Aids is the new struggle. Yet again civil society is mobilising to fill the vacuum left by government. Once more the private sector is stirring, recognising that the present situation is unsustainable. Many Aids activists are old hands who learnt their craft in the era of apartheid. But where once they fought an immoral and […]
Paul Kirk As HIV/Aids and apartheid-era town planning take their toll on cemetery space, Durban may soon have nowhere to bury its dead. “We have a problem. While old-style town planning has played a role, HIV/Aids is making the situation far worse,” says Royal Ntombela, director of cemeteries and crematoria in the Durban Metro Council. […]
Glenda Daniels crossfire Incontestably the African National Congress is the best party to rule. But last weekend’s advertisement in a Sunday newspaper highlights a potentially catastrophic weakness in the party and among its allies a propensity for dredging up phantom enemies. The full-page advertisement says the media is a platform for rightwing forces consisting, we […]
M&G reporter The Dolphinarium at Seaworld on the Durban beachfront is very popular with pre-school and primary school children. The pool arena is a site of excitement, as the kids cheer and shout at the performing aquatic mammals. Judy Mann-Lang, Seaworld education manager, says the intelligence displayed by the dolphins is the magnet that attracts […]
ALMOST 4_000 municipal workers in Mpumalanga on Wednesday marched on the South African Local Government Association (Salga) to demand a 10% wage increase. SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) demonstrators also briefly picketed Salgas regional headquarters in Nelspruit to demand a minimum wage of R2_000 for all municipal workers countrywide, in addition to an across-the-board 10% […]
Andrea Burgener food It_s a great favourite with vegetarians and the less texture-phobic, but tofu is still a much maligned ingredient, with many seeing it simply as an animal protein substitute. Understandably, viewed as an alternative to flame-grilled cattle loin, the standard flabby, white blocks of fresh, untreated tofu appear to stand no chance on […]
Paul Kirk Unfortunately for Director Henry Manzi, the newly appointed head of the Durban Metro Police, he can choose his friends but not his relatives. In the latest edition of Metro Beat, a free magazine given to Durban ratepayers, Manzi admits to having no close personal friends. He is quoted as saying: “Friends might ask […]
Nawaal Deane After a five-year suspension an inspector in the Department of Public Works in East London is being charged for allegedly defrauding the department of R450 000. But the suspension has cost the department close to R400 000 because Dennis Maart, a building inspector, is still on a full salary and it has taken […]
The making of the film was little short of a disaster. The director’s father died on the first day of the shoot. The leading lady smashed a knee and broke two ribs. A 60ft tall replica elephant was crushed on the set.
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Thursday ZIMBABWE has stopped making payments on its loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in another sign of the nation’s rapidly deteriorating economic crisis, the privately owned Financial Gazette reported on Thursday. Citing unnamed foreign and local financial officials, the business weekly said the government had stopped making payments on […]
A HOLIDAYMAKER was attacked by a three metre great white shark on East London’s Eastern Beach on Tuesday. David van Staden, 26, a South African working in New Zealand, who is on holiday in the Eastern Cape, was surfing with Natasha Bastenie when he was attacked but escaped with 10 stitches to his leg. Describing […]
SOUTH African shares opened firmer on Thursday, helped by higher bullion price and a firmer rand, dealers said. The benchmark all-share index was up 0.25% or 22.7 points to 8,948.4, helped by buying across the board, they said. “The gold price is a little bit better. Apparently a hedge is being unwound in the Australian […]
DARREN SCHUETTLER, Johannesburg | Thursday SOUTH Africa pledged on Wednesday to tighten mining safety laws as investigators probed deep inside a gold mine where 12 workers died in an underground explosion – the latest in a rash of mining disasters. “We are taking a very hard look at this situation,” Chief Inspector of Mines May […]
NAMIBIA and Mali on Monday became the first member states of the Organisation of African Union (OAU) to sign a protocol setting up a continental parliament, the OAU announced. The two countries’ ambassadors to the OAU, George Liswanso and Almaamoun Baba Lamine, signed the text at an official ceremony in Addis Ababa, where the OAU […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Thursday ZIMBABWES main opposition party lost a third legal battle Wednesday in its bid to have courts nullify the outcomes in 37 constituencies in last year’s parliamentary elections, a party representative said. The latest ruling is the third loss for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has won three cases […]
THE family of a pregnant woman who died when she fell out of a speeding ambulance early Monday morning is considering taking legal action. Refiloe Masia, 28, of Greenvalley village in Acornhoek, Northern Province, was left alone in the back of the ambulance when the back doors flew open on the way to Tintsaolo Hospital […]
