Emeka Nwandiko With a sharp intake of breath, followed by an oath, Aubrey flicks his left wrist and casts to the concrete floor a pair of dice. A three and four is scored, notching up his winnings to R50. He is all smiles: considering that when he began the game of ama dice he had […]
The Time of the Writer festival was recently held at Natal University. South African author Farida Karodia was there Monday In the afternoon Nigeria’s Nobel winner Wole Soyinka, British author Barbara Trapido, Zimbabwean Yvonne Vera and Breyten Breytenbach, there since Sunday, drift into the lounge. Some of the writers on the programme have not turned […]
Hunadi Mateme: RIGHT TO REPLY Your article, “MEC ‘has blood on her hands’” (February 27 to March 5) has not done anything to assist the public in understanding the action of my department. Your reporter claims that this mentally ill person set fire to himself and his home because his pension was suspended. We could […]
Deborah Toler: A SECOND LOOK When Theodore Roosevelt visited sub-Saharan Africa in 1909, after he had already stepped down as United States president, he took an elephant gun and a team of taxidermists and brought home 512 animal specimens for the Smithsonian Institute. When President Bill Clinton – the first USpresident to visit this region […]
Ferial Haffajee SABC chief executive Zwelakhe Sisulu made a rapid about-turn at the weekend when he accepted a top-notch job at New Africa Investments Limited (Nail) instead of a very senior post at Independent Newspapers. It appears that Sisulu finally made up his mind about a new job at the weekend and made rushed attempts […]
Mzilikazi wa Afrika The Department of Justice has enlisted two of South Africa’s top special investigation teams to probe a well-organised national crime syndicate which has defrauded the department of more than R30-million over the past three years. Confidential information leaked to the Mail & Guardian shows that 23 government officials, including police officers, court […]
Andrew Muchineripi: Soccer His French accent was thicker than coarse-cut breakfast marmalade, but the message spelt out by new Bafana Bafana coach Philippe Troussier at his first media conference this week was crystal clear. The White Witchdoctor believed the national team had great potential and would not provide cannon fodder for Group C opponents France […]
Marion Edmunds Former Denel chief executive Johan Alberts walked away from the arms parastatal with a whopping R18-million in pension and restraint-of-trade payments, according to a senior government source. Minister of Public Enterprises Stella Sicgau is sitting on an explosive forensic audit that exposes how Alberts and other top managers at Denel paid themselves huge […]
Ann Eveleth Government lawyers this week secured their first victory in a series of legal battles over the fate of three allies of the late Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Johannesburg High Court Judge Meyer Joffe on Tuesday rejected a bid by Mobutu’s former national police commander, General Kpama Baramoto, defence minister Mudima Mavua and […]
Caroline Sullivan: CD of the week It was clear after the sexcentricity of Madonna’s last studio LPs, Erotica and Bedtime Stories, that the next would have to be markedly different – and Ray Of Light (WEA) certainly is. She’s done what superstars at a crossroads do – found religion. She’s been studying the Kabbalah and […]