Graeme Bloch crossfire When a commentator and participant of John Saul’s authority expresses his critical views in the Mail & Guardian, June 23 to 29, it is important to sit up and take notice. When these hinge on a pessimistic appraisal of the outlook for the poor and working class in South Africa, the issues […]
THE UN Security Council has approved a resolution banning trade in diamonds mined from rebel-held areas of Sierra Leone. Diamonds are the main source of revenue for the Revolutionary United Front, which had taken 500 UN peacekeepers hostage in May. Resolution 1306, proposed by Britain, passed with 14 votes and one abstention from Mali. Exempted […]
Howard Barrell over a barrel By a stroke of good fortune, a conference on opposition in South Africa that had been planned for many months opened last week just four days after the formation of the Democratic Alliance (DA). It also coincided with Robert Mugabe’s attempts to digest the outcome of Zimbabwe’s general election. About […]
Gavin Foster MOTORCYCLING Five-time world motorcycle champion Joey Dunlop was killed during an international race at Tallinn in Estonia last week. The 48-year-old Dunlop died instantly when he slid off the rain-drenched track and hit a tree while leading during the second lap of the 125cc race on his works Honda. Dunlop was untouchable on […]
Matlou, Connie Selebogo, Barry Streek and Evidence wa ka Ngobeni After having tracked down the whereabouts of prominent apartheid torturers enjoying life after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the Mail & Guardian went in search of the former regime’s quislings. They were apartheid’s puppets – the people who ran the nominally independent, corrupt homelands […]
multiparty democracy Ebrahim Harvey left field The increasing convergence between the ruling African National Congress and the state, similar to National Party rule before, represents dangers for our infant and fragile democracy. This is so in spite of the fact that white racist rule is gone and we have had a non-racial democracy since 1994. […]
Peter Dickson With most of the land still in private hands and R40-million spent on the development model for the Coega industrial development zone, Portnet and the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) are using a worldwide study tour for a costly, last- minute rethink on the Eastern Cape’s “economic miracle”. Meanwhile, back home, South Africa’s leading […]
Merryman Kunene The resignation of Clemens Westerhof as Zimbabwe coach has by design or accident disrupted the country’s preparation for the World Cup qualifier against South Africa. That’s not to say caretaker coach Meshack Marimo is not up to the task. Problems for the Warriors go deeper than just replacing a temperamental coach. That’s the […]
GERMANY stands accused of allegedly using under-hand tactics to secure hosting the 2006 Soccer World Cup. Fifa president Sepp Blatter has admitted he knew of the letters some members of Fifa received from the secretary of the German bid team, but had not reported the matter to the police. Blatter was responding to allegations by […]
Taban lo Liyong In the February 4 issue of the science journal Nature it is reported that HIV probably originated from chimpanzees and that the virus was transferred from these primates to humans. Chimpanzees in Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea are supposedly the culprits. But if HIV originated from chimpanzees, how was it transferred to […]