A SENIOR officer at the state-owned Botswana TV (BTV) resigned on Friday in protest at what he claimed is government’s gross interference in the running of the station. Briton Chris Bishop was in charge of the pivotal news and current affairs section. “I feel that it not only renders the running of TV news impractical, […]
MOZAMBICAN President Joaquim Chissano does not intend to run for a third term in office in general elections due in 2004, state media reported on Wednesday. Chissano announced that he would not seek re-election late on Tuesday in the southern industrial city of Matola. Mozambique’s constitution limits the president to serving two consecutive five-year terms. […]
NEW Zealand Post’s international consultancy unit expressed surprise on Wednesday that its strategic management contract at the South African Post Office (SAPO) might be terminated. The Post Office’s board had asked Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri to end the strategic management contract with New Zealand Post, South Africa’s Communications ministry said in a statement on Monday. […]
THE Nigerian government has appointed a Anglo-American consortium as advisor to its state-run telecommunications firm NITEL, Nigeria’s privatisation agency said on Wednesday. “The National Council on Privatisation has approved of PricewaterhouseCoopers as privatisation adviser for the sale of 51% stake in NITEL,” representative for the Bureau of Public Enterprises Joseph Anichebe said. PricewaterhouseCoopers was one […]
He is the most explosive actor of his generation, with a professional and personal life characterised by unparalleled intensity. But having turned 40, Sean Penn has become a non-smoking family man who likes boating and riding bikes with his kids. Just don’t tell him he’s not angry any more.
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTH Africa’s main miners union on Wednesday accused the mining company Gold Fields of negligence, a day after 12 workers were killed in an underground explosion at its Beatrix gold mine. Two people were also burned, one seriously. “Management acted irresponsibly by sending workers into a precarious, potentially dangerous situation,” […]
TEN Benin nationals trafficking 11 children from their country have been intercepted in Togo and repatriated, a police source in the Beninois capital Cotonou said on Monday. The source said the 10 adults were arrested last Monday in the company of the children. He said the children were being cared for by a children’s rights […]
TWELVE miners died in an underground explosion at a gold mine in South Africa’s central Free State province on Tuesday, the Goldfields company announced. The explosion, about 850 metres below the surface, occurred at 9:30 am when 4_000 miners were underground. Two people were injured, one of whom was in a critical condition, said mine […]
A PRISONER was killed and two others were injured when inmates clashed in the Johannesburg Prison’s Medium B section on Monday morning, Gauteng correctional services representative Rob Robilliard said prison officials brought the situation under control. It was not known who killed the prisoner but it was believed to be a fellow inmate. The cause […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Luanda | Wednesday ANGOLAN rebels abducted 60 children in a fierce weekend attack on a town near the capital to use them as “political hostages”, a UN special adviser on African affairs said on Tuesday in Luanda. Ibrahim Gambari, adviser to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said: “Taking hostages for political ends is a […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday THE chief whip of South Africa’s ruling party has dug in his heels over allegations that he was given a car by a company involved in a $5.5bn arms deal, a report to parliament showed on Tuesday. Parliament’s ethics committee received a report from the registrar of MPs’ assets […]
FOUR Angolan soldiers were arrested at the weekend after they allegedly threatened to burn down villages in the Mukwe constituency in the Kavango Region, the Namibia Press Agency reported on Monday. Regional councillor for the Mukwe constituency, John Thighuru, called on villagers to report Angolan soldiers loitering and threatening people to Namibian security forces. Thighuru […]
A MAN who stabbed a woman several times and cut off her thumb is believed to have wrapped it in a bag with her faeces before taking it to a Northern Province sangoma. Police representative Inspector Moatshe Ngoepe said the man attacked Stella Gumede, 34 at around 2.30pm on Monday when she was walking back […]
A GROUP of Arab states have announced a plan to form a free-trade zone in order to be better placed to face the challenges of globalisation. The decision, contained in an official statement published after a meeting of representatives of 10 Arab-Mediterranean nations and the Palestinian Authority, expands on an earlier idea for Egypt, Morocco, […]
A WOMAN in labour and her unborn baby were killed early on Monday near Acornhoek in the Northern Province when she fell from the ambulance rushing her to hospital. Police representative Inspector Moashe Ngoepe said Refiloe Masia, 28, of Green Valley in Acornhoek, was being rushed to Tintsoale Hospital at 2am after she started contractions. […]
A WESTERN Cape police VIP protection service superintendent appeared in the Goodwood Magistrate’s Court on Monday on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, police said. Western Cape police representative Captain Jacques Wiese said Superintendent David Fortuin was arrested on Saturday night after being stopped at a roadblock in Pinelands during “Operation Beetle”, […]