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http://www.suntimes.co.za/suntimesarchive/1998/11/08/insight/in09.htm
Some oily truths about the Congo
ONE of the explanations for why Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and Angola's
President Eduardo dos Santos are so committed to fighting for the Congo's
Laurent Kabila has intrigued Hogarth.
The story goes that, in exchange for providing troops, weapons and moral support to the shy statesman, Bob and Ed have got themselves some rather nice oil and mineral concessions. Apparently, the reason the terrible two are reluctant to pull out is that they fear the rebels are the kind of unprincipled fellows who will not honour the concessions if they take power.
So, they say, the real peace negotiations are going on behind the scenes about how to assure Bob and Ed of their wealth and keep the rebels from feeling cheated. And to think that we have believed all along that they were in it because they believe in democracy.
It just wasn't cricket
THE on-off Windies cricket tour reminds Hogarth of the non-racial Aurora Cricket Club of Maritzburg in the '70s.
In an effort to shut the club down, Piet Koornhof, then minister of sport, issued a Group Areas Act proclamation saying it was an offence for a "disqualified person" to spend "a substantial amount of time" in a group area.
Judge John Didcott was approached by the club for help. Speaking at Didcott's
memorial service this week, old friend Halton Cheadle recalled the legal advice
Didcott gave: batsmen who hit a century exposed themselves to possible
prosecution; those out for a duck would be safe. The successful litigation
strategy, he said, would be to bowl brilliantly, bat badly - and not to stay for
tea.
Soviet link to blast
CAPE Town's detective squad, not known for its prosecutorial vigour, appears to have finally made a breakthrough on the Planet Hollywood bombing.
Detectives are reported to have evidence that the bomb was wrapped in "a Soviet -label blue diagonal check winter garment".
How times have changed. The bomb appears to have been linked to the Soviet designer clothing label and not the Soviet Union, as used to be the habit.
Very clever, Trevor
JUST before the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill was passed by Parliament this week, Speaker Frene Ginwala asked that the bells be rung for five minutes to summon MPs to the chamber for the final vote.
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel showed that he still has his sense of humour, rising to ask Ginwala if she minded if MPs used the time for a smoke break. Several MPs then adjourned to the foyer for a historic last smoke in the country's most public place.
Ronnie in the clear
AS BLOOPERS go, last week's mistake by the Star newspaper ranks highly. It published a picture of Deputy Defence Minister Ronnie Kasrils as one of those named by the truth commission as villains of the apartheid era.
In fact, as Hogarth has personally verified, Kasrils' name is not mentioned once in any finding in the entire 8kg report. It pays to check your facts before you demonize.
THERE are those who'd argue that a cigarette packet's no good for anything these days, especially now that it's cluttered with health warnings. But Eugene Terre Blanche will prove them wrong.
The fiery AWB leader - now Mamparadom's first poet laureate - often pens his thoughts on the back of a Lexington pack. And sensitive thoughts they are, too! So much so that they have been collected in verse form and released on a CD, on which Terre Blanche himself recites. Says our Eugene of his poems: "I write about nature, about the wind in August. I wanted to write down my words to relive my short stay on the great, grey vast land."
Terre Blanche, who modestly compares his work to that of the poets Eugene Marais and Toon van der Heever, has now threatened to make this a regular habit. "If the muse inspires me, I will write," he says. "But in the meanwhile the political demons won't let me be."
And long may that continue. The wind in August is one thing, but the wind from the Bard of Ventersdorp? We don't think so.