Staff Reporter

CANADA will provide 1,3 million-dollars (US$819 000) to a nongovernmental women and children’s organization in Mozambique led by Graca Machel, the wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela, the International Development Agency said. The Canadian contribution to Mozambique’s Community Development Foundation was announced on Sunday, during a three-day visit to Canada by Machel and […]

Pretoria | Tuesday SOUTH African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota suspended his acquisitions chief, Chippy Shaik, on Monday following allegations that he had disclosed classified information. Lekota told reporters however that the allegations did not relate to a probe into alleged corruption in a 5,5-billion-dollar arms acquisition deal, or to Shaik’s brother Schabir Shaik, who has […]

Bujumbura | Tuesday More than 2 000 people fleeing attacks in northeast Burundi by Hutu rebels of the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) have sought refuge in Muyinga province, a local official said on Monday. “The rebels attacked the camp for displaced people at Nganji, six kilometres from Muyinga, and then torched the […]

Pretoria | Tuesday FOUR of six white South African policemen were convicted on Monday for setting their dogs on three suspected illegal immigrants from Mozambique, saying it was done to train their dogs to bite humans. The six men were arrested in November last year after sickening video footage of the attack was shown on […]

Sudanese rebels killed 100 Sudanese government soldiers on Sunday when they ambushed and destroyed their convoy in the oil-rich region of Farink-Higlieg, the rebels said in a statement on Tuesday. The rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) “laid an ambush for a government convoy in this region and killed 100 Sudanese government troops,” […]

United Nations | Tuesday THE plunder of natural resources in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo continues unabated, a UN panel said Monday, while softening a previous call for punitive measures to stop it. In a report to the Security Council, the five-man panel recommended a moratorium on imports of gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt, timber, […]

TWO children, one a toddler, were raped in the north of Namibia at the weekend. Sergeant James Matengu said that a three-year-old girl had apparently been raped by a 24-year-old man at Omundaungilo village in the Ohangwena Region on Friday night. “The poor child was left home with other children. The suspect apparently called her […]

Cape Town | Monday TONY Yengeni has sold the luxury 4X4 Mercedes at the centre of corruption claims linked to the controversial arms deal – and splashed out on a R330 000 Volvo convertible. The Sunday Times reported that the former ANC Chief Whip was spotted a week ago cruising Cape Town’s Atlantic seaboard in […]

Cape Town | Monday NATIONAL Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka on Sunday defended the “integrity” of the joint investigation team’s report on the probe into the arms deal, saying much of the criticism was misplaced. Speaking on SABC’s Newsmaker programme, he denied allegations that the report was a “white-wash” or a “cover-up”. People who […]

TWENTY-six people were killed and 25 others hospitalised when a truck somersaulted on a road in northern Nigeria, a local radio station reported on Sunday. The accident occurred on Saturday along the Funtua-Zaria road in Kaduna State after a rear tyre burst. The report said 25 people died on the spot while one person died […]

TWO Slovakian nationals were arrested with “suitcases full” of tortoises on the Cape West Coast this week, and are being held in custody after appearing briefly in court on Thursday. The men, Martin Kjskjn and Martin Uricek, are to be charged with illegal possession, collection and transport of 113 angulate tortoises, also known as “rooipens […]

THE Muslim holy month of Ramadan will start on Friday in Libya, the official Jana news agency reported. The government had based its decision on the lunar calendar, Jana said on Wednesday. Ramadan is the ninth month in Islam’s lunar calendar when Muslims believe God revealed the holy Koran to the Prophet Mohammad. The holiday […]

FIFTEEN people have killed and many others were seriously injured in a pipeline explosion in Nigeria’s south eastern Imo State, national television reported on Thursday. The explosion happened near the town of Umudike, the television said, showing footage of some of those burnt to death in the incident. Imo State Governor Achike Udenwa has visited […]

MALAWI’S President Bakili Muluzi is expected in Maputo Thursday for a two-day visit that will include talks with his Mozambican counterpart Joaquim Chissano. Chissano press representative Antonio Matonse said the two leaders would hold “consultations on bilateral and regional issues”. Muluzi is the chairmen of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and Chissano is head […]

MUNGO SOGGOT and BARRY STREEK, Cape Town | Friday Friday: 9am Scorpions sting Shabir Shaik SHABIR Shaik, a bidding contractor in the multi-billion rand arms procurement deal, was arrested in Durban on Friday morning for possession of classified government documents, said National Director of Public Prosecutions representative Sipho Ngwema. Ngwema said Shaik was allegedly in […]

A 20-year-old Fidelity guard was shot dead during a cash-in-transit heist on the N2 near Port Elizabeth early on Friday morning, Eastern Cape police said. Captain Dirk Coetzee said three guards were travelling in a Telkom vehicle when two cars pushed them off the road near the Greenbushes off-ramp. Shots were fired and one guard […]

