Robert Kirby : Loose cannon Granthurst High Security Pre-Release Cellblock North Hampshire January 19 1998 My dear Mr Mandela I have heard that you might well be soon looking for a new political heavy to run one of your richer provinces into the ground. One of your UK talent scouts advised me to apply to […]

Angella Johnson Mouths gaping in shock, Bongani Ngubeni and Mpho Lebese stared at their faces on the front page of the newspaper. “Missing children: Muti-killings of 13 children feared”, screamed the headline. The boys, who live within metres of each other, were idly playing in the street, unaware that a massive police hunt had been […]

Lesley : Cowling Material While the country is warming up to the Year of Science and Technology, the science councils are still in the dark about their funding from the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology. Representatives of the councils, charged with organising certain “thrust” areas, say the funding allocations for their projects have […]

Paul Verhoeven took a tumble with Showgirls, but bounces back with Starship Troopers — a gore-fest full of battles with giant bugs. Phil Daoust met the controversial director. You’re a big-budget Hollywood director who was once known as a bit of an auteur. You work with Arnie, Sharon and Rutger but are getting sick of […]

Mail & Guardian reporter The South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) begins its launch conference outside Johannesburg today with the finger of President Nelson Mandela wagging over it. At the ANC’s conference in December, Mandela accused black editors of being the hand-maidens of white owners and newspapers in the main of a lack of balanced […]

curious tale of three schools Bengu’s school falls on hard times Andy Duffy The school Minister of Education Sibusiso Bengu established and ran before he went into politics has been hit by funding cuts, forcing it to close its doors to hundreds of schoolchildren. The KwaZulu-Natal provincial education department has told Dlangezwa High School that […]

Bongani Siqoko: Soccer When the new national soccer team caretaker coach Matsilele Jomo Sono named his squad for the Confederation of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup match against Namibia in Windhoek on Friday, one player whose call-up was long overdue is Mamelodi Sundowns defender Themba Mnguni. Mnguni has been awaiting the call-up since the […]

Janine Stephen ‘I tell you what,” said local resident Jean George in a hushed tone, “that American lady was half bare.” Nominated for the 1997 Adult Video awards’ Best Group Sex Scene and Best Female Performer of the Year, United States porn star Christi Lake brought reporters flocking to Parow Industria on the dusty outskirts […]

Ann Eveleth A South African parachute manufacturer has threatened an irate consumer with extortion charges after the skydiver demanded his money back for faulty equipment that could have cost him his life. The Durban-based Chute Shop told Witbank skydiver Paul Ikin it would lay a criminal charge against him if he persisted with his threats […]

Fay Weldon explains why she believes that feminism has gone too far in the Nineties Perhaps feminism goes too far? Perhaps the pendulum has stuck and needs nudging back to a more moderate position? Our young men, it seems, are in a sorry state: under- achieving in educational matters, if we are to believe a […]