Urban legends, made in the US of A, have a uniquely South African flavour, writes Arthur Goldstuck After the 1994 elections, South Africa began to resemble most other countries in the world of urban legends. In other words, people stopped believing everything they heard. Of course, that meant they could still believe half of everything […]

1 PW Botha 2 Philippe Troussier 3 Gauteng’s provincial Premier Mathole Motshekga 4 Renamo 5 The Northern Cape’s Manne Dipico 6 Hlengiwe Mkhize 7 Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats 8 Moeneeb “Bowtie” Abrahams and Leonard “Chippie” Archilles of the Hard Livings gang, Jackie Lonte of the Americans, Ismael April of the Mongrels, to name […]

Peace and goodwill to all – it is the message of Christmas that inspires people of every religion. But there has been fighting this month in Bethlehem on the West Bank, the cradle of Christianity. Mail & Guardian correspondents fanned out from Namibia to Jamaica, from Wales to the Free State, to discover the spirit […]

MICHAEL METELITS, Johannesburg | Wednesday 4.30pm. SLIGHT gains on most JSE indices were offset by massive losses on the all gold composite, while the rand and bonds were steady or up on Wednesday. The day was marked by light trading and overshadowed by International Monetary Fund’s declining fears of global recession. The international lender indicated […]

Do anthems wear out their appeal and need replacing to suit new conditions? James Ambrose Brown examines South Africa’s three anthems that tell the tale of the century For the English it was God Save the Queen, and Land of Hope and Glory. For the Afrikaners it was Die Stem van Suid Afrika. For the […]

knowledgeable you really are How clued up are you on the highs and lows, ins and outs of 1998? Test your skills with this brain-teaser 1 President Nelson Mandela made a special concession to pay the lawyers of an infamous politician more than double the going rate to prepare for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission […]

Patricia Whitelock Perhaps it’s because we have 10 fingers and work on a decimal system that numbers and intervals of time like 10 and decade, 100 and century or 1 000 and millennium seem to have such significance. This probably explains the interest in the beginning of the new millennium, but not the controversy associated […]

Wally Mbhele interviews the Mail & Guardian’s newsmaker of the year, Robert McBride On a cold morning on April 9, South Africans woke up to what was to become one of the biggest thrillers of the year: the arrest of a senior government official in a foreign country. The official was none other than the […]

Free State Matthew Krouse Some feelings cannot be explained, they just have to be absorbed. For a Jew, like me, to meander through a small town in quest of the Christmas spirit on a sweltering Sunday feels quite odd. Even if the town is called Bethlehem, and the Sunday happens to be five days before […]

At the age of 102, Sholipi Mbutu has outlived all but one of her children, writes Swapna Prabhakaran Not many people remember Sholipi Mbutu’s name. At 102, she’s been an old woman for so long, everyone calls her Gogo. Mbutu lives with her daughter in a tiny house 40km from the coastal town of Kwambonambi, […]