Staff Reporter

analysis Raymond Suttner Many commentators have said one should not be surprised that the African National Congress wishes to form some form of cooperation agreement or alliance with the New National Party. Some see this as confirmation of a “truism” that even freedom fighters, once they get involved in “normal” politics, are prepared to bed […]

Barry Streek Despite the Swissair setback, the government is determined to press ahead with the “restructuring” of SAA by acquiring another strategic equity partner or even selling part of it to the public through share offer. But official sources warned this was most unlikely in the near future because of the weak position of the […]

BARRY STREEK, Cape Town | Friday TELKOM’S decision to implement an average 5,5% tariff hike for services without the approval of the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has raised questions about the ability of “regulators” to effectively police parastatals as they are privatised. Apart from ensuring that state monopolies do not abuse their position, […]

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Stefaans Brmmer Two of the main contracts in South Africa’s R66-billion arms deal submarines and corvettes from German consortia are open to challenge: they were awarded largely on the strength of pie-in-the-sky investment promises. The joint investigation report on the arms deal released to Parliament last week points to serious procedural and technical irregularities in […]

I was not surprised when I was watching e-tv and I heard a quote from President Thabo Mbeki saying those who are sceptical or don’t believe the arms deal investigation results are those who believe that blacks are corrupt. I want to say unequivocally that I fiercely oppose what Mbeki has said. Fortunately, I happen […]

I am pleased that you are finally rid of the pests that bothered you and your family. We have a very difficult time trying to keep these elements from our country but it is an impossible task since we have a border which is more than 7000 kilometres. These people are destroying our young people […]

Pretoria | Thursday ANGLOGOLD on Wednesday announced the sale of all its assets in South Africa’s central Free State province, which includes four gold mines, for R2,2-billion ($222-million.) The buyers are African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) and Harmony Gold Mining (Harmony). The announcement by AngloGold chief executive Bobby Godsell comes a day after a rival bidder […]

Cosatu and the ANC have put aside their differences for now, and plan to meet to resolve tensions Glenda Daniels and Jaspreet Kindra In a clear move to ratchet down tensions in the tripartite alliance, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is to delay its planned “people’s summit” on the economy until it […]

Barry Streek and Drew Forrest Twelve public service trade unions representing half-a-million workers declared a dispute with the government on Thursday, claiming departments were pushing ahead with restructuring despite ongoing talks on a framework for such measures. Much depends on these delicate negotiations in the public service bargaining council. The government wants union acceptance of […]

The new chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission (HRC), Shirley Mabusela, kept her head down on the government’s HIV/Aids stance this week and stood by the HRC’s decision to stay out of next week’s court challenge to official policy on anti-retroviral drugs, writes Bongani Majola. This is likely to disappoint Aids activists, who […]

Glenda Daniels Jacqui Brown, CEO of the Civil Society Secretariat of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, has been reinstated. She was controversially suspended by the Rural Services Development Network three weeks ago for poor management. However, an internal inquiry uncovered no wrongdoing. Brown’s suspension had been puzzling to many within the NGO sector but […]

AIR France announced on Tuesday that it would be resuming flights between Paris and Kinshasa as of 8 January 2002. There will be two flights per week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, using an Airbus A340-300 with a seating capacity of 252. Air France suspended its flights between Paris and Kinshasa on 4 August 1998, two days […]

Marianne Merten Want to find a peaceful final resting place with 24-hour security, rolling lawns, tree-lined paths, water features and a chapel? Memory Lane, the Western Cape’s first private cemetery, may be the answer. At present the 15ha stretch of land on the rural outskirts of Durbanville in the Mother City’s northern suburbs is still […]

The Sun City course has been toughed up for this year’s Million Dollar Michael Vlismas, MWP Alastair Roper, tournament director of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, slumped into his chair at the halfway house of the Gary Player Country Club on a steamy Wednesday afternoon earlier this month. “This is murder,” he said after his nine […]

Chiefs take on Cosmos in the Coke Cup final this weekend Ntuthuko Maphumulo With R1-million the difference between winning and losing the Coca-Cola Cup final, coming second will never be the same again. The winners get R2-million while the runners-up pocket a still-hefty R1-million. Jomo Cosmos and Chiefs will be meeting in their third cup […]

