A plan to mine for diamonds along the Limpopo River is causing the biggest environment controversy since St Lucia, writes Eddie Koch ON the banks of the Limpopo River between Messina and the Kruger National Park there lies a stretch of South Africa’s last wilderness — baobab thickets, tropical flood plains, riverine forests, a diversity […]
South Africa is mediocre in the world corruption stakes. Reg Rumney reports on a corruption study that finds the country not so guilty South Africa ranks right in the middle of a 1995 corruption ranking of 41 countries. The Corruption Ranking is the result of a study done by Berlin-based Transparency International and the University […]
They are the remnants of an ancient hunter-gatherer society — and they’re still on the move, in carts that carry their homes. Sheep-shearing is their livelihood, and their life is often harsh and violent. But it is also gradually disappearing. Eddie Koch visited the Something about the word “verge” best defines the life that Johanna […]
A PROFESSIONAL dog-fight is raided and three of the spectators are found to be police officers. The Cape Law Society discovers that 20 of its members have been making under-the-counter payments to public officials and tries to protect them. Nearly two million schoolchildren go hungry, because someone has defrauded the national feeding scheme. A study […]
Rehana Rossouw Although touted as a model for primary health care in many parts of the world, the Alexandra Clinic is dying for lack of support in South Africa. For more than six decades the clinic has served its underpriveleged community, now numbering about 300 000, caring for up to 500 patients a day. This […]
The Democratic Party has policies, leaders, energy and razzmatazz — everything except supporters. Marion Edmunds reports from last weekend’s Federal Congress A Kimberley man walked into his local Democratic Party (DP) office before the last elections and said: “I’m not going to vote for the DP, but I’m registering here because I don’t trust any […]
Karen Harverson Multinational hamburger chain McDonald’s is on track to=20 open its first two restaurants in South Africa despite=20 the fact that the court case over the rights to its=20 trademark has not yet been resolved. South African George Sombonos, owner of franchise chain=20 Chicken Licken, is seeking the right to expunge=20 McDonald’s trademark from […]
RUGBY: Jon Swift IT is a measure of the importance of the position that=20 the flyhalf is the most exposed and often most=20 criticised of players in the game of rugby. Just how the flyhalf slots into the complex 15-part=20 puzzle which makes up a successful team is a poser which=20 faces every coach at […]
Charges of plagiarism are being levelled against renowned South African writer and educationist Mbulelo Mzamane. Philippa Garson reports THE credibility of renowned South African writer and educationist Mbulelo Mzamane has been called into question, with evidence surfacing that he plagiarised extracts of the work of another famous writer and journalist, Joseph Lelyveld, now editor of […]
Rehana Rossouw A senior member of the Cape Technikon staff has been suspended following allegations of massive fraud on the An internal investigation has been launched into allegations that senior members of staff had established private colleges where they purported that Cape Technikon accreditation had been granted for courses offered there. The head of the […]
Gilding the lily THE Sphinx will be undergoing a facelift, according to Egyptian antiquities officials. Plans are to remove layers of cement poured over the massive 4 600-year-old structure in an earlier restoration and replace them with limestone. Fouling the air The National Health Service in Britain said this week that with more than two-million […]
Eddie Koch A community newspaper that became the scourge of Colesberg when it published exposes of racism, corruption and third force actions in the small Karoo town during the early 1990s is alive and well — at a time when most “alternative” media projects in South Africa have shut down. The Toverberg Indaba was launched […]
Ballroom dance is taking root from Elsies River to=20 Mmabatho, discovered JUSTIN PEARCE at Sun City last=20 SOMEHOW, it could only have happened at Sun City. You=20 know you’ve arrived there when the plastic bags flapping=20 on fences give way to coloured flags flapping on poles,=20 and inside the dimly lit halls of the Superbowl […]
Okkert Brits is the only serious contender for Sergei=20 Bubka’s pole-vaulting crown at the World Athletics=20 Championships in Sweden tonight ATHLETICS: Julian Drew THEY call Sergei Bubka the czar of pole-vaulting. He has=20 dominated the event for the past 13 years and set 35=20 world records, 18 of them indoors. His current world=20 record stands […]
Local transport organisation Portnet is considering=20 managing the Congo’s major port. Karen Harverson=20 Portnet may enter into a joint venture with the People’s=20 Republic of the Congo to manage and operate the=20 country’s major port, Pointe Noire. Portnet chief executive Neil Oosthuizen says in-depth=20 discussions have been held with the Congolese ambassador=20 and minister of […]
Meshack Mabogoane reports on the National Sorghum=20 Breweries’ deal with United Breweries National Sorghum Breweries’ (NSB) announcement this week=20 that India’s United Breweries (UB) would have a say in=20 the appointment of senior management marks a turning=20 point in its five-year history . The UB deal, sealed this week, is the first and most=20 substantive […]
