Staff Reporter

PAUL KIRK, Durban | Friday A BOOK the British intelligence service MI6 tried desperately to stop from publication claims that senior members of the South African government, and at least one senior army officer, have been moonlighting as spies for the British government. A source in the South African National Intelligence Agency has told the […]

Nthuthuko Maphumulo Cameroon’s snazzy sleeveless jerseys and Nigerian Julius Aghahowa’s spectacular multiple-somersault goal celebration were the talking points of the first round of matches at the African Cup of Nations inMali. The soccer often could not match the shirts, however, and the opening eight games produced just five goals. The colourful and festive opening ceremony […]

Mashupye Ratale Kgaphola and Annette Lansink Kirk-Cohen on the Unisa squabble Newspaper readers and news followers in general in recent weeks may be forgiven for confusing the unfortunate squabble between the council of Unisa and the Minister of Education, Kader Asmal, with the real debate in respect of the changing landscape of higher education in […]

BODY LANGUAGE Ellen Goodman To be frank, I had nearly given up on scientific research as the road to health. I had almost abandoned the last hope that medicine would come up with a user-friendly formula for longevity. First there was the bad news about cloning, the genetic path to immortality. Dolly the clone has […]

Johannesburg | Thursday THE Constitutional Court will hand down judgment on Friday in the case of whether Rastafarians should be allowed to use dagga legally. The challenge against the laws that criminalise the use of dagga was launched last year by candidate attorney Gareth Prince. This followed Prince being refused admission to the Cape Law […]

Johannesburg | Thursday TWO men appeared in a South African court after they were unmasked as bogus lawyers, having called a magistrate “your majesty” and asked him to explain the term “previous convictions”. Goodman Mokoena and Moses Moloi fooled staff at the Katlehong Magistrate’s Court south of Johannesburg on Tuesday when, dressed in black robes, […]

TWO young men were arrested in Westbury, Johannesburg on Monday after they had allegedly accidentally shot and killed a 13-year-old high school pupil, police said. Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini said the two, aged 19 and 20, were arrested only hours after the incident in Robert Avenue. One of the suspected gunmen was taken to the Sophiatown […]

Gisenyi, Rwanda | Wednesday DEADLY earth tremors shaking central Africa’s Lake Kivu region in the aftermath of last week’s volcanic eruption have scientists baffled over their nature, origin and epicentre. They have not determined how the quakes which have claimed several lives and destroyed hundreds of buildings are related to the volcanic activity that sent […]

Durban | Wednesday SOUTH African police have arrested eight men for a shooting spree that left seven dead in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, a police representative said on Wednesday. “We arrested four people in the early hours of this morning, which followed the arrests of another four people on Monday,” said KwaZulu-Natal police representative Superintendent […]

GRIFFIN SHEA, STAFF REPORTER, Harare | Wednesday THE Zimbabwe government has failed, for the second time in a week, to introduce in parliament a controversial bill that would clamp down on press freedom. Parliament had been expected to debate the bill on Tuesday, but when the house opened, Zanu-PF lawmakers immediately adjourned it until Wednesday […]

Goma | Tuesday AT least 13 looters have been shot dead in this town ravaged by volcanic lava and those tempted to steal in houses and stores have been warned by radio there would be no mercy. Military sources late on Monday confirmed reports that 13 people, including seven soldiers, had been shot by officers […]

A WOMAN accused of being a witch was bludgeoned to death by the people of her Central African village after allegedly killing a man with sorcery, the national radio reported on Sunday. Another woman accused of being the alleged witch’s accomplice remains in critical condition after suffering the same fate, the radio station reported. The […]

THE Johannesburg Emergency Management Service on Sunday said it had attended to three drownings involving children in the last four days. Two of the children died and another was discharged from hospital after observation. The latest victim was a six-year-old child who went swimming with friends in the pool of the complex where they stayed […]

Cape Town | Monday FORMER Cape Times photographer Benny Gool was subpoenaed at the weekend to testify in the urban terror trial of four members of People Against Gangsterism and Drugs accused of murdering gang boss Rashaad Staggie. Staggie was shot and set alight when he was confronted by an angry mob as he alighted […]

Durban | Monday CONTROVERSIAL bidder in South Africa’s multi-billion rand arms deal Schabir Shaik on Monday accused Justice Minister Penuell Maduna of using the Scorpions to pursue “other agendas” for ordering a probe which led to his arrest late last year. Shaik was arrested in November last year and charged with theft of Cabinet documents, […]

