In South Africa we should perhaps have called the Y2K bug something more indigenous – Tokoloshe 2000 would be appropriate, writes Gavin Foster Remember the tokoloshe? The little man with the tail who was blamed for everything that could possibly go wrong? When the goats strayed it must have been the tokoloshe that made their […]

world Mail & Guardian reporters Apartheid: The big A, institutionalised after 1948 under the National Party government, ensured the separation of South Africans. Under this idiotic system whites, blacks, Asians and coloured people were sorted in an extraordinary array of slots. Rights and privileges were assigned on a sliding scale, with whites on top, blacks […]

Free international and local currencies may soon ride roughshod over conventional cash, suggest David Le Page and Donna Block Anyone who doesn’t cash in all his or her South African Airways (SAA)Voyager air miles by January 15 stands to lose them. Just kidding! But the sensation of panic this possibility offers gives some key insights […]

COMMISIONER of prisons Khulekani Sitole, under investigation by the attorney general for corruption and mismanagement, has announced the suspension of his alleged accuser, KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner Thandiwe Kgosidintsi. Sitole said Kgosidintsi was under investigation herself, and was engaging in a personal vendetta. Meanwhile the Correctional Services Management Board, which met yesterday to discuss the allegations […]

Paul Kirk It would have been the ultimate New Year’s party – toasting in the millennium on board a ship once billed as the largest moving object in the world. But plans to rebuild the Titanic seem to have sunk while still in shallow water. Nearly two years ago, in January 1998, CEO of the […]

When fame is an open book, Christ, Shakespeare and Lenin lead the list of icons who have inspired the world’s authors, writes Martin Kettle in Washington If fame is having a book written about you, then as the subject of no fewer than 17 239 books, Jesus Christ remains the most famous figure in the […]

Aaron Nicodemus Nostradamus, a French physician whose real name was Michel de Nostredame, was buried in a Parisian church in 1566. He wrote over 1 000 poetic prophecies for the future, and many believe half of them have come true. He allegedly predicted with nearly uncanny foresight the French Revolution, the rise and fall of […]

Marianne Merten The year started with a blast in Cape Town. On New Year’s Day 1999 a pipe bomb ripped apart a car in the V&A Waterfront parking, injuring two people, but resulting in no arrests. The year is ending with a bang – and confusion. Police and politicians sprang into action in November after […]

CONTROVERSIAL former Truth Commision investigator Dumisa Ntsebeza is one of seventeen black acting judges appointed on Tuesday by Justice Minister Dullah Omar, who said he aimed to widen the pool of potential candidates for full-time positions to “ensure that it will be possible to promote representivity at a much faster rate”. Omar’s most senior appointment […]

intelligence and depth Gavin Evans It’s in the nature of those who attract epthets like “great”, “the greatest”, and now, of course, “the greatest of the millennium”, that a large proportion of the population should at least have vivid recall of how, why, and where this exalted human being came to their vicarious attention. I […]