Wally Mbhele Winnie Madikizela-Mandela stands accused of being central to the formation and activities of the Mandela United Football Club, whose members were involved in at least 18 cold-blooded murders. In a harsh judgment on her association with the football club, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) final report said most Mandela United operations were […]

enough Guy Oliver When Nomonde Calata speaks of the defining moment of her life – the death of her husband, activist Fort Calata, in 1985 – 13 years disappear as if they had never been. The moment has not been dulled by the grand designs of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In many ways, it […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi Pressure by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has led to a decision by the African National Congress to smooth out differences with its communist and worker allies before the much-awaited Jobs Summit this week. The ANC took a strategic dive on macro-economic fundamentals and showed willingness to refocus its transformation […]

deliver democracy Mahmood Mamdani A Second Look It is widely believed the root problem of the African state is the artificial nature of its boundaries. Were these boundaries not first arbitrarily drawn up at the Berlin Conference of 1884/85 and then imposed from the outside? This bit of conventional wisdom needs to be questioned for […]

Oral poetry has always played an important role in South African culture, write Richard Bowker and Peter Makurube When President Nelson Mandela entered his birthday bash at Gallagher Estate in July, he was led in by the boy-poet Samkhelo Mcandi, waxing lyrical about Madiba’s greatness. All in impeccable Xhosa. He was following in the footsteps […]

Paul Farrely: SHARE WORLD The irony is delicious. The despair in markets the world over has just made Wall Street’s biggest optimist very, very rich indeed. Last week, Abby Joseph Cohen, cool- headed chief investment strategist at Goldman Sachs and the United States’s most influential market guru, finally claimed one of the biggest prizes on […]

Wonder Hlongwa The growth of loan sharking to a R10- billion business in South African cities has prompted the Department of Trade and Industry to intervene and regulate the business. The proposed regulations, to be published by Minister of Trade and Industry Alec Erwin later this month, will be incorporated in a revision of the […]

staff survived With its staff drawn from such diverse backgrounds, there was as much tension within the TRC as at the public hearings, writes Gaye Davis The three-year life span of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has been marked by public sensation throughout the hearings. But behind the public drama of tortured facing the […]

In his first column for Smart Money, David Gleason surveys gold and wonders why Barlow sold investment company PGM for so little Is this a good time to buy gold shares? The evidence supporting the view that gold may be on the verge of a better period (not fantastic, you understand, just modestly better than […]

Postponing sex and `zero grazing’ are just some of the ways in which Ugandans are coping with HIV/Aids, writes Mercedes Sayagues Sophia Mukasa-Monico (38) is a smart, elegant, strong-willed Ugandan lawyer. As we sip a cold drink one steamy Sunday afternoon in Kampala, she tells me a story. Seven years ago, her sister died of […]