A DOZEN heavily armed riot police on Wednesday searched the home and office of a prominent university of Malawi researcher in Zomba, near the commercial capital of Blantyre. “They literally turned upside down my home and office,” said Wiseman Chijere Chirwa. The professor said he was served with a search warrant and a charge of […]

Lagos | Saturday A FRENCH medical team that visited the northern Nigerian city of Kano, where a cholera outbreak has already claimed over 250 lives, said the situation there was serious and the hospital “overflowing”. Volunteer medical group Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) – Doctors Without Borders – sent a medical team to the cholera-ravaged city […]

analysis Judith February Louis XIV’s financial adviser was once quoted as saying: “The art of taxation consists in plucking the goose so as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least amount of hissing.” Have we in South Africa come to the end of the road as far as major tax reform is […]

REVIEW Gavin Foster BMW M3 SMG, R405000 BMW 3 Series compact, from R165000 Switch off the Dynamic Stability Control. Move the shift lever to the right sequential mode. Select performance mode programme 6 on the centre console-mounted switch. Move the gearstick forward and hold it there. Now comes the ugly part plant your foot on […]

Charlene Smith In a sharp turn from current government policy, the parliamentary Committee on the Status of Women has recommended that anti-retroviral drugs be given to protect rape survivors and to stop mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The African National Congress-dominated committee issued its recommendations after two months of hearings into women and HIV, and found […]

ANOTHER 552 children suspected of genocide and other crimes against humanity regained their freedom on Monday after spending three months in the Gaculiro re-education camp in the capital, Kigali. Unicef Information Officer Cyriaque Ngoboka said that 13 girls were among those freed, after a traditional village tribunal heard testimonies of their innocence. Monday’s release brings […]

Five women have battled the odds and become successful entrepreneurs Thuli Nhlapo An age-old tradition and a pastime for herdboys in rural communities bee honey harvesting is becoming a thriving small-business activity that has diversified to produce other products such as candles and cosmetics. This is the success story of a group of women from […]

Nawaal Deane The head of a Nelspruit hospital has been suspended, allegedly because of his support for an organisation that helped rape survivors obtain access to anti-retroviral drugs to reduce their chances of catching HIV. The superintendent, Dr Matthys von Mollendorff, is taking Mpumalanga MEC for Health Sibongile Manana to court to lift his suspension, […]

Bongani Majola The desire to heal historic breaches in the Gauteng African National Congress is seen as a key motive for the elevation of Angie Motshekga wife of former Gauteng premier Mathole Motshekga to deputy leader of the provincial party. At the Gauteng ANC conference last weekend she was elected provincial deputy chairperson in a […]

The Bok coach has made wholesale changes after the loss to France Andy Capostagno in Genoa Last Saturday, for the second time this year, South Africa went into a Test match against France confident of victory, only to have their hopes dashed by a massively confident team in blue. Consequently when the team arrived in […]

A SECOND LOOK Don Glass and Ruth Sack Imagine a place where creative, innovative and critical thinking is highly valued. Imagine a place where multiple ways of knowing are recognised, explored and celebrated. Imagine a place where you can learn about the heritage and cultural practices of your community and others, a place where you […]

Date : Cape Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) in African Songbirds, featuring Gloria Bosman, Jelena Revishin and Nontutthuzelo Puoane, conducted by Mike Campbell and including a jazz quintet. November 18: Pop Goes the Orchestra, conducted by George Michie, featuring Zayn Adams. December 5 to 8: Moya Wa Sechaba Spirit of the Nation, with Sibongile Khumalo and her […]

Jaspreet Kindra In a possible step towards a political realignment, the African National Congress’s leader in KwaZulu-Natal, S’bu Ndebele, has attacked the Inkatha Freedom Party for reneging on a post-election promise to give the ANC more provincial cabinet posts. ANC sources view Ndebele’s criticism as a strategic move to put some distance between the two […]

Morgan Tsvangirai has been tipped as the next president of Zimbabwe. Rehana Rossouw and Jaspreet Kindra spoke to him about the prospects for a free and fair election next year, famine in Zimbabwe and his exit strategy for President Robert Mugabe Rehana Rossouw: According to opinion polls, you are going to be president of Zimbabwe […]

Paul Kirk Between 1995 and 1996 the Ministry of Defence conducted a strategic defence review a stocktaking of the equipment the South African National Defence Force needs to acquire. The review presented a “force design” that amounted to little more than a wish list because, as the Department of Defence conceded, funding was unavailable. In […]

ATHLETICS Duncan Mackay Ludmila Engquist’s story sounds like the stuff of a Hollywood blockbuster. How she grew up as a cog in the Soviet sports machinery; failed a drugs test only to be cleared by a judge after her tyrannical husband admitted he had spiked her drink in revenge for her asking for a divorce; […]