NORTHERN Province could adopt the new name of Limpopo if popularity ratings on a shortlist of suggestions announced by the Committee on the Renaming of the Northern Province is anything to go by. An Ndebele word meaning “The Place of Waterfalls”, it also holds a lot of meaning for the people of the region, according […]

Goma | Monday BETWEEN 60 and 100 looters were incinerated in Goma on Monday as a large petrol station was ignited by molten lava from nearby Mount Nyirangongo, a rebel leader said. Azarias Ruberwa, secretary general of the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy which controls the region, said the victims were stealing petrol when the […]

GERMAN President Johannes Rau arrived in Pretoria on Monday for an official visit and will hold talks with his South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki in the morning. South Africa’s acting minister of foreign affairs, Zola Skweyiya, met Rau on his arrival, said the official, Manusha Pillai. The German embassy in Pretoria said the four-day visit […]

Maputo | Thursday SOUTH Africa and Mozambique have signed an accord allowing South Africa’s public railways Spoornet to run its trains from their border to the port of Mozambique’s capital, a move intended to boost growth for both countries. “This is a major development with (economic) implications for our region as a whole,” South African […]

HERVE BAR and ANTHONY MORLAND, Gisenyi, Rwanda | Saturday RELIEF workers were scrambling to create order out of chaos on Friday after some 450 000 people fled the region hit by a huge volcanic eruption in east Africa, with at least one city devastated by lava flows. There was still no word on casualties from […]

A new political party was announced Tuesday led by a former medical doctor turned politician. The Congress of United Democrats founded by Antonio Palange who was formerly served as a deputy in parliament. “My party joins other political parties in an effort to bring democracy in our country”, Palange told reporters. Palange formerly served as […]

CHARLENE SMITH and NAWAAL DEANE | Friday A groundbreaking study by a Johannesburg clinic has provided incontrovertible evidence that anti-retroviral drugs stave off HIV infection in raped women if taken soon after the attack. The findings of the study, conducted on hundreds of rape survivors at the Sunninghill Clinic in Sandton, Johannesburg, over the past […]

ANTHONY MORLAND and HERVE BAR, Goma | Sunday AID workers were desperately scrambling on Saturday to help almost half a million people who fled a volcanic eruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as the country issued an urgent appeal for foreign aid. Aid agencies in both the DRC and neighbouring Rwanda rushed to provide […]

ALGERIAN national Mokhtar Haouari was sentenced on Wednesday to 24 years of prison for plotting to bomb the Los Angeles airport during millennium celebrations. “The defendant created a great risk to the well being and the safety of the American people,” said Judge William Keenan. Haouari (32) attended the sentencing, dressed in a blue prison […]

Alex Sudheim The Barnyard Theatre, Gateway shopping complex. Rocking the southern hemisphere’s largest shopping and entertainment complex just north of Durban is Roll over Beethoven, the first production in the centre’s in-house theatre. The show has enjoyed a sold-out run country-wide, was inspired by the rock’n’roll classic by the same name and is a rollicking […]

When the presidency recruited Titu Mafolo as a political adviser it was aware that he had left a previous job under a cloud Mungo Soggot The Office of the President hired Titus Mafolo President Thabo Mbeki’s adviser recently charged with fraud and perjury knowing that he had a chequered employment history involving allegations of dishonesty. […]

A joint committee of senior African National Congress and Inkatha Freedom Party politicians, under Deputy President Jacob Zuma, has been charged with breaking the long-standing impasse between Minister of Home Affairs Mangosuthu Buthelezi and his Director General, Billy Masetlha, writes Bongani Majola. As well as Zuma and Buthelezi, the committee includes ANC-linked Deputy Minister of […]

GuyWilloughby Cape Comedy Collective, Armchair Theatre, Observatory. Every Sunday giggle at a line-up of comics at their home venue.On Sunday January 13 guffaw at Cokey Falcow and Sarah Lansmann, both of whom say farewell before heading overseas. On Fridays titter at the Smirnoff Sessions, a line-up of up-and-coming comics from the comedy-development sessions, at The […]

David Macfarlane Did Unisa receive presidential approval for its current court action against Minister of Education Kader Asmal? Or is Unisa’s new vice-chancellor, Dr Barney Pityana, claiming rather more exalted support for his part on the ongoing warfare against Asmal than the facts warrant? Senior Unisa academics raise the possibility that President Thabo Mbeki has […]