CATEGORIES

What A Kid!

Fortunately, nosey ones, I have never been in a car accident, certainly not a fatal one – or I would not be here writing this column now, would I? However if I were to be involved in one (not fatal of course), I would want to be accompanied by this remarkable kid I happened upon in early December. For I know that with him at my side, our chance of surviving would be that much greater.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who Is Cleverest Of Us All?

Vanity awards give a veneer of erudition to fake achievers with the gall and cash to flaunt them

Shark Mystery: Where Have All The Cape's Great Whites Gone?

Is the culprit man or beast?

Property & Plagiarism

Developer Tongaat-Hulett under fire for blatantly using another firm’s plans.

Health Cheques For ‘GP'

‘Kind and loving’ con-doctor has been at it for years, while HPCSA dismissed a 2012 complaint

Changing The Game

Wits student Kamal Ramburuth-Hurt is driving a campaign to revolutionise the ‘irrelevant’ economics curriculum taught at South African universities. It’s called Rethinking Economics for Africa (Refa) – and it’s gaining traction.

A Stink About A Stink

Environmental offender given green light.

Xolobeni: An Assault By The State

The assault by the state on the community living at Xolobeni, Mbizana, in the Eastern Cape drags on as the Amadiba people are again compelled to seek the protection of the courts.

Senior Magistrate's Bigoted Songsheet

Court officer Ashin Singh sows discord among his peers

Love And Loss

Karina was his fifth bride – and the love of André Brink’s life. Now she celebrates his memory. 

Chinese Laundry

South Africa pockets R190m illegally destined for Beijing.

Tshwane After The Da Takeover - What's Changed?

We have launched programmes and mechanisms to save the City money. Chief among these are the strategic sourcing of goods, an open tender system, e-procurement systems, which are all, in one way or another, aimed at curbing leakages in the supply chain process and maladministration... Fraud cases have been instituted against corrupt officials. This is to avoid occurrences such as the notorious “shoe polish” debacle which saw millions of rand lost when goods were purchased at hugely inflated prices that otherwise could’ve been procured at wholesale rates.

Ambivalence. What's Good Is Bad

As ONE of those seriously unresolved South Africans who longs for “home”, I always promised myself that by the time I’d been in Australia half my life, I would know what I was doing.

Not Rocket Science

Road Deaths. A Data Blackout

How Nedbank Lied, And Lied, And Lied

Widow, 83, faces off bank in Jersey court.

Accidental MP

At 28, Gwen Ngwenya hadn’t intended entering politics – just yet. She’d imagined herself following some other career path first. But this year the Master’s graduate and former COO of the SA Institute of Race Relations was appointed the DA’s Head of Policy and took up a seat in Parliament. Sue Segar talks to the woman some see as a future leader of the party.​​

Beyond Patronage Politics: Where Is South Africa Going With Eskom?

Beyond Patronage Politics: Where Is South Africa Going With Eskom?

Sanlam Does Not Love Dogs

The Great Bread Bin Heist

Foschini Group offers crumbs instead of fair slice in compensation for infringement of design they deny copying.

Kindred Spirits Cross A Religious Divide

A unique friendship is developing between Dr Taj Hargey, founder of Cape Town’s Open Mosque in Wynberg, and Rabbi Greg Alexander of the Cape Town Progressive Jewish Congregation. Read on as the two religious leaders swop thoughts about each other.

Last Word - Dearie. In Rude Health

Last Word - Dearie. In Rude Health

Durban Town Planning 'captured'

THE FATE OF THE GARGANTUAN multi-millionr and luxury apartment block on Durban’s Berea that was ordered to be torn down by the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in June 2015 (nose190) still hangs in the balance. The demolition order for the part-built ninestorey structure has been taken on appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal by the developer, Serengeti Rise Industries, supported by the eThekwini Metro Council which irregularly granted permission. The Council faces a huge damages claim should the building have to be demolished.

The Big, Fat Maveric Con

Millions missing in crazy scam involving scores of victims.

Eden. Pawpaws The Size Of Rugby Balls

I HAD A LOVELY BIG GARDEN BACK THEN, narrow but long, street to street, and in there I had flora burgeon-ing so you’d imagine this was the 100% Fruit Juice rack in a supermarket: Tropical Temptation, Fruits of Paradise, Berry Blaze.

‘I first knew there was a problem in my department when I read about it in Noseweek ‘– minister

AN INQUIRY MANDATED BY THE Constitutional Court into whether Social Development minister Bathabile Dlamini should be held personally liable for legal fees in the grants crisis, turned up at least one unassailable truth: only after reading Noseweek did Dlamini realise that there was a serious problem with her department’s planning programme.

Medical Aids: Who's Scamming Whom?

Doctors and pharmacists say evidence is being fabricated to strong-arm money out of them for purported fraud.

No Sacred Cows

Analyst and researcher Gareth van Onselen is even-handed with his tongue lashings of all South Africa’s major political parties.

Was SARS Right To Establish That ‘Rogue Unit'?

SARS’s so-called rogue unit was not unlawful. That was the finding of retired judge Robert Nugent’s commission of inquiry last year. ‘While the National Strategic Intelligence Act prohibits the covert gathering of certain intelligence, that applies to intelligence concerning threats to the safety of the state, which hardly applies to intelligence relevant to collecting tax,’ reads Judge Nugent’s final report. The judge concludes: ‘I see no reason why SARS was and is not entitled to establish and operate a unit to gather intelligence on the illicit trades, even covertly, within limits.’But did Judge Nugent get it wrong? Weren’t the establishment and operations of the rogue unit specifically designed to counter the threat to the safety of the state from organised crime that was running riot and sapping countless billions of rands annually from the fiscus? And what were/are those ‘limits’ to what SARS may covertly do? We examine the conundrum.

Letter From Umjindi

55 And loving it

Le Big Bash

Why Tshepo Mahloele’s Lebashe has bought Tiso Blackstar’s media jewels.