Sarah Ruden suggests South Africans consider the American experience with defence spending. When Pres Eisenhower left office he warned against the military-industrial complex he had been unable to tame. Time has shown his fears were justified.

We respond to criticism from Dr Mangosuthu Buthelezi (carried on nose37’s letters page) of our article on the recent biography of Laurens van der Post - Storyteller: The Secret Lives of Laurens van der Post.

The NIMSS report reveals that in a single year, 2000, more South Africans died unnatural deaths than the total number of US casualties during the 12-year Vietnam war.

I was only trying to help my old pal of twenty-five years, says the Archangel Christo Wiese. Aikona, he was trying to greenmail me, says an angry Johann Rupert.

ANC politics and business can still be divided roughly into two opposing camps.

A wealth of interesting material emerged from evidence to Selby Baqwa’s bumbling arms-deal hearings by Richard Young and Rear Admiral Johnny Kamerman.

Whetstone was a listed company with an exciting portfolio of products - including a patent that experts said could be worth billions. But then, it appears, Craig Delport, attorney to the founder and director Simon Ferguson, hatched a bizarre plot to take over the company, a scheme which entailed destroying Ferguson’s reputation and seizing his shares.

Themba Pasiwe, Nafcoc’s national treasurer, has been trying unsuccessfully, since his election in August last year, to get his hands on the books. He has seen some bank statements however, that reflect unsettling transactions, including a huge transfer from Sacob, the white chamber of business with which Nafcoc is in delicate negotiations.