Staff Reporter

Gaye Davis CONDOMS should be distributed to prisoners and those with HIV or Aids should no longer be segregated, a special work group investigating health care in South African jails has recommended. The Department of Correctional Services has always ruled out condoms for inmates on the grounds that this would encourage sodomy, which is illegal […]

1 Mr Phakhiti, 35-year-old black male, murdered in Thembisa, Gauteng 2Nimrod Mhlongo, 23-year-old black male, shot in Gauteng 3 Unidentified 25-year-old black male, shot in Pretoria, Gauteng 4Brian Mego, 25-year-old black male, murdered in Lenasia, Gauteng 5Petrus Jama Khumalo, 43-year-old black male, shot in Katlehong, Gauteng 6Unidentified, race unknown, 18-year-old stabbed in Boksburg, Gauteng 7Thabo […]

Last week’s article by Louise Flanagan on Military Intelligence attempts to recruit future Minister of Defence Joe Modise in the early 1990s has provoked a furious row. Here, Deputy Defence Minister Ronnie Kasrils responds — as does the reporter HAVING distinguished itself as a bastion of the free press, and for many years under siege […]

Ricardo Dunn and Nicole Fritz report on the state of crime today Almost 90 percent of the 132 people who were murdered in one weekend in February were poor, young, black men. Many headlines in South Africa give the impression that whites are the primary target of violent crime in this country. That is not […]

Recipients of generous ‘golden handshakes’ continue to occupy management positions at Pact, reports HAZEL FRIEDMAN ACCUSATIONS of golden handshakes and secret slush funds are being hurled at Pact’s upper echelons following the recent discovery of a mysterious “employer’s fund” set up years ago by Pact management. A substantial percentage of the fund, which in total […]

Karen Harverson Corporate fraud is on the increase and it’s costing companies millions of rands each year. In many cases, companies are reluctant to bring a criminal case against the perpetrator — frequently an employee. “Companies are scared to bring criminal charges for a number of reasons, be it their reputation, lack of knowledge of […]

Justin Pearce ANYONE who had lost hope for international socialist solidarity in the 1990s would have been heartwarmed by the scenes at Johannesburg International Airport on Tuesday, when the first 96 Cuban doctors arrived in South Africa. The placards held by the crowd of people who came to greet the doctors ranged from the mundane […]

Jacquie Golding-Duffy talks to Jill Chisholm, the woman at the helm of SABC television, about the successes and failures of the new- look channels The new-look SABC has some distance to travel before its revamped schedules are up to scratch. While television head Jill Chisholm is by-and-large pleased with the relaunch, she concedes that schedule […]

The special horror of the terrorists’ bomb is only heightened when it shatters a period of apparent peace. The Israeli people are reeling from the same sense of double shock which hit Britain two weeks ago. Not only was the bomb on Jaffa Road devastating in its destruction of human life, but it came after […]

The offices of the attorneys general around the country are virtually bare, reports Vuyo Mvoko OFFICES of the attorneys general in Gauteng and the Cape are heading for a crisis as senior prosecutors make a dash for entry to the Bar before it closes next week — undermining a whole spate of “third force” trials […]

We chose a mid-month weekend, a Friday, Saturday and Sunday — and tried to get a sense of how many died, where, and how. South Africa is one of the most violent societies in the world — and the murder victims are often faceless, unidentified bodies, buried in unmarked graves. In one ordinary weekend in […]

It was a first: an advertisement flighted simultaneously on all four channels. And it cost millions. Hazel Friedman watched the advert which brought mysticism to the concrete industry Strange, inexplicable sightings have been known to take place on the SABC from time-to- time. But nothing could rival the image onslaught that hit viewers during prime-time […]

CINEMA: Andrew Worsdale LIKE a film by Quentin Tarantino, Get Shorty begins in a diner. And, like a Tarantino movie, it has lots of characters who go off on wild monologues about the weather and, specifically, about Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil: main guy John Travolta is an obsessive movie fan. In Get Shorty, Tarantino […]

Marion Edmunds It was a casual weekend — Hernus Kriel was wearing baggy tracksuit pants, Sheila Camerer a light pink slack suit, John Mavuso designer moccasins and FW de Klerk a checked shirt. But behind the informality and bonhomie in Hermanus, the Nats were in deadly earnest. “Tell me,” said De Klerk, leaning in earnest […]

Justin Pearce SOMEWHERE in the suburbs of Pretoria, religious prejudices have collided with a roadsign. Last year, the directorate of roads erected signs on the N1 Eastern Bypass indicating a recommended speed limit for night driving. The signs show a crescent moon and a star together with the recommended speed. Then suddenly, towards the end […]

Two months prior to the Constitution’s finalisation date, minority parties are panicking over checks and balances on the future government, writes Marion Edmunds Disillusion is setting in among minority parties, as they believe the new Constitution will not provide sufficient checks and balances on the power of the future majority party government. At the same […]

