Staff Reporter

Because of South Africa’s history of racial divisions, mistrust and stereotypes some of the teachers have a real fear, justified or not, of being white in Soweto. This story is about one of thousands of small battles being fought every day in key public and private institutions to turn South Africa into an ordinary country.

In this, the most divisive time in the history of post-apartheid media, we have had to answer what only politicians and NGO activists with too much time on their hands love asking: what is media’s role in a democratic society? The answer is that our role is to cut through the bullshit, tell the truth and reflect society as it mutates.

What’s next on the responsibility binge? Can we look forward to a national campaign advocating responsible cocaine use? A newspaper ad stating: "Don’t buy your stash on any old Yeoville street corner. Use a reputable dealer who will guarantee you’re getting the pure product. Be cautious! Sniff responsibly!"

A Kenyan newspaper editor was released on bail on Wednesday, two days after being arrested in connection with an article about a high-profile murder investigation.

A fishing trawler which sparked a marathon chase across the Southern Ocean after it was accused of illegally fishing the endangered Patagonian Toothfish is due in Western Australia on Friday. The long-line trawler <i>Viarsa</i> is expected in Fremantle for an investigation into Australia’s accusations that it had been fishing illegally.

The Sudanese government expects to sign a final peace agreement with the southern rebels in "several weeks," Vice President Ali Osman Taha said here Wednesday. "We expect this (signing) to take place in several weeks," Taha said when asked by journalists about the chances for ending the 20-year civil war.

The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> was recently accused of "relentless anti-nuclear bias" in response to an edited letter challenging a pro-nuclear article in an <i>M&G</i> supplement. Feelings run high on either side of the nuclear debate. South Africa faces a very pressing question over the next six months.

Zimbabwe’s leading opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has denied that negotiations have resumed with President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party. "There are no talks in the country and this has been confirmed by Zanu-PF," MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=21268">Daily News shutdown a ‘political act'</a>

The United Nations warned on Tuesday that 20-million African children could be orphaned by Aids in 2010, as 50 nations from the continent discussed peace and the failure of global trade talks at an African development conference held in Tokyo.

"The turtle guys came to our tents at 1.30 in the morning. ‘The turtles are coming on to the beach,’ they announced. I gathered my five-year-old in my arms and helped rouse the others sleeping in the 16 surrounding tents." Young children and community guides team up to help nesting turtles on the beaches of Gabon.

I’m sick of this government profiteering and blocking any competition to Telkom, based on fraudulent and bogus ‘requirements’. Telkom provides a substandard and massively overpriced service which is screwing up our economy and preventing us from taking our rightful place in the global online community.

The Development Bank of Southern Africa has signed an R829-million deal with Umngeni Water that will see 800 000 households benefiting from improved water access and sanitation facilities.

As the Zimbabwe government battles with critical banknote shortages, special courts are to be set up to deal with "economic and financial crimes. The government blames the four-month-old shortage of banknotes on hoarders and on the thriving black market for foreign currency.

US director Elia Kazan, who rose to the top of Hollywood and Broadway fame but became embroiled in controversy over the naming of suspected Communists during the McCarthy era, has died at the age of 94, his long-time attorney said.

The relaid playing surface at the controversial Lang Park (Suncorp Stadium) was on Monday given official blessing by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) ahead of next week’s Rugby World Cup.

Whatever one thinks of aspects of the Oppenheimer family’s Brenthurst initiative, it stimulated debate on the most important issue facing South Africa. Transformation and growth are undoubtedly linked, but growth is the horse that pulls the cart of transformation. We must take care not to put the cart before the proverbial horse.

Gauteng Minister of Public Transport, Roads and Works Khabisi Mosunkutu has moved to defuse allegations of impropriety over his receipt of money from a company that had dealings with his department. The now-defunct Union Alliance Media is said to have channelled R10 000 into Mosunkutu’s personal account.

Newly revealed confidential arms contracts have confirmed a massive increase in the cost of the SA government’s weapons package, initially estimated at R30-billion. The documents show that finance charges will add at least another 50% to the arms package and that key components are significantly more expensive.

I know I’m going to lose friends over this one. But then again, that’s only because some of my friends have lost me. I am at a loss, for example, to understand what is going on at Johannesburg’s elaborately over-named African Bank Moyo Restaurant Market Theatre.