Staff Reporter

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 […]

THE African Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of approximately US $12,9-million to finance a fire wood project in Benin, a news release from the bank said. The project aims to reduce poverty through sustainable forestry resources management as well as improve the supply and demand for wood and promote alternative energy sources, the […]

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 […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni President Thabo Mbeki is set to use his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on the weekend to launch a major drive for Africa’s inclusion in international bodies such as the UN Security Council. The inclusion of the African continent on the Security Council has been the […]

Jaspreet Kindra Men in rural KwaZulu-Natal constantly said they did not need to change their sexual behaviour because “the big man” President Thabo Mbeki believed sex and HIV/Aids were not linked, according to an Anglican bishop. “That is the message that is destroying human lives across this country, and for which President Mbeki is being […]

BOXING Deon Potgieter It’ll be pride against pride on November 17 when Hassim (the Rock) Rahman defends his universal heavyweight world championship against the man he dethroned for the title, Lennox Lewis, in Las Vegas. This bout will not be about athletic prowess, it will be about who has the biggest heart. Lewis claims the […]

While there is justified concern over the shortage of teachers in South Africa, it is ironical that the Department of Education is reluctant to re-employ teachers who, although having opted for voluntary severance packages, are prepared to re-enter the education system, realising that their calling is in education. Admittedly, there is a decided shortage of […]

South Africa is hosting the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union exhibition and forum event for the second time Jubie Matlou More than 200 companies from 40 countries will display the latest information and communication tech-nology equipment at Gallagher Estate next week. In addition, 200 speakers have been lined up to deliver papers on a wide […]

We cannot have an alleged criminal running around the streets in a Metro police uniform and gun, says an outraged Durban councillor Paul Kirk A Durban Metro policeman who was implicated in an investigation into a car hijacking syndicate has been promoted to the rank of acting sergeant and put in charge of the force’s […]

Glenda Daniels Communists and trade unionists are ambivalent about the possible tie-up between the New National Party and the African National Congress, endorsing it as a strategic compromise but also seeing it a potential a boost for ANC rightwingers. A Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) statement this week attacked the NNP as “a […]

Belinda Beresford While the World Trade Organisation prepares itself for a full and frank discussion on costs and access to medicines in Qatar next week, the Democratic Alliance has stepped into the fray by submitting a private member’s Bill to Parliament to allow easier access to anti-retroviral drugs in South Africa. Unveiled yesterday, the Bill […]

South Africa’s nine-wicket win in the first Test was not a flawless performance Peter Robinson The guys, said Shaun Pollock after South Africa’s nine-wicket victory over India on Tuesday, came back to bowl really well. As laudable as it may be for a captain to praise his team-mates, this sentiment is not entirely true. Pollock […]

A communist party politburo discussion document titled “Defend the Unity of our Alliance, Defend Democratic Debate” raises the fear that the ANC is stifling political discussion The African National Congress’s Briefing Notes on the Alliance is now in wide circulation. In principle, the South African Communist Party welcomes any attempt to foster debate within the […]

An audit this week reveals the gangrene of immorality eating away at Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital, writes Belinda Beresford Vulnerable and in pain they may be, but patients at the world’s largest hospital have no guarantee they will even have sheets to cover themselves when they finally make it past the chaos of admissions into […]

Barry Streek Chaos in the payment of social grants by South Africa’s nine provincial governments resulted in overspending of R570-million in the 1999/2000 financial year and payments of R28,7-million to corpses, salaried people, non-citizens and other illegal beneficiaries. This was disclosed in a report to Parliament by Auditor General Shauket Fakie, based on an audit […]

analysis Salman Rushdie The world’s leaders have repeated the mantra “This isn’t about Islam” for weeks, partly in the virtuous hope of deterring reprisal attacks on innocent Muslims living in the West, partly because, if the United States is to maintain its coalition against terror, it can’t afford to allege that Islam and terrorism are […]

Three directors of the struggling TV station’s holding company are to share R4-million Glenda Daniels and David Macfarlane It will be a grim Christmas for e.tv staffers when, for the third year running, they go off on vacation without a bonus. But the three executive directors of e.tv’s loss-making holding company, Hoskens Consolidated Investments (HCI) […]