Without more aid nearly 300 000 people, now subsisting on leaves and roots, will starve early next year, reports David Gough from Xuddur The threat of famine hangs over war- torn southern Somalia, for the second time in six years. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says as many as 300 000 people are […]

Mungo Soggot A legal and political battle looms over the rights of South Africans suffering from asbestos-related diseases to claim compensation from British asbestos companies in United Kingdom courts. The claims promise a transformation of the lives of thousands of South African workers. But their lawsuits could be thwarted by legislation in Britain outlawing such […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 11.00am. HOME Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi had an extremely close relationship with the notorious Bureau for State Security (Boss) during a decades-long collaboration with apartheid-era security structures, according to explosive in-camera testimony presented to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This testimony “leaked to the Mail & Guardian this week” was […]

Donna Block: SHARE WORLD Just when you thought it was safe for a little dip in the world’s financial waters it appears that those sharks of Wall Street, the hedge funds, are preparing a new feeding frenzy. Hungry after a three-month absence from the international investment scene, the funds are hunting for opportunities to engorge […]

A new history of South Africa could engender controversy. Author Frank Welsh spoke to Anthony Egan The great British historian EH Carr said that a crucial way to understand history was to understand the historian. The life of Frank Welsh – businessman, banker, boatbuilder – tells us much about his book. A History of South […]

Keith Henderson Although raves have been milked dry by all and sundry out for a quick buck, an Ice party is a different animal altogether. Entertainment moguls Ice are once more stepping up to the plate with the Ice Playstation Fusion Festival on Saturday November 28 at the Nasrec Amphitheatre. Those who have experienced Ice […]

Andy Colquhoun in Dublin Rugby Imagine being lightly beaten about the body with baseball bats while running a 10km race – a race that you have to win – and you may have some idea of the mental and physical threshing machine through which the Springboks seem to have been passing every Saturday since the […]

Mail & Guardian reporters Wally Mbhele and Mungo Soggot have won the prestigious Foreign Correspondents Association Press Award for their courageous investigative journalism. Plaques honouring their achievement were presented on Thursday to the reporters by President Nelson Mandela, who was the guest of honour at the ceremony. The award was established in 1995 to recognise, […]

The once-staid centre of Pretoria is bursting with cultural life waiting to be released, writes Charl Blignaut It’s a very different Church Square that we approach on a sweltering Sunday morning – and it’s not just that the drag queen trippling on the grass is drawing more attention from the startled pigeons than from the […]

Maureen Barnes In 1996 Paarl tour guide Cathy Raymond picked up a small group of American tourists for a trip round the winelands. The visitors asked if she would take them to visit a shebeen in Mbekwene township. “I didn’t know how to find a shebeen,” said Raymond, “so I phoned Jongi Frans.” Frans, who […]