Staff Reporter

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 […]

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 […]

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, 1.30PM 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: 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, 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: 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 […]

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 […]

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: 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 […]

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, 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 […]

FRIDAY, 12.30PM: FORMER Wimbledon champion Pat Cash is out of the MTN Championships Tennis tournament after losing 2-6 7-8 (8/6) 10-8 to Tim Wilkison in the quaterfinals at Sandton Gardens on Thursday night. Cash, who replaced defending champion Yannick Noah in the 12-man field, destroyed a courtside television microphone after one of many dodgy line […]

Wally Mbhele The Reverend Frank Chikane emerged this week as the new favourite to replace Gauteng MEC for Health Amos Masondo in challenging the leading candidate, advocate Mathole Motshekga, for the provincial chairmanship of the African National Congress. While another powerful, nominated candidate, Murphy Morobe, was still making political calculations before taking a final decision […]

The Nazis final solution had a dress rehearsal in Namibia, writes Delroy Constantine-Simms At a time when the fight for justice for Jewish Holocaust victims makes front-page news, few people know that a significant number of black people suffered, too, under Nazi rule. Revelations about their experiences are made in a documentary, to be screened […]

Olivia Strange The sisterhood is going to be happy. Cosmopolitans gone a step further than just debating the image of women debate. The magazine which has a circulation of 105 000 is running a big girl campaign and will now more regularly feature normal- sized women on its pages. Writer Roald Dahls granddaughter, the curvaceous […]

Bridget Hilton-Barber : Unspoilt places The views at Itala Game Reserve in KwaZulu- Natal are so gorgeous they should be prescribed by optometrists. From the highveld plateau in the east to the Ngubu Basin in the west, the land falls steeply and spectacularly a drop of almost 1 000m. The drive from the nearest village […]

unwillingly Peta Thornycroft Wynand du Toit, a former South African commando, was deported from Angola last month exactly 10 years after he had been freed from a Luanda jail. In 1985 Du Toit became Angolas most celebrated prisoner after he was captured in an attempt to blow up Angolas oil fields in the Cabinda enclave. […]

Kevin Mitchell : Soccer The advertising campaign that seeks to convince us that football is not just a game but a religion with Sean Bean as the archbishop and television the cathedral is absurd to the point of pastiche. But a slim Colombian footballer, a man for whom religion has been a fleeting influence in […]

Melvyn Minnaar potable pleasures Since the great gates to wealth from world- wide wine sales opened, former vineyard bywoners and enriched company directors alike jumped on to the South African brand wagon for their sip of the market. The result has been a plethora of new trade titles for wine. A number of the recently […]

The witness protection programme offers protection to individuals, but not their families, writes Mungo Soggot Key witnesses to the killings which have ravaged the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands town of Richmond have refused to join the witness protection programme. The witnesses are either anxious to protect their families for whom the scheme does not cater or are […]

If James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, means half of what he says then the worlds poor may have found a new friend. At a time when industrialised nations are unashamedly widening the gap between rich and poor in their dash for economic growth, Wolfensohn is urging the opposite. In his speech to the […]

Gustav Thiel Residents of Claremont, a neighbourhood south of Johannesburg caught in a web of paranoia since an alleged serial killer murdered four people there in July, believe the tragedies should have been prevented by the police. Hendrik van Wyk, whose sister Lelanie lost her life on July 19 when the killer struck twice in […]

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 […]

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 […]

Marion Edmunds President Nelson Mandela has instructed all African National Congress parliamentarians to tell him, in face-to-face interviews, what constituency work they do. Mandela?s interest, announced at a recent ANC caucus meeting, is provoked by concern that MPs are neglecting their constituency work and failing to disseminate information to the people about the government?s progress. […]

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 […]

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), […]

FRIDAY, 3.30PM WINNIE MADIKIZELA-MANDELA appeared reluctantly before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Friday, her 64th birthday. Subpoenaed to a closed hearing to answer questions relating to her alleged links to 18 gross human rights violations, Madikizela-Mandela requested the inquiry to be public so that “the matter can be dealt with once and for all”. […]

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 […]

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 […]