Sarah Duguid A third of children who leave school this year will have been the victims of some form of sexual abuse, according to an independent study published this week. If the child attends a school in the Western Cape or Gauteng, the figure is likely to be higher. “It is well into epidemic proportions,” […]
SARAH DUGUID, Johannesburg | Friday A THIRD of children who leave school this year will have been the victims of some form of sexual abuse, according to an independent study published this week. If the child attends a school in the Western Cape or Gauteng, the figure is likely to be higher. “It is well […]
IT is often blamed for invading privacy and depersonalising communications, but it is also praised for the increased efficiency of communication Sheree Russouw The only sounds are the jarring sounds of fingers hitting keyboards. A harsh glare erupts from the computer screens, illuminating bodies that appear part of the machines. Seated in a dark corner […]
David Shapshak South Africa’s all-important emergency lines are being flooded with hoax phone calls. The public’s first access to emergency services is through call centres, but many of these are clogged with a deluge of nuisance calls, largely from children who use public telephones and are therefore untraceable. Of the 2000 calls that Cape Town’s […]
Something fishy about these Trout Marcus Low After three years the Cape Town-based Sons of Trout have released their third album, Odd Times, the first on the SAfm label. The album has a lively acoustic feel and a distinctly local sound. The music has a playful folk feel, at times reminiscent of the Dave Matthews […]
THE Russian equipment aboard Nasa’s Mars Odyssey space probe revealed large quantities of ice upon the red planet’s surface, Russian scientists said on Tuesday. The Hand instrument examined the Martian soil and revealed some 10-million square kilometres of ice underneath the planet’s south pole, head of Russia’s space research institute Igor Mitrofanov said as quoted […]
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has received a Commonwealth award for action on HIV/Aids.
Gardez | Thursday THE United States has rushed hundreds of reinforcements to the mountains of eastern Afghanistan as the coalition against terrorism pressed into the sixth day of its costliest battle. As Cobra helicopter gunships and Apaches made their way to the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, the military said 100 more al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters […]
Syrte, Libya | Thursday A TWO-day summit of 16 African desert states opened on Wednesday in Libya’s eastern city of Syrte with two new members, Benin and Togo, joining the group. Because of lack of consensus among member states a third candidate, Liberia, failed to obtain full membership rights and received instead observer status, Secretary […]
Johannesburg | Thursday INDIAN Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy was released from jail Thursday after paying a 2 000 rupee ($40) fine imposed by the Supreme Court for criminal contempt. Roy had spent the night in Tihar jail after the court on Wednesday handed down a “symbolic” one-day prison sentence and the accompanying fine. Had […]
JANUARY’S foreign merchandise trade was likely to have been affected somewhat by the clearing of backlogs following industrial action at South Africa’s ports late last year, according to SCMB Securities. Previewing the release of South Africa’s external trade balance in Pretoria at 2pm on Thursday, SCMB Securities said that in December, imports fell by 25% […]
THE Russian equipment aboard Nasa’s Mars Odyssey space probe revealed large quantities of ice upon the red planet’s surface, Russian scientists said on Tuesday. The Hand instrument examined the Martian soil and revealed some 10-million square kilometres of ice underneath the planet’s south pole, head of Russia’s space research institute Igor Mitrofanov said as quoted […]
PEACE talks on the Democratic Republic of Congo resumed here Wednesday morning with a plenary session after rival parties resolved a dispute over representation. The first plenary session of the so-called Inter-Congolese dialogue finally opened eight days late, after rebels late Tuesday agreed to allow opposition politicians to take part in the process, said Congolese […]
Johannesburg | Tuesday THE embattled South African rand powered to its best levels in three months against the dollar as exporters and overseas investors re-enter the market in anticipation of further gains, a report said on Tuesday. The move coincided with the start of public hearings by a commission appointed by President Thabo Mbeki to […]
NIGERIA, which was suspended from the Commonwealth for four years, will host the next leaders’ summit in 2003, officials said on Tuesday. The main summit to be hosted by President Olusegun Obasanjo will be held in the city of Abuja towards the end of next year, they said. The Nigerian state-run news agency Nan had […]
A LION killed a Mozambican illegal immigrant and dragged his body through the town of Phalaborwa, Limpopo Province, said the police on Sunday. Inspector James Ngoepe said the lion had since disappeared and the police and SA National Defence Force (SANDF) were still searching for the animal. Ngoepe said the immigrant, aged around 35, illegally […]
