Nicholas Fraser: Down the tube Oprah Winfrey is Chicago’s sustaining local deity, a queen of popular consciousness whose every alteration of size or mood is avidly followed. Green signs direct proud bus drivers under the E1 to the Harpo (“it’s her name spelled backwards”) studios. You enter a marble and cream lobby, traverse a human […]

Anton Harber: Crossfire George Lai Thom was South African open and welterweight judo champion in 1965. The Sunday Times wrote that “Mr Thom is said to have done more to further judo in the republic than any other man.” He had won a title every year since 1962 and, at 24, was described as the […]

Suzy Bell Allegations have surfaced that the newly appointed deputy director general in the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Musa Xulu, has given false testimony and participated in a fraudulent substitution of documents in an attempt to prove a case of misconduct against a former colleague and teacher. Jeff Robinson, who has taught […]

Wally Mbhele Former minister of law and order Adriaan Vlok will be called to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s amnesty hearing of 10 security policemen who claim they are responsible for the chilling murder of prominent anti-apartheid activist Stanza Bopape. TRC sources this week could not confirm if Judge Louis Harms – who […]

Neve Gordon in Indiana We had just left the headquarters of Arthur Andersen, a consulting and accounting firm that employs more than 50 000 people, as I said to my friend: “The proof is in the cubicle.” In 1996, short of space, Arthur Andersen had relocated to a nicer building in downtown Chicago. Many of […]

Thabo Mbeki is an intelligent man with long experience of the press. When he complained this week that the press was failing to inform the public – pointing out that only 17% of Nelson Mandela’s Mafikeng speech had been conveyed to readers – we initially assumed he was making a joke. In the absence of […]

images Henri Cartier-Bresson’s quick eye has made him the photographer of the century, writes Liz Jobey The slender figure loping between the shadows of the trees in the Tuileries Gardens is moving so rapidly – despite the stick – that he passes through them almost invisibly, just one more vertical black line flickering among the […]

Ferial Haffajee Investigative journalists Max du Preez and Jacques Pauw have been commissioned to produce a weekly investigative programme for the SABC. “Special Assignment will carry on the tradition of TRC Special Report,” says Du Preez. His weekly programme on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and related issues has kept the probe into the country’s […]

The Mail & Guardian continued its steady growth with the latest ABC circulation figures showing a 5% year-on-year increase. The paper’s ABC figure from July to December last year was 34 144 copies, compared with 32 510 for the last six months of 1996. The paper experienced its highest sale ever over the Christmas period, […]

Mukoni T Ratshitanga and Wally Mbhele Former Brixton murder and robbery squad head Charlie Landman blew up his official vehicle in 1993 to create the false impression that he was being intimidated, the Pretoria High Court heard this week. But former Civil Co-operation Bureau operative Ferdi Barnard is facing the music alone for the blast, […]