Phillip Kakaza If there is one African city that keeps abreast of the latest fashion trends, it is Johannesburg. And it’s not only clothes that count, but hairstyles too. The busy streets of Johannesburg have become catwalks. A stroll downtown or in Soweto is like a trip down a Parisian boulevard, with clothes and hairdos […]
Wally Mbhele The African National Congress has conceded that it is not yet “fully in charge” of crucial organs of state and has begun an internal debate on how to gain full control of the government after next year’s election. In an extraordinary document assessing the party’s first four years in governance, the ANC raises […]
Paul Brown Evolution is saving elephants in Africa by producing herds with tiny tusks or none at all – which provides no profit for poachers and thus ensures the survival of the species. The phenomenon has been noticed in all parts of Africa where hunting has been going on longest, with both trophy hunters and […]
Andy Capostagno Rugby A few weeks ago I was lamenting the fact that after a promising beginning the Currie Cup had gone a little flat. Anyone who saw Sunday’s 24-17 win for Free State over Western Province at Newlands may well have concurred. We have reached that stage of the season where results are far […]
Roger Southall Right to Reply It is precisely because of the deep respect which is widely accorded to the Mail & Guardian’s reportage that one simply has to object in the strongest possible terms to the criminally ignorant and politically irresponsible coverage of the Lesotho election by your reporter William Boot. His constant, uncritical repetition […]
Belinda Beresford Something is rotten in the state of South African business. The legacy of the old South Africa has been disrespect for the law and a culture of entitlement, and the past influences the present. Ahead of the latest round of awards to companies that do business honestly and openly, some of the seedier […]
Robert McCrum talks to his long-time friend Salman Rushdie as he emerges from the shadow of the fatwa `I didn’t expect to survive,” says Salman Rushdie. “I didn’t expect to live.” We are sitting alone in the office of anti-censorship group Article 19’s director, Frances D’Souza, in the aftermath of a sweaty press conference at […]
Ferial Haffajee The chiefs in fatigues from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) jetted into Luanda this week to talk war. They could send soldiers to provide military assistance in Angola as the SADC did in the Democratic Republic of Congo last month and in Lesotho last week. The SADC’s new role is a triumph […]
Tim Radford European scientists are to build an antimatter factory at Cern, the European nuclear research laboratory in Geneva. But even though antimatter would be the perfect fuel – 200 times more efficient than thermonuclear fusion – it may be some time before they have made enough to boldly go with Captain Kirk and Dr […]
Richard Nelsson Spending It During the Eighties a bulging Filofax was the symbol of the successful and upwardly mobile; for the Nineties the “must have” is an electronic organiser. But these “personal digital assistants” (PDAs) are much more than just hi-tech versions of their leather-bound antecedents. The latest models have not only the capacity to […]