Cape Town | Monday ALTHOUGH he had resigned as chairman of Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts, IFP MP Dr Gavin Woods said he still hoped to be part of Scopa. Woods, who resigned his position over the probe into the arms deal last month, said he believed he had built up some experience. “I […]
UNITA said on Friday that it must be allowed to have talks with the United Nations before agreeing to a ceasefire called for by the Angolan president. Speaking from Luanda, UNITA member Jaka Jamba called for the easing of UN imposed sanctions on UNITA. Following the killing of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi in a battle […]
JOMO Cosmos Football Club founder and director, Jomo Sono has been appointed Chairman of empowerment oil company, Exel Petroleum it was announced on Tuesday. Exel aimed for a 10% market share within five years. The company’s on-going rollout now exceeded 100 retail service stations in Gauteng, the Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal. – Sapa
THE death toll from a cholera outbreak in Malawi has risen to 175 since the onset of the rainy season in November, a health official said Friday. “As of February 20, some 175 deaths were recorded,” said chief health education officer Jonathan Nkhoma. He said about 9 340 cases had been recorded across the country […]
EGYPTIAN smokers spend an average of nearly 22% of their income on tobacco, said the country’s health minister. The minister said Egyptians spend $1,08-billion every year on tobacco, which for an individual smoker averages almost 22% of their income. Egypt, home to nearly 68-million people, consumes about 85-billion cigarettes every year, according to 2001 figures. […]
SIX people were reported killed in Angola on Friday in the third attack by Unita rebels since their leader Jonas Savimbi was killed last week. Lusa, the news agency of Angola’s former colonial power Portugal, said 13 other people were wounded in the attack on Thursday in the northeast province of Lunda Norte. Angolan government […]
NAWAAL DEANE and JASPREET KINDRA, Johannesburg | Friday NELSON Mandela refused to make a public plea for the safety of The Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl – kidnapped and decapitated by Pakistani militants early this year – after his aide, Jakes Gerwel, advised him against it. There has been speculation that fear of renewed […]
DAVID MACFARLANE, Johannesburg | Friday FIRST the inauguration, then the court action. Shortly after donning his new academic robes, Unisa vice-chancellor Barney Pityana faces high court action that seeks to have his appointment declared invalid. And ongoing power struggles at the university have seen its two most powerful organs, the council and the senate, clashing […]
KEVIN SCOTT, Durban | Friday THE Durban consulate general of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has tried to censor a Truth About Tibet photographic exhibition that opened this week. The consul, Zemin Yu, went beyond a formal complaint against the gallery by appealing to the provincial government to stop the exhibition. The chairperson of […]
On November 30 the Telecommunications Amendment Act was promulgated. Chris Yelland explores some of the issues with Icasa’s Wojtek Skowronski and Siyabonga Madyibi What’s the Act provision on number portability and carrier pre-selection? What will change and when? Number portability refers to the ability of consumers to retain their numbers if they switch from one […]
When I read the front page headline “Big Brother Gatsha, he’s gonna watch ya” I became very angry. I then wondered whether the M&G would sufficiently appreciate the reasons for my anger or could even fully understand them. My anger may seem to come from personal sensitivity and yet, for those who know the history […]
South Africa’s favourite boxer, Jacob Matlala, has his final professional fight this weekend Gavin Evans For 22 years Jacob Matlala has been a feature of the professional boxing world and for the past decade an institution in South African public life, but now, at last, the fighting side is drawing to an end. The world’s […]
Moji Mokone reflects on the work of Dumile Feni, one of a group of artists from the Sixties whose work eloquently ‘hollered from the mountain tops’ Njabulo Ndebele, writing in co@rtnews, observed how Desmond Tutu at the close of the first day of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings referred to the testimonies of victims […]
analysis Roger Bate South Africa and other arid countries are running out of water. The result will be wars and the poor will suffer most. For the past decade these concerns have been shouted from the world’s largest newspapers, reporting alarming forecasts periodically issued by groups ranging from the World Watch Institute to the United […]
Last week the Mail & Guardian printed a photograph on page 11 showing a young woman holding an AK-47. The caption suggested the woman was either an Umkhonto weSizwe or Azanian People’s Liberation Army operative. In fact, the picture used was a publicity shot for the 1995 film Flame, starring Zimbabwean actress Marian Kunonga. The […]
When the UK government started selling off its shares in BT they were over-subscribed three to one. This contradicts some of the theories in South Africa that competition will harm Telkom’s IPO Gary Shepherd Liberalisation of the United Kingdom’s telecommunications industry has been used as a benchmark or referred to as “Best International Practice” by […]