Wilhelm Disbergen Party van Ons: Die Homeros Leesboek compiled by Danie Botha (Homeros) No story can grip the reader if there is no honest investment from the writer in the subject matter. With all the writers in this book openly gay and writing for a gay reader, most of the narratives seem at least semi-autobiographical […]
ART Chris Roper Interesting exhibition this, a mixture of disposable pop philosophy and nuggets of theoretical insight, grafted on to digital art of varying quality. Hard to tell what to make of it, sometimes. Hard to tell, at least initially, whether it’s worth the effort. There is ample evidence of some of the Warning Signs […]
The Coega project has been plagued with problems from the start. Now it may encounter legal troubles Stefaans Brmmer The Coega Development Corporation (CDC), the government-owned company driving the establishment of an industrial development zone and now evicting residents at Coega near Port Elizabeth, is alleged to have done both without legal mandate. And the […]
A SECOND LOOK Mazibuko K Jara Last week’s interview with Tony Leon, the egoistic political representative of dark forces of reaction and backwardness in our society, exposes the real Democratic Alliance (“Leon and hungry”). Its agenda seeks to undermine fundamental transformation of society in favour of the impoverished black majority. For example, early in the […]
MG and Rover are officially back in South Africa and will soon be selling sports cars and luxury sedans from three outlets in Durban, Cape Town and Gauteng, writes Gavin Foster. Thanks to its backers boasting enough export credits to allow the import of fully built-up MGFs and Rover 75s at competitive prices, MG Rover […]
Why we must stop apeing our colonial masters analysis Anthony Holiday With this week’s decision by the Organisation for African Unity to transform itself into an African Union, in obedient mimicry of the European Union, this continent has taken yet another step in a flight from its authentic cultures, religious, artistic and political traditions in […]
THE World Bank has approved a $6,3-million credit for Tanzania to rescue a rare species of toad threatened by a hydropower station. The Kihansi spray toads’ survival depended on the spray of the Kihansi falls, but the delicate habitat conditions began to evaporate with the building of the 180 megawatt hydropower station in Tanzania’s southern […]
Paul Boekkooi This year transformation received a boost like never before in the National Youth Orchestra’s (NYO) 37-year history. This weekend’s concerts promise to represent a level of renewed thinking that hasn’t been experienced for many years in the areas of programming and the contracted soloist. It’s difficult to recall if the NYO ever performed […]
Barry Streek A Western Cape development agency, Wesgro, has initiated a novel approach for providing would-be entrepreneurs with information on small enterprises by establishing “business corners” in local libraries. So far 24 business corners have been established in libraries in the Cape Town metropolitan area, and another seven are planned for other areas in the […]
Marianne Merten A Constitutional Court ruling has opened the way for a teenage Cape Town schoolgirl to claim damages from the Western Cape Department of Education because she was raped by a teacher. Last week the court declared invalid a law that allows aggrieved South African citizens only 90 days to give written notice of […]
PAUL KIRK, Durban | Friday The largest private detective agency in South Africa – so large that it threatens to eclipse the government’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies – is being investigated for fraud. More than two weeks ago one of the highest-level investigation teams ever assembled by the South African Police Service raided the […]
Khadija Magardie The CEO of the Cancer Association of South Africa (Cansa), Steve Lepita, this week lashed out against his suspension, calling it an attempt to stifle racial transformation of the body. He also accused the association’s management of using Cansa’s name to line their pockets. Lepita heard of his suspension while abroad on business […]
There were more animal lovers than hunters at an experimental hunt last weekend, writes Darran Morgan At first light in a valley in the foothills of the Drakensberg in KwaZulu-Natal, a line of black men, each with a pair of leashed greyhounds, are advancing in search of prey. Just about anywhere else in the province […]
Gavin Foster BMW’s Z3, Porsche’s Boxster and DaimlerChrysler’s Mercedes-Benz SLK have been around for a couple of years now, while Audi’s TT, a recent arrival, is also proving popular in South Africa. Now there’s a new wave of two-seater sports cars cropping up, headed by Toyota’s mid-engined MR2. Why be sensible? Most people are altogether […]
MARIANNE MERTEN, Cape Town | Friday A CONSTITUTIONAL Court ruling has opened the way for a teenage Cape Town schoolgirl to claim damages from the Western Cape Department of Education because she was raped by a teacher. Last week the court declared invalid a law that allows aggrieved South African citizens only 90 days to […]
Proposals are in the pipeline to address the problems facing small businesses Barry Streek The government’s strategy to promote small business a key element of its economic policies is under review because of the failure of 117 246 small business enterprises, which cost the state R68-million. A key element of the revised strategy is likely […]