Richard Evans in Sydney The threat of anti-climax hung over Lleyton Hewitt’s head all last weekend. After the euphoria of becoming the youngest world number one when he beat Patrick Rafter on Friday night, the 20-year-old South Australian was heading for two more matches fraught with danger. Mentally elated but struggling physically, it would have […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The man touted in a newly published book as next in line to command military intelligence appears to have been pushed out of his job. General Horace Doncaster, chief of intelligence processing a key military intelligence division was once a major figure behind a string of the apartheid government’s deadly operations. […]

The findings of the marathon investigation into the arms deal in many ways represent a remarkable achievement for South Africa. It is extremely rare for any country to peer with any seriousness into the murky world of weapons contracts. Many Western nations are content to sweep such matters under the carpet. For this, and the […]

There’s only one Harry Potter, and it’s British-born Daniel Radcliffe. Two owls play Hedwig: Gizmo and Sprout. Two versions of the film are being released. It is to be known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the United States. Any scenes that mention the philosopher’s stone were filmed twice: replacing sorcerer for philosopher. […]

Niki Moore It’s a chance for tourists to get high in Eshowe, and it’s quite legal. In fact, it’s encouraged and cheap. For the cost of R20, anyone can sit in the treetops and watch the birds go by, courtesy of Southern Africa’s first aerial boardwalk in Eshowe’s Dlinza forest. The boardwalk is an elevated […]

Islamabad | Thursday PROVINCES have fallen like dominoes against Afghanistan’s former Taliban rulers, cornering the Islamic militia into a small southern corner from where their future looks decidedly uncertain. Routed in northern Afghanistan, chased out of the capital Kabul, the Taliban may now only have control of three or four of the war-stricken country’s 31 […]

Harare | Thursday RIOT police were deployed in force in the Zimbabwe capital on Wednesday to prevent pro-democracy demonstrators staging a protest march against proposed changes to Zimbabwe’s electoral laws. The armed police fanned out across the city centre to disperse all persons gathered in groups, thus preventing demonstrators from mobilising. Despite the crackdown, a […]

JAN HENNOP, Pretoria | Thursday THE trial of four men convicted of setting their police dogs on illegal immigrants in a 1998 “training exercise”, continues in the Pretoria High Court on Thursday with evidence in mitigation of sentence. On Wednesday, defence witness Hannes Brits testified it was not unusual for police dogs that were reluctant […]

GERMAN condom maker Condomi said on Tuesday it planned to move into the South African market where it would open a factory to turn out 100 million condoms per year. To this end it was setting up a joint venture, Condomi Africa Ltd, with partners Ferrostaal Investments South Africa and the “Black Empowerment” consortium, which […]

A EUROPEAN Union delegation headed by Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel on Tuesday headed for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for a regional tour to promote peace. The team will “sound out the rival parties on the prospects for progress on outstanding issues in the Lusaka process and the Arusha process” — meaning peace […]

Harare | Wednesday ZIMBABWE’S Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out charges of terrorism against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, declaring that the law under which he was charged was unconstitutional, his lawyer said. The ruling paves the way for Tsvangirai to contest in next year’s presidential elections, where he is expected to pose the greatest challenge […]

Bujumbura | Wednesday THE head of the UN World Health Organisation’s (WHO) operations in Burundi, Kassi Manlan of the Ivory Coast, was found dead in Bujumbura on Tuesday, police, one of his colleagues and other sources said. “Until proven otherwise, it is very likely that we are dealing with an act of banditry,” state prosecutor […]

Lisbon | Wednesday FANGOLAN rebel movement Unita on Tuesday claimed to have killed 298 government soldiers, police and militia forces in operations between November 8 and 19, according to a statement. The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) said it had taken the town of Gamba in the eastern Moxico province on […]

Abuja | Wednesday NIGERIA will sell off its under-performing electricity company Nepa next year, the head of the government-appointed privatisation agency said on Tuesday. “The president has directed that Nepa must be sold next year and that is what we will do,” the director-general of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Nasiru el-Rufai told reporters here. […]

Algiers | Wednesday A POWERFUL bomb blast wounded 29 people, four seriously, early on Tuesday at a bus station crowded with students in the Algerian capital, medical sources and witnesses said. The attack, using a homemade bomb which was concealed in a briefcase, came on the fourth day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, […]