Staff Reporter

`THE isolation cell is usually a small, windowless room, perhaps with a tiny observation window or peephole in the door. It generally has no carpeting or furniture, and either a cement block or a thin mattress or mat on the cement floor provides the sleeping space. There is usually an open toilet and sometimes a […]

Despite losing, Transvaal and Western Province proved they can still provide tough competition in the Currie Cup, but some of the lesser unions are not so fortunate RUGBY:Jon Swift IT IS perhaps one of the supreme ironies that so often mark man’s sporting endeavours, that the nub of last weekend’s rugby came from the performances […]

Anthony Egan, SJ MICHAEL LAPSLEY – PRIEST AND PARTISAN: A SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNEY by Michael Worsnip (Ocean Press, R69,99) CONVENTIONAL boundaries between the genres of political and religious biography take something of a tumble in this generally excellent new book by theologian and church historian Michael Worsnip. His subject is Father Michael Lapsley, priest of […]

Two South African women have been nominated for Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s job, reports Ann Eveleth TWO South African women – parliamentary Speaker Frene Ginwala and Judge Navi Pillay – have been nominated for the position of secretary general of the United Nations. Women’s rights activists proposed them, and they are among six candidates put forward by […]

As the city of gold looks forward to Baba Maal’s concerts, our critic considers other recent shows HE was picked up from the airport in a limo, because that’s what he requested. And he’s over half an hour late for the interview. In fairness, his flight was delayed by three hours. He walks into the […]

Judith Havemann and William Claiborne in Washington THE first provisions of the complex new federal welfare law took effect on Monday, requiring states to begin denying food stamps to non-United States citizens in the initial phase of a process that will ultimately strip benefits from half-a- million immigrants. Efforts to enforce the new law came […]

Stuart Hess AS the shattered community at Stilfontein started recovering from the violence which left at least 24 dead, it emerged that police at the miners’ settlement have been told to shoot any miners caught inciting violence. “Police have been given the right to kill,” said Sixtus Sethunya, senior hostel personnel assistant at Scott Hostel, […]

Madeleine Wackernagel THE European Commission has not blocked a $74-million loan to the Saldanha Steel project, merely reserved judgment, says Erwan Four, the European Union’s ambassador to South Africa. The EC has sent the file back to the European Investment Bank, says Four, for further consideration; the EIB will review the issue and then decide […]

THOUSANDS of children are living in terrible conditions in places of safety in South Africa – often without sufficient clothing and bedding at night, without proper educational facilities and in buildings that are unhealthy and unsafe – according to a recently released government report. Of the more than 6 000 children in reform schools, schools […]

This week Jean-Paul Akayesu became the first Hutu to go on trial for the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994, reports Chris McGreal JOSEPHINE MUKANKUSI cannot even look back on her wedding with happiness for she remembers who was there. Her brother was just a young boy when she married in 1970. Even so, […]

Joshua Amupadhi ROBERT SOBUKWE must be turning restlessly in his grave at the latest high-profile Pan Africanist Congress’s (PAC) failure to resuscitate his dream at its weekend convention in Pretoria. Speeches on the opening day stated how the PAC would be “totally overhauled” and “transformed” to become a “vanguard of the have-nots”. But critics said […]

Lack of resources and bureaucratic bungling have caused major delays in the Rwanda genocide tribunal, reports Chris McGreal THE start of the long-delayed international Rwanda genocide tribunal ran into new difficulties this week after the lawyer for the first Hutu scheduled to appear in the dock said he will boycott the trial because he has […]

Damon Hill joins a list of great racing names when he attempts to clinch the world championship in the last race of the season MOTOR RACING: Richard Williams DAMON HILL’s long quest for the Formula One world championship will go down to the wire but at least the odds keep improving. By finishing second to […]

When it comes to comparative advertising, it is wiser to know the law before you play the game, writes Charles Webster THERE have been suggestions in the press ever since the new Trade Marks Act (No 194 of 1993) came into force on 1 May 1995, that comparative advertising is acceptable in South Africa. The […]

Mungo Soggot A WHITE South African who became a vice- president of Harvard University is at the centre of a race row over her nomination to join the highest court in Massachusetts in the United States. The nomination of Margaret Marshall by Massachusetts governor William Weld to the state’s Supreme Judicial Court has enraged black […]

Britain’s huge cash bonanza shows how a lottery can help South Africa, but the local wheels of fortune fail to spin Ann Eveleth SOUTH AFRICA’S first national lottery – which is expected to make a major contribution towards dealing with the government’s financial troubles – is now only expected to be launched by mid-1998 at […]