Justin Pearce ‘IN Cuba only a few old people have TB,” explained Dr Leandro Ruyz. “In 1959 we had a revolution — and everyone born after that was vaccinated at birth.” A day after arriving in South Africa from Cuba, Ruyz was sitting in the superintendent’s office at Klerksdorp Hospital, a facebrick pile where the […]

Karen Harverson South Africa’s corporate standards are being polluted by corruption, and the toll on the country is far higher than the mere monetary value. For example, corruption in Nigeria was initially accepted as a way of “getting the job done” — and so the cost of corruption was less than its monetary value because […]

A TV documentary series puts township residents behind the camera, writes HAZEL FRIEDMAN THERE’S a poignant scene in Ghetto Diaries where an unemployed man articulates his dreams of moving from his cramped cement house into one built from bricks. “Maybe I’ll build a swimming pool and tennis court. Move away from the smells and dirt. […]

Have the ANC’s young lions turned into pussycats? Rehana Rossouw looks at the dilemmas facing the ANC Youth League THERE was a time when the African National Congress Youth League’s leaders roared and the security establishment’s grip automatically tightened on its rifle butts. This was the 1980s — when the ANCYL was one of the […]

Gaye Davis MINISTER Zola Skweyiya’s announcement of a radical shake-up for the Public Service Commission (PSC) — often cited by government ministers and officials as the biggest obstacle to the country’s transformation — faces a rearguard action. The Forum of Commissions — a non-statutory body comprising the national PSC and eight provincial PSCs — intends […]

Next week sees the beginning of the end of one of the most sordid chaptersin South Africa’s history. Ann Eveleth previews the Malan trial History will also be in the dock when the multiple murder trial of former defence minister Magnus Malan and 19 other security force officers gets under way next week. As it […]

While the government considers more equitable ways of aiding the film industry, Justin Pearce reports that a single producer scooped more than half the subsidy money in recent years Films, including Oh Schucks, it’s Schuster and There’s a Zulu on my Stoep, earned more than R20-million in government subsidies for film production giant, Toron, over […]

Roelf Meyer, newly appointed secretary general of the NP, in The Mark Gevisser Profile DRIVING to Pretoria to meet the New Face of the National Party on Monday morning, I heard FW de Klerk giving an interview about his party’s new direction on SAfm’s AM Live show. He affably said how happy he was to […]

RUGBY: Jon Swift TRANSVAAL, the side which fell from grace last season after a run of two years when virtually every trophy on offer became theirs as if by right, have begun to formulate their renaissance. At the base of this are two things: the reinstatement of coach Kitch Christie at the helm he carries […]

The all-white Potgietersrus Primary School is invoking the constitution in its efforts to remain exclusive, writes Justin Pearce OUR tradition-rich school is our pride reads the slogan in the prospectus for Potgietersrus Primary, a booklet illustrated with photographs of verdant school grounds and industrious white children. Just what this pride entails will be examined before […]

Jacquie Golding-Duffy THE SABC’s failure to inform viewers and advertisers of what was planned for the new-look SABC because its relaunch was intended as a spectacular and not informative event could cost it a chunk of advertising support. Mixed reaction by the advertising industry to the SABC’s relaunch and programme reshuffling saw some advertising agencies […]

Philippa Garson The government is in a double bind over whether to screen pregnant women for HIV, and key policy decisions are being delayed by intense debate around the issue. Although new research shows that steps taken during and after pregnancy can reduce the risk of HIV- positive mothers transmitting the virus to their babies, […]

Rudolph Mulder, convicted of cruelty to animals after a Guy Fawke’s prank, has already contravened part of his sentence, reports Ricardo Dunn Just 24 hours after being sentenced, dog torturer Rudolph Dawid Mulder (41) went awol and was sentenced to 72 hours in jail last weekend. He disappeared three times during the night while under […]

Lynda Loxton The huge disparities in income distribution in South Africa make it vital that any tax system takes into account ways in which to lessen the impact on the poorest of the poor. One easy and obvious way would be to zero-rate as many basic necessities from value-added tax (VAT) as possible. At the […]

The hype and glory of the African Nations Cup created new enthusiasm for soccer in South Africa. Now it has to be harnessed for the good of the local game SOCCER: Mark Gleeson IT is amazing how quickly the poor crowd attendance, erratic shooting and errant referees were forgotten in the euphoria of South Africas […]

With the legalisation of gambling becoming a reality in South Africa, various problems are arising, reports Simon Segal THIS weeks parliamentary ad hoc committee debate on changes to the National Gambling Bill brings legalised gambling closer, and accentuates certain problems. The enabling legislation provides for the granting of 40 licences, a National Gambling Board (NGB), […]