Scotch Tagwireyi and Nicolas Dieltiens The South African Reserve Bank has managed to hide alleged evidence of maladministration that is in the hands of its former employee Nicolaas Alant by reaching an out of court settlement with him. Wednesday’s agreement forces Alant to return all documents he obtained from the bank while working there. He […]
Barry Streek After shock findings of widespread financial mismanagement and lack of controls, the Office of the Auditor General refused to approve a financial audit of the statements for the now- defunct Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) for the 1999/2000 financial year. Because of the significance of these findings, “I do not express an opinion of […]
Neal Collins soccer Lucas Radebe spent the tail end of the season injured at Leeds United. Quinton Fortune played at Manchester United only when Ryan Giggs wanted a rest. Mark Fish had an up and down time after the switch from Bolton to Charlton. But if it’s a real South African success story in the […]
FORMER Zambian cabinet and deputy ministers recently dismissed by President Frederick Chiluba, on Thursday apologised to the nation for causing untold suffering to Zambians over the last 10 years under Chiluba’s leadership. Addressing a national development review forum in Lusaka on Thursday, the spokesperson of the group, former Labour minister Edith Nawakwi admitted that the […]
Barry Streek The Speaker of the National Assembly, Frene Ginwala, had taken the lead in unjustifiably challenging Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), its chair, Gavin Woods, said this week. “As both the chair of the committee and as a member of Parliament I see it as a constitutional responsibility that I defend the […]
Adam Sweeting CD OFTHEWEEK Reveal (Warner Bros) is the second album REM have made since the departure of drummer Bill Berry, and (on disc at least) it finds them settling into a convincing identity as a trio. The puzzle is how to fit the born-again REM into their own 20-year legacy. While Reveal undoubtedly reveals […]
Malegapuru Makgoba a Second Look The challenges facing science and its development today are no longer predominantly technical, but largely social. The future of science lies in three areas: ethics, communication and attending to societal concerns. The need for science to be understood by the public and for scientists to communicate better, as well as […]
Jemimah Crawford Atlas of World History ; Children’s Atlas; GUIDE TO SPACE (Dorling Kindersley) Dorling Kindersley has made an art, and a fortune, out of publishing irritating adult books with a paint/travel/cook-by-numbers approach. They’re the kind of books you’d give to your gran on Mother’s Day, but hide from your pretentious friends. They’re also filled […]
WHITE Zimbabwean farmers have offered to give the government one million hectares (almost 2.5m acres) of land for resettlement by poor black farmers, in a bid to jumpstart talks to end more than a year of violence on farms. The proposal also calls for ending any litigation against the government, provides financing for newly resettled […]
Steven Friedman worm’s eye view Why do we not try to be world class at being ourselves? As so often happens in this country, a sporting controversy may be holding a candle to an important trend in our society. This time, it is the argument over the choice of venue for the 2003 cricket World […]
Timothy Wood American notes In January United States President George W Bush was regarded as an illegitimate usurper who would stumble in the absence of an authoritative mandate. In May he is having an early last laugh with a budget and tax relief package that is nearly everything he campaigned on. Intriguingly, the battle over […]
Barbara Ludman crime Round-up Newton Thornburg’s Cutter and Bone, circa 1976, is a post-apocalyptic novel posing as a thriller: bleak and brilliantly written, with characters you can’t shrug off, some of the best, truest and funniest dialogue you’ll ever read and a tragic and inescapable point. Cutter is Alex Cutter, a Vietnam War veteran whose […]
Jaspreet Kindra At least three members of the provincial executive in Mpumalanga will lose their positions, as recommended by an African National Congress tribunal held in the province in March. ANC national chair Mosiuoa Lekota confirmed the move this week. He said the report, submitted two weeks ago, also recommended the deployment of members from […]
INCUMBENT Chadian President Idriss Deby is well ahead of the other candidates and will be elected in the first round, his party, the Salvation Patriotic Movement and its allies told a press conference in Ndjamena on Thursday. The party officials told journalists that Deby had reportely won seven of the eight districts of the capital […]
Fiona Macleod Douw Grobler, head of the Kruger National Park’s game capture unit, has been fired for the unauthorised sale of animals from the park’s disease-free buffalo breeding project. An internal disciplinary committee found Grobler guilty of nine charges of misconduct, five of which constituted dismissable offences. Grobler, a vet with an international reputation for […]
Paul Kirk The vice-chancellor of the University of Durban Westville (UDW), Dr Mapule Ramashala, is hanging tough, refusing to resign or retire despite a motion of no confidence lodged against her and a mass exodus of academics. This week UDW lost two more senior academics, Professors John Daniel and Adam Habib, who are both world-renowned […]
