Janet Smith A trample of running girls, sandals unbuttoned and skirts pleated around them, grin and point at the silver and blue machine. They’re caught in its shimmering breeze as they stop at the fence, put their hands to their brows and start chattering like birds. The firemen laugh lazily together at the corner of […]
Jack Schofield tries his hand at palm reading to assess the likely winners and losers in a cut-throat hand-held computer market After a shaky start, pen-based computing is booming, led by the success of 3Com’s PalmPilot – an electronic organiser that fits into a shirt pocket or handbag – and competition is hotting up. Psion […]
Caroline Sullivan Even after their four million-selling debut, Garbage’s second album was never going to rouse panting anticipation. The reason is neatly encapsulated in the understated title, Version 2.0. Derived from computer software, it mumbles “very dull”. In spite of the presence of Nirvana producer Butch Vig (drums, effects) and the pin-sharp Shirley Manson (vocals), […]
of relapse hard to detect Andy Duffy Staff at the Valkenberg forensic security unit are busy retracing their steps to see what, if anything, could have been done to prevent the killing of seven people by former state psychiatric patients. There are common threads. Each patient, despite their usually violent history, seemed to have responded […]
FRIDAY, 6.30PM: A MARKINOR poll released on Friday has revealed that the Democratic Party, Inkatha Freedom Party and United Democratic Movement stand neck-and-neck behind a declining National Party in their current levels of support. The United Democratic Movement is the only party with the potential to usurp the National Party as official opposition to the […]
Phillip Kakaza It wasn’t too long ago that Zolani Mkhiva, an imbongi or praise singer, became Imbongi ye Sizwe -Ethe Poet of the Nation – when he took the podium and sang the praises of Nelson Mandela at his inauguration. Four years later, after protracted negotiations with recording companies, he has graced the nation with […]
Stefaans Brmmer Mathole Motshekga this week denied he was close to apartheid-era military intelligence frontman Abel Rudman – but the Mail & Guardian has documentary evidence of a meeting at the Gauteng premier’s house where shareholding in a resort development was discussed. The M&G published details a fortnight ago of Motshekga’s involvement in a series […]
TRANSFER by Ingrid de Kok (Snailpress R42,50) One can only celebrate this triumph of delicate bleakness: One by one the small refusals add up to a life. Or this rich characterisation of complex love: Mouthing under water wetly jewelled words we are acrobatic aquanauts in a chest of swords. The first half of the book […]
Wally Lambert If you’re thinking about trying your hand at the stock-market game – we’re not talking unit trusts here – you’ll be pleased to know it’s getting easier and cheaper for the man in the street to buy shares. Unlike shopping for bread in the supermarket, buying shares on the stock exchange requires the […]
A US-linked consultant offered to advise on the premier’s security, writes Stefaans Brmmer A private security adviser this year made a bizarre proposal to spy on be- half of Gauteng Premier Mathole Motshekga. The Mail & Guardian is in possession of a draft contract between the premier’s office and security consultant Bob Power – composed […]