Staff Reporter

A UNITED Nations helicopter crashed into the sea off the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown, late on Wednesday, killing at least one of the seven people on board, a UN representative said. Margaret Novicki, representative for Unamsil, the UN mission in Sierra Leone, said the helicopter “crashed in the sea shortly after taking off from the […]

A CRACKDOWN on illegal fishing on the Ugandan side of Lakes Victoria and Albert will help boost exports and sustain the fishing industry, the minister for agriculture and fisheries said. Kisamba Mugerwa said up to 50 000 tons of fish were lost each year in illegal fishing, but that a crackdown by an anti-smuggling force […]

THREE freelance journalists in Swaziland have been warned by the state police that they should stop writing negatively about the country and the King. The journalists are Lunga Masuku of African Eye News Service, Thulani Mthethwa who does some work for British Broadcasting Corporation and South African Press Association and Bheki Matsebula who writes for […]

A Democratic Republic of Congo journalist arrested more than five months ago on defamation charges has been freed, non-governmental organisation Journalists in Danger (JED) said on Thursday. Freddy Loseke, editor of “Free Africa” publication, was freed on Tuesday after being arrested in April, JED said in a statement. He was charged following complaints by the […]

ANGELA QUINTAL, Cape Town | Sunday AFTER more than 10 years in the New National Party and three years as Western Cape Premier, Gerald Morkel, on Saturday jumped ship, but denied he was pushed. Morkel chose to do so in the NNP’s coloured heartland of Mitchell’s Plain, in front of a small, but vocal group […]

A LESOTHO High Court judge on Thursday found that the former chief executive officer of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority, Masupha Sole, had a case to answer on all 18 counts of bribery and fraud involving millions of dollars. Sole, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, was indicted in 1999 as a sequel to […]

CLAIRE KEETON, Johannesburg | Saturday THE gang-rape of a nine-month-old baby has finally jolted South Africans into acknowledging everyday sexual violence against children, and to demand why it is so widespread. One factor is a widespread myth that sex with a virgin will cure you of Aids: some 4,7-million South Africans, or one in nine, […]

PAUL KIRK, Durban | Friday THE long-awaited report on South Africa’s R60-billion arms package, due out next week, is expected to blast officials for conflicts of interest, recommend a shake-up of tender procedures and criticise several of the weapons deals. Compiled by the Scorpions, the public protector and the auditor general, the report will update […]

AT least 30 people are feared to have drowned after a boat they were travelling in on Lake Victoria capsized on Wednesday evening near Sengerema, a few kilometres from Tanzania’s port city of Mwanza, police said on Thursday. “We are still investigating the cause of the accident, but preliminary reports indicate that the boat capsized […]

THREE children have been killed in southern Angola after playing with an unexploded mortar shell, a police representative told the Portuguese news agency Lusa on Wednesday. The three children were playing in the southern Angolan city of Lubango, the capital city of Huila province, with an 82-millimetre mortar shell they had found on wasteland in […]

A GROUP of some 50 armed separatist rebels on Wednesday attacked workers on a construction site in Casamance in Senegal, before fleeing with 12 hostages, military sources said. The attackers robbed workers of the Satom public works company while they were building a road link between the towns of Bignona and Dioulou, northwest of Casamance’s […]

ANGELA QUINTAL, Cape Town | Saturday WESTERN Cape Premier Gerald Morkel has quit. He made the announcement at Mitchell’s Plain in Cape Town on Saturday morning. Morkel said he would resign as premier and also as provincial leader of the New National Party with effect from close of business Monday. “Because I believe with all […]

Mail & Guardian reporter Public Service Announcements (PSAs) are the things television people make when they have a bit of spare time on their hands and a good feeling in their hearts. The annual Vuka Awards are promoted by MultiChoice Africa and this year they celebrated the achievements of newcomers in the field of video […]

Adobe has made its name in superb design software, but it may well be remembered for arguably its most useful gift to the software world: the Portable Document Format (PDF). Saving any document you have created in a Microsoft Office program is easier with the latest release, Acrobat 5, and you can select a range […]

The software-maker is facing staunch competition as rivals launch their own e-book programs David Shapshak The recent launch of Windows XP has overshadowed the other tussles in the software world. One of these is the fight for “reading” software that will be key to another technology revolution: the e-book. E-books were all the rage last […]