Was the arch-colonist a monster? Or is the script just being PC? And was he gay? Marion Edmunds reports THE BBC’s television series on Cecil John Rhodes – coming to South Africa early next year – has sparked fierce controversy over Southern Africa’s most famous colonist: was he saint, sinner or pervert? Or all three? […]

Paul Murphy and Pauline Springett ONE of Britain’s biggest managers of pension money said last week it intended to stick with an extraordinary $15-billion bet that stock markets in Britain and the United States are grossly over-valued and that share prices are due to crash. PDFM, formerly known as Phillips & Drew Fund Management, which […]

In his second venture into business, Cyril Ramaphosa is set to take over at Eskom, writes Mungo Soggot CYRIL RAMAPHOSA is tipped to become the next chairman of national power supplier Eskom when the present incumbent, John Maree, steps down. The chief executive officer of the parastatal, Allan Morgan, confirmed this week it would be […]

Hundreds have been harassed for being `witches’ in the Northern Province so far this year, and the number is growing. David Shapshak reports SOME looked sheepish, others defiant as 52 youths crowded into the Pietersburg Magistrate’s Court when the biggest-ever crackdown on witchcraft killings in the Northern Province began last Friday. The accused – all […]

There were fouls and off-the-ball incidents aplenty, and this wasn’t on the field of play but at the commission investigating administration irregularities SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi IT had to happen at some point. With so many commissions doing the rounds in the new South Africa at the moment, it was only a matter of time before […]

BASEBALL:Ian Katz BASEBALL fans love nothing more than records, and no records more than the home- run kind, but even the most ardent collectors of the sport’s statistical superlatives admit things are getting a little out of hand. Scarcely a day goes by, it seems, without some home-run record falling. Last weekend it was the […]

David Beresford WHEN the United Kingdom’s Conservative government ann-ounced plans to launch its national lottery in 1992 – the last country to do so in Western Europe – nobody realised the extraordinary impact it would have on British society. With an estimated 65% of the population handing over their 1 every week in pursuit of […]

David Beresford IF the British lottery is not exactly immoral, as many churchmen would have it, the story of “Cheeky” Lee Ryan offers convincing evidence that Lady Luck is utterly amoral. Ryan, a used-car salesman, would have made even Richard Nixon look virtuous. Last year he was sentenced to 18 months for handling stolen vehicles […]

allegations Eddie Koch AN investigations team at the Transvaal attorney general’s office is working around the clock to probe at least 50 incidents of violence and murder in which security force generals and former Cabinet ministers have been implicated by Eugene de Kock. The barrage of allegations presented in De Kock’s testimony in the Pretoria […]

WE live in a solar-powered world, yet nearly two-and-a-half billion people are desperately short of energy with which to improve their existence. There are two energy crises: the one we know about, in which 21% of the world’s population guzzles 70% of the world’s commercial energy output, mostly in the form of pollution-causing fossil fuels. […]

feet ANDREW WORSDALE in Zimbabwe THE biggest grossing films in Zimbabwe this year are Waiting to Exhale and Showgirls. Sign of the times: Hollywood is still dominating world movie production. But at the opening ceremony of the 1996 Southern Africa Film Festival, Post and Telecommunications Minister Joyce Mujuru urged representatives to reduce dependence on foreign […]

PRESSURES for the reintroduction of the death penalty in South Africa continue to rise. With something of a campaign on the issue led by the National Party, The Star claims a survey it conducted shows that 93% of the population has joined the “hang ’em high” brigade – at least to the extent that they […]

Justin Arenstein PROVINCIAL ministers and political office bearers in Mpumalanga allegedly used R1,3- million from a low-cost housing budget to renovate their state houses, including the construction of a swimming pool and lapa. The expenditure, which was severely criticised in a confidential government report more than a yar ago, was allegedly made without Cabinet or […]

Controversial, offensive and bizarre are a few of the words used to describe the Benetton empire. Pauline Springett looks at the family behind the name LUCIANO BENETTON, 61-year-old president and co-founder of the eponymous Italian business empire, would almost pass as a traditional tycoon. The tweed suit is of perhaps a little better than average […]

The UK tops a list of lender nations taking out more from the developing world than they put in, reports Richard Thomas in London Britain is squeezing cash out of the world’s poorest countries by demanding levels of debt repayment far outweighing new loans or aid, according to figures published this week. As representatives of […]

An inquiry into mine violence has lost momentum with the absence of Uwusa, report Bronwen Jones and Stuart Hess IN the week when at least 24 mineworkers were slain, fears are mounting that a major judicial inquiry into mine violence will be torpedoed by the absence of the United Workers Union of South Africa (Uwusa) […]