A FIVE -minute power outage at the closing ceremony of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit during an address by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi sent his security corps into a panic. Minutes before the end of his speech, a power cut plunged the Mulungushi conference centre into total darkness, prompting at least half a […]
STUDENTS at Zimbabwe’s government universities and technical colleges face skyrocketing school fees, which are to be multiplied by as much as 40 times, the state-owned Herald newspaper reported on Thursday. The increases, which will go into effect next month, follow two months of rumbling protests by students against the government over inadequate allowances. University students […]
A United Nations panel of experts on Monday ended a week-long visit to Liberia aimed at reviewing sanctions imposed by the international body for Monrovia’s perceived support to Sierra Leonean rebels. Martin Chungong Ayafor, who headed the five-member team, told journalists that the panel had held discussions with government officials and private groups. Ayafor said […]
KENYAN Muslim clerics on Wednesday condemned the government’s plans to import and freely distribute hundreds of millions of condoms. “This is a wrong signal the authorities are sending to our youth about promiscuous sex and it proves that sex, any kind of sex, is cool and tolerable,” Kenya’s National Council of Imams chairman Sheikh Ali […]
EIGHT pro-democracy groups under the umbrella of the Swaziland Democratic Alliance (SDA) asked King Mswati III on Wednesday to revoke a controversial decree which reinforces his powers over the judiciary. The groups charged that the decree, promulgated on June 23, infringes basic freedoms and liberties. “We urge you, Your Majesty, to revoke the decree together […]
Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTHERN Africa is expected to face an overall cereal deficit this year with only Malawi and South Africa forecast to produce a small surplus, a regional early warning unit said in its latest report. Cereal production, which includes the regional staple maize, is expected to be down by 17%, the Famine Early […]
A NORTHERN Province hospital patient disappeared from his bed on Saturday only to be found dead behind the hospital four days later. Motshine Pheeha (31) of Inveran village was found dead in a trench near the perimeter fence behind Helena Frans Hospital in Bochum on Wednesday morning. Pheeha had been admitted to the hospital with […]
MOZAMBIQUE plans to build a major dam in the southern Maputo province to control flood waters, the government announced this week. The dam in Moamba district, in Maputo province, 70km west of Maputo, is expected to cost $360-million, the ministry of public works and housing said in a statement. The African Development Bank will fund […]
GERMANY has pledged 87-million dinars ($59-million) in aid to Tunisia to be spent on environmental, industry and water projects, the Tunisian news agency TAP reported Monday. The accord, covering the period 2001-02, was signed at the weekend by Uschi Eid, a senior official of the German economic cooperation ministry, the official news agency said. State […]
A FATHER and five children were massacred by an armed group near Tiaret in northwestern Algeria, local residents said on Tuesday. The home of the family of eight in the hamlet of Ziana near the town of Oued Lili, some 340km west of Algiers, was attacked overnight on Monday, the sources said. The assailants shot […]
WEST African finance ministers said on Monday they were concerned about inflationary pressures hanging over the region’s economic activities. The regional Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) said in a statement the economic activity continues to suffer from “unfavourable external and internal conditions”, adding that economic growth in 2001 will be “less important than […]
THE media in Angola is operating under increasingly difficult conditions, Open Society representative and freelance journalist Rafael Marques said in a statement on Monday. The statement coincided with a decision by independent Catholic-run Radio Ecclesia to suspend all news reports in favour of religious broadcasts. The station also counseled Angolans to pray. Marques attributed the […]
CANADIAN authorities, with the help of US officials, arrested three Toronto residents on Tuesday, in connection with a multi-million-dollar letter scam carried out in Canada and Nigeria. An estimated 300 US, European and Asian residents — but no Canadians — have been bilked out of amounts ranging from $52 000 to five million, Ross said […]
ONE of the main armed Hutu opposition groups in Burundi on Tuesday accused the mainly Tutsi government of using a fishing ban for self-enrichment and to starve those its accuses of helping rebel fighters. On June 25, the government banned fishing on two ports on Lake Tanganyika, Runonge and Nyanza-Lac, citing security reasons and claiming […]
AN Egyptian man was alleged on Tuesday to have tortured his wife and shaved off her hair, both with a barber’s electric shears, after she asked for more money to spend on the home. The woman, appearing bald at a police station here, filed a police report alleging her 32-year-old husband used the tool to […]
THE World Bank announced Monday it has approved a $90,3-million interest-free loan to Nigeria to support the government’s three-year HIV/Aids action plan. The loan, which will also assist in the development of a long-term strategy, is to be repaid over 35 years, starting with a 10-year grace period. Nigeria has the fourth worst HIV/Aids infection […]