Lucy Hannan in Nairobi Kenyan police are rounding up hundreds of refugees and foreigners after President Daniel arap Moi announced that “foreign spies and criminals” were masquerading as refugees and inciting the people. Buses carrying 129 Burundian, Rwandan, Sudanese and Somali refugees drove under police escort last week to Kakuma camp, more than 800km from […]
Justin Arenstein in Nelspruit Mpumalanga’s provincial government “ran out of patience” with its former high-rolling government consultant, Ntsoaki Mohapi, this week and asked South Africa’s most powerful investigation body, the Heath Special Investigative Unit, to extract the R220 000 she owes the government. Mohapi paid herself the money, at a rate of R15 000 a […]
Gaye Davis A hoax letter “signed” by Professor Cecil Abrahams, rector of the University of the Western Cape (UWC), nearly put a spoke in the wheels of the selection of a new vice- chancellor for Witwatersrand University this week. The letter, received by chair of the Wits council, Judge Fikile Bam, and circulated by him […]
THE ANGELLA JOHNSON INTERVIEW `You’re not wanting to talk about that driving licence thing, are you?” questioned Ina, the formidable secretary for Baleka Mbete-Kgositsile, when I requested an interview with her boss. “If you are, then I’ll stand six feet tall to protect her. The whole thing has been blown totally out of proportion.” Well, […]
FRIDAY, 9.20AM: NAMIBIA’S Frankie Fredericks advanced to the finals of the 200m at the World Athletics Championships in Athens on Thursday. Fredericks finished second and clocked in 20,39sec, behind Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago, who clocked in 20,09sec. Fredericks, who has been suffering from an injury throughout the Championships, refused to comment after the […]
Glynis O’Hara In a bid to boost the local music industry, the Irish and South African governments have joined forces in helping the South African Roadies Association (Sara) get a three-month training course off the ground – apparently the first of its kind in the country. A report compiled by the Irish Agency for Personnel […]
J G Ballard That William Burroughs lived to such an immense age is a tribute to the rejuvenating powers of a mis-spent life. More than half a century of heavy drug use failed to dim either his remarkably sharp mind or his dryly cackling humour. When I last saw him in London a few years […]
What is it about beauty pageants that captures the popular imagination? Our reporters try to make sense of it all Brenda Atkinson: Miss South Africa 1997 The Miss South Africa competition at the Sun City Superbowl last weekend was a model of new South African behaviour. While the VIP guests below the stands exchanged rainbow […]
While disaster is not yet imminent, farmers would do well to hedge their bets, reports Madeleine Wackernagel The Maize Board has been disbanded, but some old farming habits are taking longer to die. El Ni–o will be the big test, says Rod Gravelet-Blondin, general manager of the agricultural markets division at the South African Futures […]
Maria McCloy Polygram’s Johannesburg outfit Bayete and Sony’s Jennifer Jones in Cape Town are the musicians wallowing in strong rumours that either act could support Michael Jackson’s HIStory tour to South Africa. Any label is allowed to submit potential support acts, and no one has been confirmed yet, but negotiations continue between promoter and Big […]
Cosatu’s September Commission calls for a larger civil service and a reformed tax system in the war against poverty, reports Sechaba ka’Nkosi The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) takes another swipe at government economic policy in the September Commission report. The union federation calls for a shift in spending to development, and a […]
Julian Drew: Athletics Had the International Olympic Committee bowed to tradition rather than commercialism when it awarded the centennial Olympic Games to Atlanta, Josiah Thugwane’s marathon victory would have been framed with even greater significance. If the Games had gone to Athens not only would he have become the first black gold medallist in South […]
and justice A dossier that Richard Motasi painstakingly built to prove his assault case did not bring him justice. But it captured the imagination of writer John Miles, who told his story In 1988, author John Miles was given, by Lawyers for Human Rights, a Checkers packet filled with documentation relating to the case of […]
Andrew Muchineripi Soccer He entered the medium-size, thickly- carpeted hotel room in Parktown clad in black from top to toe. Black sweatshirt, black trousers and black shoes with a shine that doubled as a mirror. He exuded a pride born out of being good at his job, which must rank among the most difficult and […]
Janet Smith Anand Naidoo’s final appearance as a news anchor on the SABC will be on August 22, a few weeks before he becomes part of the slick CNN International media machine run by Time Warner chair Gerald Levin and vice- chair Ted Turner. Naidoo leaves his high-visibility post on the English bulletins of the […]
Lynda Loxton Fresh from its public row with the Reserve Bank over its criticism of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Congress of South African Trade Unions this week gave notice to Parliament that it wants a review of the role and policies of the central bank. The bank earned the wrath of Cosatu […]
