Despite the many promises made by officials and politicians, service delivery at the Department of Home Affairs has not improved. An exercise to "clear" the backlog has begun and this will probably entail many permits being refused.

Doctor Elizabeth-Mamisa Chabula-Nxiweni, 64, is a one-woman phenomenon; she graduated top of her med-school class. Chris Bateman finds out more about this remarkable woman who conquered male prejudice to win international plaudits for her innovative clean circumcision campaign. 

Netcare, accused of pocketing millions from US President's anti-Aids grant, ended up getting 40% of the money intended for HIV patients. Today a legal battle is raging between the group and the senior manager it appointed to manage the US donor money. After nearly 12 years with Netcare, 44-year-old James Gregory is out of a job as he prepares his charge that Netcare misappropriated more than R27m of Pepfar’s grant.

Insurance giant Santam  admits investing in a firm that investigates suspicious cases – both companies share profits if claims are turned down. Stuart Woodhead, a former loss adjuster, poses some sensitive questions and at first Machiel Reyneke is rather evasive with the answers.
 

Auto & General and the real meaning of insurance. Insurance companies do all sorts of interesting things – like impose 30% rejection targets, and offer their staff bonuses for rejected claims. One trick that’s apparently popular in vehicle insurance is to reject claims where, at the time of the accident, the vehicle was being driven by someone other than the designated “regular” driver.

You may recall the illegal cigarette advertising campaign that recently came to a billboard, newspaper or radio near you, showing a man pointing a gun and the words “WARNING – The money you spend ...

When things go wrong with your Pathfinder, it appears that Nissan doesn’t want to know. Their standard line is ‘Yes, how can I help you?  Is your car under warranty?’ No. ‘Then I think you should rather contact...’

It’s all very well winning in court – but squeezing the cash out of the guilty is another matter entirely. Far be it for Noseweek to discourage readers attempting to use the legal system, but the process is demanding and even if you get a judgment in your favour, you may still find it difficult to recover anything, especially if your opponent is someone who knows how to play the game. And if the Sheriff's controlling body shows scant interest - good luck!

The historic home of the Cloete family has failed twice as a hotel – but there’s talk of a resurrection. Dudley Cloete-Hopkins says: "We're in discussions with another company as we speak and we expect the hotel to be up and running again by the summer."

Echoes of TV soapie Dallas grip the quaint coastal resort of Hermanus. Now it’s time to meet the man who some think is the real power behind the throne, a businessman by the name of Henri Lerm.

This domain has been seized by Anonymous. Greetings ... Science fiction has become reality. Crippling cyber attacks on the internet-linked facilities of  MasterCard, Visa, PayPal, Amazon and, most recently, Sony, by an underground group that calls itself, simply  “Anonymous”

Ah Dilbert, here’s the question: will they think we were good Germans?

“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a system that authorises it and a moral code that glorifies it." -- 19th Century French Liberal theorist Frederic Bastiat.

The Public Protector, Adv. Thuli Madonsela, has been making headlines across the nation. A brave woman, she has declared herself determined to fight for right and hold those in power accountable to the law and to
the public. Read her most recent report -- both the short and the long versions are just a click away -- and you will discover that she had already in August last year warned the Ministers and senior
officials of the Department of Public Works and the SA Police Service not to proceed with two, then still ending, property lease deals worth hundreds of millions, because, she told them, she had reason to believe
the leases did not comply with the law (and, in effect, amounted to a massive fraud on the public purse). They ignored her, and signed up for the deals. Which prompts the question: do they care what the Public Protector finds out, or has to say?

We have done a follow-up investigation, in the course of which we've unearthed evidence which will leave you in no doubt at all: they don't care a damn! We will be reporting in detail on our latest shocking discovery in the August issue of noseweek, out later next week. You don't dare miss it!