Staff Reporter

Minorities don’t have the benefit of their interests officially being taken care of, writes Koos Malan When the Democratic Alliance was formed last year, some believed, rather optimistically, that South Africa was firmly on its way to a fully-fledged two-party system. This development was supposed to place South Africa in the company of the best […]

BODY LANGUAGE Shane Watson The January issues of the glossies go on sale soon, jostling for our attention with the usual cocktail of sex, glamour and celebrity. Vanity Fair has attempted to top last months Brad Pitt calendar-boy cover with a picture of a bare-chested Tom Cruise. GQs gone for Heidi Klum in a bikini […]

THE number of Aids orphans in Ethiopia has reached the one million mark, according to the Ministry of Health, placing an even greater strain on the country’s already limited and stretched social services. Ethiopia has the third largest population in the world with the HIV virus. Only India and South Africa have a greater number. […]

BARRY STREEK, Cape Town | Friday IN the wake of the row over the governments accountability to Parliament on the controversial R66-billion arms deal, the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), Gavin Woods, is considering resigning his Scopa position. The African National Congress says the seven parliamentary committees that considered the joint […]

Sandile Ngidi The fledgling community radio movement was dealt a blow last month with the closure of the South African Community Radio Network (Sacrin). Sacrin was an initiative by the Congress of South African Trade Unions Centre for Democratic Communications, which was launched in 1997 to provide a satellite link-up platform for community radio stations […]

Africa would go a long way towards solving its problems if Africans acknowledged their role in causing the mess it is in, writes Shyaka Kanuma Will South Africa work now that political power is firmly in the hands of the black majority? This apparently impudent, patronising question has been asked a million times since 1994. […]

BELINDA BERESFORD, Johannesburg | Friday SOUTH African companies are missing out on lucrative returns by failing to see that money spent on HIV/Aids is an investment, rather than a cost, according to a new study into major Southern African companies. And while many managers may regard HIV as a personal issue, they are still failing […]

Your coverage of Zimbabwean issues smacks of malice. A precedent is being set in Zimbabwe. Nowhere in the world has a white man been disposessed of his “property” like what is happening in Zimbabwe right now without compensation. After getting his stash on the back of initially slavery then colonialism and now neocolonialism, the white […]

Companies are stalling on repatriating their export earnings Mungo Soggot and David Macfarlane A leading South African economist, SG Securities Nico Czypionka, says South African companies listed offshore are maximising their returns by taking their cash flows offshore. Czypionka is referring to outflows to South African companies listed abroad, which, he says, “are a major […]

In his November 30 commentary (“The war in Afghanistan is a means to another end”) Firoz Osman makes outrageous claims concerning United States goals in the war on terrorism. According to Osman, the US attack on terrorism in Afghanistan is linked to oil in Central Asia rather than the brutal attacks on the US on […]

RORY MCCARTHY, Tora Bora | Friday SENIOR Afghan mujahedin commanders in the mountains of Tora Bora accused the United States military on Wednesday of scuppering a surrender agreement with cornered al-Qaida fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden. Mujahedin troops on the ground reported seeing dozens of armed American and British special forces, some dressed in […]

This follows the decision by an ANC majority to force through its response to the joint investigating team report and ignore the opposition parties call for a continuation of Scopas inquiry Barry Streek In the wake of the row over the governments accountability to Parliament on the controversial R66-billion arms deal, the chairperson of the […]

Harriet Mazansky of Boston is shaken by South Africans’ America bashing (December 7). She needs to know the real bad news: the attack on our currency has made us feel that elements within the globe-gobbling superpower have made themselves our enemies. If someone tries to mug us on the street, we shoot to kill lest […]

Jillian Edelstein spent four years recording the progress of the truth commission. Her new book, Truth and Lies, tells some of the stories that emerged. The following is an extract from this book In 1985 I left South Africa to take up a photography course in London. After that, although I went back regularly to […]

A SOUTH African gold company hopes to cash in on the magic of a screen adaption of JRR Tolkien’s epic fantasy “The Lord of the Rings” by selling copies of the gold ring at the centre of the tale. “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first of three films inspired by Tolkien’s book, was released […]

Belinda Beresford South African companies are missing out on lucrative returns by failing to see that money spent on HIV/Aids is an investment, rather than a cost, according to a new study into major Southern African companies. And while many managers may regard HIV as a personal issue, they are still failing to appreciate the […]

From page 48 players try to rattle their cage, the more they betray their own self doubts. Even Adam Gilchrist, the calm, sensible vice-captain, got it embarrassingly wrong before the Test started. “Every time we play against South Africa it is regarded as the world championship,” he said, promisingly. “There is a lot riding on […]