FRIDAY, 11.00AM PERSETEL and Q Data, two of SA’s biggest information technology companies, are to merge their operations in a R2-billion deal. In terms of the deal, which will create SA’s biggest computer comapny with R12-billion market value, Persetel will buy all of Q Data’s businesses and merge them with Persetel Holdings, to form a […]
themselves To address the country’s basic construction needs the government must facilitate community-driven projects, reports Aspasia Karras Sixty percent of all construction projects in South Africa are handled by 12% of the industry. “The South African building industry is in a state,” says Sam Amod of Development Engineering Consultants. “Serious restructuring is required.” Amod is […]
Attorneys general investigating police torture face the obstacle of corruption in the force, reports Gustav Thiel Dozens of cases detailing police torture to extract confessions or information from suspects have been handed to the Witwatersrand and Transvaal attorneys general during the past three years. Decisions about prosecutions are awaited. Jan Munnik, the advocate responsible for […]
Robert Kirby: Loose cannon There is nothing, and I mean nothing, as singularly bottom-of-the-South-African commercial barrel as any South African airport. We all know how ungracious and self-serving the average South African businessman is. We know how the more pious their mission statements, the meaner the service that can be dredged out of the average […]
Hazel Friedman Art is art, media is media and marketing is marketing. These days the three always meet. And on August 10 at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg they will form a multi-media tripartite alliance in the service of cultural development. The grand occasion is an art auction co- organised by Linda Givon, who owns […]
Mukoni T Ratshitanga The Minister of Education, Sibusiso Bengu, has severely chastised University of Zululand rector Charles Dlamini for his “unfortunate insinuations” that the ministry is “worse than the worst of apartheid ministries” in running higher education. Bengu said this week: “Professor Dlamini has a right to glorify apartheid if he wants to. He also […]
crime Gustav Thiel South Africa loses billions of rands every year through the smuggling of illegal goods into the country, but Business Against Crime’s (BAC) initiative to stem the tide is paying off – more than R25-million-worth of goods has been confiscated. The anti-crime organisation, which was started in 1994 after prompting by President Nelson […]
A sedate and evocative exhibition in Cape Town turned into a fist fight when some hecklers challenged the artists to prove they were African enough to qualify. Chris Roper reports There were amazing scenes at the labyrinthine Cape Town Castle last Friday. It was the opening of Memorias, Intimicas, Marcas (Memory, Intimacy, Marks), a stunning […]
making The Women’s Health Project is assisting in creating a greater understanding of gender- sensitive issues in the health fraternity, reports Barbara Ludman What has gender to do with health? Everything, if you’re a woman living in a rural area in a province with few resources. Everything, if you’re married to a man who won’t […]
Ralph Borland Aerosol-artists Sky One and Kane Seven have given a wild twist to hip-hop art in Cape Town. The two artists have worked together on several pieces over a week-long period, putting up large-scale wall-art pieces in the city itself for the first time. Work like theirs has been mostly restricted to the Cape […]
FRIDAY, 11.00AM INDUSTRIAL shares continued to chase new highs on Thursday as widespread expectations of an imminent interst rates cut led to positive sentiment, backed by strong institutional demand. Support this week by the SA Chamber of Business for a rate cut and a warning by Amic on continued high interest rates boosted general expectations […]
FRIDAY, 4.30PM THE Congress of SA Trade Unions on Friday denied a lead report in the Mail & Guardian that the labour federation is considering establishing a new left-wing opposition party. “It’s wrong — they have written the biggest rubbish I have seen,” said Cosatu second deputy president Connie September. The M&G article was based […]
Marion Edmunds The Department of Public Works is spending R22-million on a revamp of the Union Buildings in Pretoria -including a new R1,4-million garden centre to house the tools of the hundred or so small- and medium-sized businesses which tend the flower beds of the expansive gardens. According to a representative, the enterprises need a […]
Steve Morris Rugby It is not beyond the constraints of fair comment to say that the game of rugby in this country has gone beyond crisis point. Examine, if you will, some of the less than salutary instances that make sad fact of what would have been regarded as fiction just two years ago when […]
Education’s poor relations need a massive financial boost, writes Ann Eveleth The government will have to find an extra R3-billion a year over the next decade to end educational backlogs and equalise conditions between poor and rich schools, according to an economic adviser to the national Department of Education. Luis Crouch said the department still […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi on Cosatu’s September Commission report A long-awaited report on strategy for the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) threatens setting up a new left- wing opposition movement – if the African National Congress does not return to its socialist roots. The document, leaked to the Mail & Guardian, warns that if the […]