Peter Makurube For the next two weeks, Johannesburg city will be in feelgood mode because jazz pianist Pat Matshikiza is in town. His sojourn begins on Friday night (May 28) at the Bassline and ends next weekend when he heads for Kippies in the Newtown Cultural Precinct. Hopefully, Matshikiza’s presence in the city will rejuvenate […]
Donna Block The bullion price has sunk to new 20-year lows amid heavy fund selling, and the barbarians are at the gate once again. Most analysts agree the short-term outlook for gold is decisively negative. Traders, speculators and hedge funds are taking advantage of that negative sentiment and keeping the downward pressure on the metal […]
Neil Coleman Right to Reply `It’s the economy, stupid!” This famous adage from Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign is quoted in the Mail & Guardian’s election coverage last week to correctly raise a concern about the absence of intelligent debate in our elections around core economic issues. Unfortunately, neither Howard Barrell (“Making an art of […]
Aaron Nicodemus Last week it was baboon meat; this week health authorities are warning travellers off eating bats. Bat meat is apparently being served as a delicacy in some restaurants in the Seychelles, but the British Airways Travel Clinic in Johannesburg warns tourists that eating them could be a health risk. Says Dr Andrew Jamieson, […]
Tara Turkington Northern Cape Premier Manne Dipico is confident he will be back in his office the week after next. At 40, the country’s youngest premier is charming in a down-to-earth and engaging way. “Take me as Manne, man,” he says with a flick of his wrist, “I’m just Manne.” Dipico stayed the five-year distance […]
Kate Wilson It used to be that food was only considered authentically African when consumed in a boma with 40 American tourists suitably appalled at the prospect of dining on the kudu they’d gleefully photographed on the game drive an hour before. South Africans’ first experience of the West African staple, Jollof rice, was probably […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kampala | Friday 11.20am SOME 40 Libyan soldiers have flown into Uganda — uninvited — in a “premature” bid to impose peace in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, a Ugandan minister said on Friday. The Libyan foreign ministry announced on Thursday that “Libyan forces have arrived in Uganda to form the vanguard […]
Deon Potgieter Boxing The cards will be stacked against Lehlo “Hands of Stone” Ledwaba at the Carousel, Pretoria, on Saturday night. He’ll be stepping into the ring against former World Boxing Association bantamweight world champion John Michael Johnson hoping to become the third South African this decade to hold the International Boxing Federation’s junior featherweight […]
By the time the next issue of this newspaper hits the streets our second general election will be over, Thabo Mbeki will be president-elect (as opposed to designate), the African National Congress will be the ruling party (probably with a two-thirds majority, as well as with KwaZulu-Natal) and many of our readers will no doubt […]
Haroon Bhorat One of the key dilemmas facing the government is to eradicate, or at least reduce, poverty. The first step is to understand which are the most affected groups. In the labour market there are three groups which together explain more than 80% of the poverty in South Africa. They are unemployed people, domestic […]