Yearly Archives: 1999

The Daily Mail & Guardian, online sister to the Mail & Guardian, is again the most popular news website in South Africa, growing a quarter in three months according to the latest industry-standard figures. The DM&G rated 2,034-million page impressions per month over the second quarter of this year, making it the first news site […]

CD of the week David Bennun What, you might reasonably be entitled to ask, has the mad little bugger done this time? If the idea of the new Tricky album, Juxtapose (Island), doesn’t fill you with the same eager anticipation that it once might have, you’re not alone. Even those of us who consider him […]

Cameron Duodu Letter from the North As could be expected, the claim by the African World Reparations and Repatriation Truth Commission for $777-trillion in respect of the enslavement and colonisation of Africa has produced quite a few titters. One Nigerian wrote on the Internet: “Is this some kinda joke?” And a Ghanaian wrote: “I am […]

Q & A Buddy Wells Buddy Wells is the award-winning saxman behind the legendary Kusasa, The Truly Fully Hey ShooWow Band and Jimmy Dludlu’s C-Base Collective. He has played and recorded with jazz luminaries such as Winston Mankunku, Joe McBride and Dutch pianist Jack von Poll. His most recent gig was at the North Sea […]

In an article in last week’s Mail & Guardian, Melanie Chait was described as an SABC commissioning editor who successfully sued the SABC and was awarded three months’ salary from the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. The position she held was, in fact, general manager: programme policy, planning and co- productions. The SABC offered […]

David le Page The “wind event” which hit the Cape Flats this week probably wasn’t a tornado – but tornadoes may be hitting South Africa more frequently. Certain areas of South Africa, particularly the eastern escarpment, are already more prone to tornadoes. Tornadoes are a spin-off from the thunderstorms enjoyed by the Free State and […]

The tornado may have passed, but those left homeless are still facing a storm over housing, reports Marianne Merten Residents of the devastated Cape Flats areas of Manenberg, Surrey Estate and Guguletu are bracing themselves for a potentially long wait for new homes while politicians this week haggled over disaster relief until President Thabo Mbeki […]

Alex Dodd LANDMARKS Cast your mind back awhile to a vacant lot just south of Joubert Park and the Johannesburg Art Gallery. For about 90 years this Union Grounds site was reserved for use by the military, creating a unique situation whereby four city blocks remained essentially vacant – on the surface anyway. For a […]

John Matshikiza With the Lid Off The Lusaka accords, heralding the possibility of an end to the war in Congo, has finally been signed by the last of the several hundred different people who were supposed to sign it. It’s like that folk tale about the gang who stole a pig from someone’s yard and […]