Rupert Neethling and eM&G reporters The time has come, the walrus said, to think of many things; of POPs and mailbox aliases, and the hassles a computer brings (with apologies to Lewis Carroll). There has been a dramatic surge of interest in the Internet in South Africa over the past few years. It is becoming […]
Andrew Worsdale Over the past month and a half or so every film-maker, writer or acquaintance I’ve run into has asked me: “Did you apply?”, “Have you heard?”, “When are they gonna tell us?” It all culminated in the words “Well I’m going to phone them … don’t you want to phone them?” It was […]
Pallo Jordan CROSSFIRE Jeff Greenfield, an American journalist, relates his grandmother’s response to the Rosenberg “atomic bomb spies” trial. As someone who had grown up in Tsarist Russia, where the framing of Jews on trumped- up charges was a byword for the authorities, Greenfield’s granny always believed that the Rosenbergs had been framed and were […]
Krisjan Lemmer The Mail & Guardian’s freelance sports writer Julian Drew, on his way to watch Bafana Bafana in Marseille last week, was a little startled to be approached by our very own Felicia Mabuza-Not-So-Subtle with an offer of two tickets for the match at the knock-down price of R1 000 each – a mark-up […]
theory Robert Kirby argues against the theory that South Africans lured Mozambican president Samora Machel to his death It is believed that between 80% and 90% of aviation accidents are due to human error. Refining the statistic a little further, it was found that out of a total of 28 000 aviation “incident reports” made […]
Tracy Murinik On show in Cape Town I’ll admit to being a little sceptical when first hearing about the exhibition Childhood. Graffiti art in the Irma Stern Museum sounded gimmicky. Well, it isn’t. In fact, the collaboration between artists Gregg Smith, Mustafa Maluka, Ice and Sky 1 got me swallowing my words instantly. They have […]
Lizeka Mda A career as a mechanical engineer may seem an impossible dream for a parking attendant. Yet Lungile Ndebele keeps the dream of studying engineering alive every day, despite indications that it is becoming distant. Every morning the 20-year-old leaves her home in Orange Farm to go to her “job” in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, where […]
In 1997 more than three people died every day in work-related accidents. Researchers at Cape Town’s Alternative Information and Development Centre ask why the figures are so high Business is delighted to bask in the publicity given to its campaigns against crime. However, it plays another role in law and order that receives (virtually) no […]
Ferial Haffajee Even for a priest, it has been an extraordinary baptism – fiery, bitter and unlike the private ceremonies the Reverend Hawu Mbatha usually presides over. His recruitment as CEOof the SABC has occasioned a nasty public spat. If this quiet man had hoped for a quiet accession, it was quickly scotched. He has […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi The South African Communist Party politburo this week failed to reconcile its young radicals and its old guard on split nominations for the party’s highly contested leadership positions. On Tuesday, the politburo failed to come up with a single name for the party’s most contested position, that of the general secretary, between the […]