In India, dams have displaced at least 33- million people from their homes. Arundhati Roy on the secret history of delusion and disillusion and, now, the fightback I stood on a hill and laughed out loud. I had crossed the Narmada by boat from Jalsindhi and climbed the headland on the opposite bank from where […]

Marianne Merten `I have no more tears left,” says Keith Mentor, whose three-year-old granddaughter, Chantine Veldsman, was shot in the head at point-blank range last Saturday in Mitchells Plain. The little girl clung to life at Cape Town’s Red Cross Children’s Hospital for two days. On Monday Chantine was declared brain dead and the life […]

The inauguration of Thabo Mbeki as president of South Africa this week has been characterised as the end of the Mandela era. But, while it may be a convenient description of a period of time in South African politics, the phrase is inappropriate to a larger audience which would also claim the great man as […]

Matthew Krouse Down the tube `On February 11, 1990, the eyes of the world fixed on a prison in Cape Town,” begins the narration of Mandela: The First Accused, referring to the release of the man who was once the world’s most famous political prisoner. “The man behind the name remained a mystery,” it continues. […]

shock William Keegan According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS): “A general resurgence of inflation seems less likely than further disinflation or even deflation.” This may seem a dry, even unremarkable, assertion until you consider who made it. The BIS is one of the world’s most prestigious financial institutions, the “central bankers’ bank” based […]

There’s the pink pound and the pink dollar, but do we have a rose-tinted rand to go with them? Mike Metelits looks into gay buying power Pink money is either common enough to be a stereotype, or stereotypical enough that we think it’s common. It is the perception that gays make, have, invest and spend […]

Charlene Smith President Thabo Mbeki is expected to provide an outline of his new government’s economic policy, and proposals for the implementation of an “African renaissance”, at next weekend’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Durban. The forum, according to briefing papers issued to delegates, is predicting a more flexible stance on inflation under Mbeki, more […]

African skies Satellite systems are becoming increasingly accessible and useful, writes David le Page Satellite telephony is about to hit South Africa, or at least the wallets of those wealthy enough to afford it. Iridium has signed a non-exclusive agreement with MTN. Vodacom will be offering customers access to both the Globalstar and Iridium services, […]

Jonathan Ancer talks to some of the `seditious’ students who were blamed for the 1976 Soweto riots Twenty-three years after the June 16 Soweto uprising, the “seditious” students convicted of inciting the rebellion are influential members of the new South Africa they helped to create. There’s an MP, a Department of Foreign Affairs official, a […]

Mail & Guardian reporters Kader Asmal (Education):Had remarkable success as minister of water affairs and forestry, despite the onset of enervating illness. Intelligent and hard working, he was a distinguished legal academic before returning from 27 years in exile. He was placed at number four on the African National Congress’s national election list, showing that […]