The Mother CityQueer Project onDecember 15 at the River Club is themed Farm Fresh (above) and should be lots of fun. There are also the loveparade on December 16 in long Street and DJ/producer Seb Fontaine playing at 96 Degrees on December 19. Port Elizabeth has the SABCMandela Metro Music Summer Festival on December 16 […]

Hestrie Cloetes gold medal in Edmonton made her South Africas top sportswoman Martin Gillingham In a discipline where most world-class competitors look like Kate Moss after a long day on the rack in a medieval torture chamber, Hestrie Cloete is noticeably different. Shes tall, but not that tall. Shes also got hips. And when she […]

Khadija Magardie and Esa Conning The art of qiraat or recitation of Islams holy book, the Quran, is as old as the Quran itself. Muslims regard the Quran, revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century, as the pure, unadulterated Word of God and place strict injunctions on the believers to both recite and […]

Marianne Merten The Democratic Alliance-controlled Cape Town council late on Thurday agreed to give up three seats on its decision-making body, the executive committee. This came hours after DA caucus discussions following a court challenge by the African National Congress to prevent the election of former Western Cape premier Gerald Morkel as mayor. At the […]

United Kingdom DJ and producerRoy theRoach (above) plays at the Sprite Metro FMBirthdayDance Extravaganza at The Dome in Johannesburg on December 15. Call Tel:(011) 727 7039 onFridayDecember 14 between 1pm and 1.15pm. The first two callers win six CDs each by artists performing at the show Mandoza, Arthur, Bongo Maffin, TKZee, Zola and Mdu (prizes […]

Drew Forrest Even Sipho Pityanas detractors in the Department of Foreign Affairs concede he is a superb administrator whose departure almost certainly to the private sector will be a loss to the department and the government. One of the longest-serving new-order mandarins he has been a director general since 1995 Pityana refuses to discuss reports […]

Gavin Foster With 24 South African titles behind him Alfie Cox is the most successful motor sportsman of all time in the country. Hes also pretty hot internationally, having finished strongly in every one of the four Dakar Rallies hes contested. With best results of third, fourth and fifth, the works KTM rider is now […]

Khadija Magardie Ask some of the countrys top law firms what they are doing to “give back” to the community and most claim they already fulfil their civic duties. Last week Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) national director Vinodh Jaichand said local lawyers should use their expertise and take on more pro bono work. The […]

Analysis Margaret Legum Minister of Finance Trevor Manuels decision to allow Anglo-American to list in London turns out to have been the thin end of a very thick wedge. After Anglo, Billiton and South African Breweries could not be denied. Now there is a queue. Once you start, where do you stop? The clamour extends […]

REVIEW Gavin Foster Subaru Legacy 2,5 Outback R248 950 If you admire those who have the balls to do things differently, Subaru must be high on your list of heroes. While most manufacturers went the route of front-wheel-drive, the Fuji Heavy Industries subsidiary decided that permanent all-wheel-drive was the way to go. And while everybody […]

Professor Mbeki (PhD. www) secures a place in historys Hall of Shame NO blows BARRED Sipho Seepe Great leaders “make the times” by delighting us with new insights and perspectives. Their profound insights, often beyond our comprehension, advance thought and influence subsequent thinking. The likes of Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Karl Marx, Malcom X […]

obituary Anton Harber David Astor popped into the offices of The Weekly Mail (now the Mail & Guardian) one Thursday morning in early 1986 as we were putting the finishing touches to that weeks edition of what was then a fledgling, penniless newspaper with a staff of five. Both parties were embarrassed: Irwin Manoim and […]

Justin Arenstein The worlds largest international money transfer company, Western Union, suspended all services in South Africa this week following local cash-flow and foreign exchange problems. The freeze on payments totalling an estimated R100-million a month is expected to hit migrant miners and workers hardest. Migrant workers and South African expatriates use Western Union to […]

COMMENT Mike Berger The “declaration of conscience” published in The Sunday Independent (December 9) challenges the Jewish community to admit that Israel is the transgressor in the Middle East and, hence, bears the responsibility for bringing the conflict to a just resolution. Although the latter assertion does not logically follow from the former, the document […]

whipping boy The Cape Guineas in February is widely regarded as the premier event for three-year-olds, with pundits trying to narrow down the major contenders for months before the race is run. Trainer Mike de Kocks Flight Alert, recent impressive winner of the Dingaans at Turffontein, is being widely tipped as a shoo-in for the […]