sunday. Coetzer qualified for the final after she ousted top-ranked Swiss sensation Martina Hingis in the semi-finals. “I’m not a machine, it rarely happens to me […]

MONDAY, 1.00PM: JOHN McEnroe won the MTN Champions tennis tournament at Sandton Square Gardens after beating top seed Johan Kriek 7-6 (8/6) 6-2 for the second time in eight days on Sunday. “My service started off a little ineffective, but it got better as the set progressed and I was starting to feel much better […]

The big picture is the masculine approach, and its a burden. The so-called historical perspective that people are supposed to be honouring or seeking is a weight. And, as Palesa Nkosi so elegantly puts it, shes not an essentialist, not someone who subscribes to the definitive South African film. Im not expecting to be the […]

Charl Blignaut As last years Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade wound its way through Johannesburgs grimy inner city, a rumour began to circulate amongst the marchers. The organisers, it was said, were planning to move the 1997 event north to upper-class Sandton or Rosebank away from its roots and even further from Soweto. To more […]

Cosatus business arm aims to seize economic power for the majority, writes Sechaba kaNkosi Tumelo Motsisi passionately dismisses any notion that he is a capitalist in a socialist movement. He sees no contradiction between the Congress of South African Trade Unions confessed ideology of socialism and his role as head of the federations business arm, […]

Glynis OHara : Massed Choir Festival When Sally June Gain opened her throat and let out powerful, ineffably beautiful high notes in Verdis Sempre Libera from La Traviata, the audience went wild. Right in the middle of the aria. They were on their feet and cheering wildly by the end, so much so that she […]

FRIDAY, 2.30PM NATIONAL policy guidelines for dealing with the victims of sexual offences were launched at the Protea Magistrate’s Court in Soweto on Friday. The guidelines were compiled by the departments of Justice, Safety and Security, Health, Welfare, and Correctional Services, Deputy Justice Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said in a statement. “For the first time, state […]

Ferial Haffajee After five years of talking, the SABC and the Performing Arts Workers Equity (Pawe) have signed a landmark agreement. For the first time, South Africas artists and those who work in the sector, will have a detailed performance contract which guarantees better and safer working conditions as well as a slice of the […]

Ferial Haffajee : Design of the week The Mail & Guardians Design of the Year prize may just have been awarded. Yes, yes, we know its usually only done at the end of the year, but brand new Gauteng-based radio station YFMs invitation to their launch party is going to be a hard act to […]

unfairly? Craig Bishop Eight months into perhaps the toughest provincial job in the country, Eastern Cape Premier, the Reverend Makhenkesi Stofile, is under pressure to take heavy-handed action to control fraud and deliver government services. A recent Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) survey found he was the least popular premier in South Africa. Stofile (50), […]

Madeleine Wackernagel British Airports Authority (BAA), the worlds largest private airport manager, is joining the bidding process for a strategic equity stake in the Airport Company of South Africa (Acsa). BAA, itself a successful privatisation story, hopes to add significant value to the commendable efforts of Acsas management and staff, according to Richard Jeffrey, director […]

Nelson Mandela has raised hopes for a negotiated end to the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. In the interim, the political battle continues. Peter Cronau and Matthew Brown report The Indonesian government is using its embassies worldwide in a campaign of surveillance and intimidation against East Timorese activists and their supporters, claims Nobel Peace Prize […]

FRIDAY, 12.30PM: BAFANA Bafana coach Clive Barker has included five new uncapped players in the squad to play France in Lens on October 11. The new players are defenders Willem Jackson (Orlando Pirates) and Pierre Issa (Olympic Marseilles), midfielders Brian “Baby Jake” Sebapole and Alex “Barnes” Bapela (Sundowns), and striker Simon Makhubela (Manning Rangers). The […]

Andy Duffy and Marion Edmunds A government bash on Robben Island to celebrate Heritage Day cost the taxpayer up to R1-million R2 500 for every name on the exclusive guest list. The guest list also excluded at least three white opposition leaders National Party chief Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the Democratic Partys Tony Leon, and the […]

Andy Duffy North West province Premier Popo Molefe wants his education MEC to explain to the public why she engaged her sister-in-laws legal services instead of using state attorneys at no cost. An investigation Molefe ordered last year into education in the province uncovered severe management failings, with evidence that MEC Mamoekoena Gaoretelelwe was often […]

Whether or not Mother Nature inflicts El Nio on South Africa this year, new legislation aims to distribute water fairly, reports Ann Eveleth Water affairs minister Kader Asmals move to regulate farmers water rights this week is just the tip of the iceberg on an innovative plan to turn South Africas water priorities upside down. […]

Mungo Soggot An influential United States medical journal has accused South African doctors of endangering the lives of scores of babies to test new drug treatments for pregnant women infected with the HIV virus. The New England Journal of Medicine says the drug trials which deny some of their human guinea pigs effective, available treatment […]

M&G Reporter The National Arts Council Bill has finally been passed by parliament after drafters quietly ditched the controversial clause that could have enabled the national arts and culture department to hijack the council. Clause 13 which was seen as a major threat to the councils independence has been replaced with a clause that says […]

Wonder Hlongwa African National Congress national chairman Jacob Zuma has been involved in intense lobbying to get Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini and Inkatha Freedom Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi to patch up their family quarrel and appear on the same platform at the symbolically important Shaka Day celebrations. Zuma said he had been acting as a […]