Tuesday sees the world premiere in Johannesburg of Athol=20 Fugard’s new play. He spoke to MATTHEW KROUSE ATHOL FUGARD’S island, today, is not the isolated penal=20 colony he once dramatised with fellow actors John Kani=20 and Winston Ntshona. His present refuge is a territory=20 of optimism, where he directs hopeful youngsters who=20 symbolise freedoms gained. […]
Ernie Els has turned his back on the the tedium of the=20 US golf circus for a real life in Europe GOLF: Jon Swift THERE are two ways to attack the tedium and insularity=20 of the US professional golf tour. The first is to do=20 what Nick Price has done for years: switch on to […]
CINEMA: Stanley Peskin IT was in the city of Barcelona that Queen Isabel=20 received Columbus on his return from the New World. In=20 Whit Stillman’s Barcelona, there is a witty reversal of=20 this event as he describes the experiences of two young=20 Americans abroad in post-Franco Spain. Although the film=20 is set in the 1990s, […]
Justin Pearce HENDRIK THEUNISSEN was not sodomised by an unknown number of former Umkhonto weSizwe soldiers. And neither was there any proof that he had indulged in sexual relations with a dog. These facts emerged in the Middelburg regional court last week, during a trial which found Theunissen guilty on charges of perjury and defeating […]
Trade and investment are necessary to set Africa back on=20 the road toward economic development. Karen Harverson=20 Africa urgently needs trade and investment to drive its=20 development which is slower now than it was 30 years=20 ago, says one of Southern Africa’s leading economists. Tony Hawkins, professor of Business Studies at the=20 University of Zimbabwe, […]
Ann Eveleth KwaZulu-Natal Attorney General Tim McNally, accused last week of failing to tackle political violence has been called — with peers in the other provinces — to account to Parliament. Justice committee chairman Johnny de Lange said this week all nine attorneys general will appear before a public hearing — likely to be held […]
The Mail & Guardian, the most “wired” newspaper in Africa, has launched a new media division to strengthen its electronic publishing programme. The new division, eM&G, will be focused on expanding the M&G’s Internet profile, developing specialised electronic services to harness the publishing opportunities presented by the information The M&G has committed two of its […]
Johannesburg Child Welfare has permitted a gay couple to adopt a child — a first in South Africa, writes Gavin Duvenhage The first ever officially approved gay adoption took place in Johannesburg last month when a lesbian couple received a newborn baby from Johannesburg Child Welfare. Johannesburg Child Welfare, who managed the adoption, confirmed that […]
Marion Edmunds Parliamentarians are making mileage out of the taxpayer — MPs and senators get to keep “voyager miles” earned while flying on official business, and may use them to pay for their holidays or personal business. South African taxpayers last year paid for R21,5- million worth of flights for parliamentarians. This involved 20 317 […]
South Africa’s first national Women’s Day brought gender issues to everyone’s lips in a way that this country has never seen before. It provided a great talking point — but also an opportunity for hollow rhetoric and bland generalities. Parliament took the lead on Tuesday by calling a special sitting to mark the day. The […]
Fumane Diseko Cape settler Simon van der Stel may have come from a continent where people devoured snails and frogs’ legs with relish, but he could not stomach a local culinary custom — the roasting and eating of mopane worms. “This caterpillar is called aroutse by the Namaquas and is found in their country,” he […]
Jon Swift AT THE root of all the current upheaval and litigation=20 facing world rugby union is the insistence by the game’s=20 authorities that the game be an amateur sport. This=20 iconoclasm, this sticking to the ideals of a bygone era,=20 is rooted in the breakaway just on 100 years ago, when=20 some of the […]
At more than R18-billion, the amount of fraud under=20 investigation poses a serious problem for police. Reg=20 Rumney reports Around R18,5-billion of white-collar crime is under=20 investigation in South Africa at present. The Office for Serious Offences is investigating around=20 R9,5-billion worth of fraud, while the South African=20 Police Commercial branch is investigating around 23 […]
Karen Harverson The trademark dispute between Chicken Licken owner=20 George Sombonos and US hamburger chain McDonald’s will=20 be heard in the Pretoria Supreme Court this month. The case consists of two applications; one of which will=20 be tried under South Africa’s old Trademark Act and the=20 other under the new Act passed in May 1995. […]
SOCCER: Andy Capostagno If it’s August, can the English soccer season be far=20 behind? Sad, but true, alas. And if you don’t think it’s=20 sad you obviously didn’t see Leeds United’s two=20 contributions to the United Bank Challenge. At Loftus Versfeld, Mamelodi Sundowns outplayed the=20 Yorkshire Monoliths, but only won 1-0 thanks to some=20 typically […]
Politician Thandi Modise talks frankly about being abused by her husband, to Stefaans Brummer SHE’s deputy head of the ANC Women’s League, MP and former Umkhonto weSizwe commander, yet Thandi Modise cannot make phone calls from home. For that she needs the permission of her husband, and he won’t give it to The SABC’s controversial […]