Marianne Merten Cape Judge President John Hlope denied this week that the administration of justice had been brought to a standstill by an alleged gang leader. On Wednesday two high-profile People against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) trials were postponed in the Cape High Court when 2 000 supporters of alleged Cape Flats millionaire crime kingpin […]
Letters to the best man Chez Uhuru 228 Musgrave Road iThekwini To:Dr Essop Pahad The Presidency Union Buildings Tshwane Dear Dr Pahad, In recent months I have been plagued by guilt, without being able to identify the source. Every time I have seen our leader on television, heard his inimitable voice on radio, or read […]
Sasha Gear ‘I don’t know if you’ve seen Yizo Yizo?” asks Morris (not his real name), a recently released former prisoner who has spent close to three decades in South African prisons. He is explaining how inmates can tell which of the newcomers have been coerced into “Cape Town”. “Cape Town” is a term used […]
SA diamond giant De Beers said on Thursday it had suspended all activities in Angola due to a dispute with the Luanda government over its contracts and legal rights in the country. In a statement De Beers said it had “reluctantly” decided to discontinue operations because of a decree by the Angolan government to override […]
David Beresford Another Country There seems to be growing excitement in the world’s laboratories over the success scientists are having in repairing and even enhancing memory in rats and mice, in anticipation of replicating the feat on humans. One’s thoughts on reading such reports must be much the same as would have passed through the […]
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni A top-level scientific investigation has been launched to detect the possibility of a volcanic eruption at a tiny village near Thohoyandou, Northern Province. The probe, being conducted by a team of six scientists, was started two weeks ago after communities from Siloam in the Nzhelele district reported land deformations and mudslides. […]
Can Ginwala, the politician, be accountable to both the ANC and Parliament? Barry Streek The problem facing the increasingly beleaguered Speaker of the National Assembly, Frene Ginwala, is that she is wearing too many political hats. She is a committed and long-standing member of the majority party in Parliament, an elected member of its national […]
Under the watchful eye of the local chief, three sectors of society have joined forces to improve the lives of residents of a North West village Roshila Pillay Anna Moyo is harvesting spinach. It’s a scorching day, which makes her task a laborious one. The spinach she harvests sells for a mere 60c a kilogram […]
ANGOLAN rebels killed 17 people in two ambushes in the centre and south of the country, the Roman Catholic radio station Ecclesia reported on Wednesday. Ten passengers were shot dead when men said to be members of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) attacked a lorry at Cacuso in the northern […]
Former South African president Nelson Mandela has arrived in Sharjah for a visit of several days to the United Arab Emirates.
Nawaal Deane In a scenario disturbingly reminiscent of apartheid policing, Andrew Taylor claims two policemen tortured him on Tuesday in Northam in the Northern Province. They dropped all charges and released him the next day. Taylor claims two policemen from the Pretoria murder and robbery unit took him to a private game farm outside Pretoria, […]
A former military officer under the apartheid regime, disabled and shunned by the very system he chose to serve, has not let the curve ball thrown to him by fate stop him from fulfilling his dreams Khadija Magardie It is rare that childhood dreams of becoming a ballerina or a fighter jet pilot are sustained […]
By Mboniso Sigonyela The latest Edgars consolidated store results could be the first indication that the cellular phone market, which has been a major revenue driver for retailers, has reached its peak. Edcon, the first retailer to stock cellphones, reports a 14% year-on-year decline in cellphone sales from its United retail chain. United retail is […]
At first glance, the public hearings on the arms deal, due to start in Pretoria next week, appear to be a good thing. The government will be bringing into the open one of the most damaging sagas since 1994. And the public will be given an opportunity to judge for themselves why and how improperly […]
Robert Kirby CHANNELVISION Two of the BBC’s best comedies are showing currently on BBC Prime. The first is Yes, Prime Minister, the follow-up to Yes, Minister, the comedy series about British minister of administrative affairs Jim Hacker’s career. He is now prime minister, followed closely into office by the impeccably hypocritical Sir Humphrey Appleby, now […]
Jane Rosenthal Trekking to Teema by Pieter-Dirk Uys (comPress/Book) In this very readable novel, now in actual book form after an Internet debut, Pieter-Dirk Uys manages to be both richly entertaining and rather serious. Written from the heart, it is often tongue-in-cheek, an unpretentious but well-told tale. It concerns one Dawid de Lange who, having […]