The London art scene is currently caught in the web of influential French artist Louise Borgeois’s latest exhibition. Adrian Searle reports Louise Bourgeois turned 87 on Christmas Day. She could be just another batty old biddy, with her interminable reminiscences, her total recall and false memories, but for one irreducible fact: she is one of […]

The police version of the Boipatong massacre is beginning to unravel, write Mail & Guardian reporters Former Vaal policeman Sergeant Gerhardus “Pedro” Peens has admitted that he was in the Vaal Triangle township of Boipatong on the fateful night of June 17 1992 when 46 people – including women, children and a four- month-old baby […]

CLIVE WILSON, managing director of the Zimbabwe Standard newspaper was arrested on Friday. This follows the release on bail of Standard editor Mark Chavunduka and senior journalist Ray Choto on Thursday after being detained by the military for a story about an alleged coup plot against the government. More to come. 21

There’s not much to laugh about in Zimbabwe at the moment, but there is plenty of material for comedians who are pushing the limits of free expression, writes Mercedes Sayagues I want to be a Zimbabwean policeman I want to join the riot squad I wanna kill a couple of workers I know I’ll get […]

Loose cannon Robert Kirby Let me be among the last to criticise that fine fellow, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel. His is a thankless job simply because, when tossing the public coin, there are not only too many takers but all they ever do is squeal for more. Can you remember the occasion when any […]

Angella Johnson VIEW FROM A BROAD `Hey, Angella. Your homies are being slaughtered,” chirped the Mail & Guardian’s sports editor as the West Indies cricket team crashed spectacularly in the fifth Test. I detected a generous delivery of schadenfreude in his comment. He was not the only South African in recent weeks to have joyfully […]

David Atkinson Think Hong Kong. Think towering skyscrapers to rival Manhattan. Think scoffing noodles at 2am under the glare of flashing neon. Think rubbing shoulders with Filipino hookers and Triad gangland crime bosses in seedy late night drinking dens straight out of Blade Runner. Think again. Ask any Chinese-bred Hong Kong resident what image symbolises […]

David Beresford: A SECOND LOOK There is something gloriously tragic about the story of the Afrikaners’ search for a national identity and a home to call their own: the flight from the Cape, the jubilant discovery of the Nile (wrong stream, but what the heck) and their arrival in their garden of Eden, only to […]

grows Wally Mbhele As rivals in the political debacle that is engulfing Mpumalanga mounted public attacks against each other – in the wake of a probe launched by the African National Congress into the affairs of the province – more damaging reports about ANC officials’ involvement in corruption were leaked this week. Documents in possession […]

A new White Paper outlines what steps needs to be taken to ensure victims of disasters will have speedy access to emergency assistance, writes Janet Love Yet another tornado charged through the Eastern Cape this week, leaving a trail of destruction and devastation in the Mount Ayliff and Tabankulu districts. The police station, the school, […]