Paul Kirk Companies that lost out in the R60-billion arms deal are limbering up to sue the government after the long-awaited report into the arms deal, which could provide crucial information to mount lawsuits. The Mail & Guardian reported last week that Italian airplane manufacturer Aermacchi was considering litigation after tender procedures were changed to […]

I have been sent a letter about 62 young Israelis refusing to do military service. I have not heard or seen any reports about them and their plight. I am sure there are many who would be very interested to hear about this stand by these young men. This has a lot of relevance to […]

Former spymaster Niel Barnard has played a key backroom role in the current DA turmoil Marianne Merten Dr Niel Barnard said it would be conceited to call himself a super-spy and insisted in a rare interview in 1992 that he was just a manager. Nine years later as Western Cape director general he is regarded […]

aNALYSIS Sean Jacobs and Jessica Blatt How is the American left reacting to the attacks of September 11, and the current bombing and ground assaults by United States military in Afghanistan? First off: there is not much of a left to speak of in the US these days. Yes, there’s an environmental movement, and a […]

A nine-month old girl is in a serious condition in hospital in Upington after having been raped by six adult men, who were allegedly all drunk at the time. The child’s teenage mother was arrested at the same time, also allegedly drunk. The men’s ages ranged from 24 to 66. Were they too drunk to […]

Russell Thomas As if football’s rulers did not have enough on their plate, between organising a 2002 World Cup co-hosted by historic enemies and confronting security worries after September 11! This week Fifa, the world governing body, expressed concern about animal welfare or rather animal abuse with canine consumption top of the worry list, especially […]

Niki Moore The disgraced former deputy director general of the national Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Professor Musa Xulu, has turned up as the municipal manager of a small town in Zululand and is already causing havoc in his new job. Xulu was fired from his arts and culture post in December last […]

Matthew Engel in New York New York was stunned into silence this week a silence that in a normal year would be called shocked, even grief-stricken. The cause was a sporting defeat, but this was no ordinary defeat: the New York Yankees, the most successful team in the history of American sport, were beaten at […]

November 14 is World Diabetes Day, but the government has paid little attention to the rise of the disease Barbara Erasmus South Africa could learn a lesson from Tanzania when it comes to confronting the two plagues of the millennium the high-profile killer Aids and the less acknowledged pandemic diabetes. Tanzania has achieved recognition for […]

Chaos in the Department of Labour has led to an irate Legal Resources Centre now struggling to cope with a flood of cases, writes Glenda Daniels A backlog of 5 453 uninvestigated workplace accidents coupled with an administrative shambles in the government’s compensation system for workplace injuries has now spilled over to an irate Legal […]

Marianne Merten and Jaspreet Kindra Western Cape Premier Gerald Morkel may soon face a joint New National Party-African National Congress vote of no confidence in the Western Cape legislature, following his setback in the Cape High Court this week. It is known that the possibility of a no-confidence vote was discussed at a strategy meeting […]

Leading members of our Jewish community have crossed swords over Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and its inhumane treatment of its inhabitants. Allow me to congratulate comrade Ronnie Kasrils for speaking out against it. It gives me hope. Allow me also to salute the Jewish Board of Deputies for engaging Kasrils in the international debate […]

YACHTING John Young When Columbus was hanging around the Portuguese court trying to find a sponsor for his yacht to cross the Atlantic, King Joo II lied to him about the location of the Cape of Good Hope. Knowing that the information would get back to Spain, the king told Columbus it was 10 degrees […]

Bongani Majola Government moves to reconnect with the people were taken a step further this week when six African National Congress ministers, five deputy-ministers, three premiers and a host of senior officials embarked on a crash programme of visits to local communities across South Africa. Dubbed “Imbizo focus week”, the programme involves 52 separate visits […]

The former head of the presidential investigative unit ‘was offered bribes’ to take the rap Zenzile Khoisan Senior police officials are probing detailed claims of an attempt by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to cover up damaging evidence in the trial of a top policeman and save face for former safety and security minister Sydney […]

Size, not subtlety, is the name of the game for the Springboks’ first Test on tour Andy Capostagno in Paris In the foyer of the Springbok team’s hotel in Paris stands a replica of “The Winged Victory of Samothrace”. This is the Goddess Nike, who through the intervening millennia has been transformed into the trademark […]