Wally Mbhele and Wonder Hlongwa The Truth and Reconciliation Commission may subpoena Inkatha Freedom Party leader Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi to cross-examine him on the IFP’s links with the apartheid government. Officials of the commission confirmed that Buthelezi would be questioned on the basis of the “Walter Felgate archives” — documents handed by his former confidant […]

Johannesburg’s night A Johannesburger through and through, Mark Varder has realised, after a hijacking, that his city is the near-death experience I am sitting on a green vinyl chair on the second floor of the Bramley Police Station. It is 7.30am. The man across the room is about to speak on the phone. “Hell-o-o-o-oh,” he […]

South Africa has suffered a number of government scandals since liberation: Sarafina II,the Mpumalanga housing scam, Baleka Kgositsile’s driving licence, the Central Energy Fund (CEF) and Emanuel Shaw II … Few of them, however, point to failure of government in quite as stark a fashion as the scandal we break in this edition of the […]

Alan Gignoux explains why 30 families prefer uneasy exile to post-apartheid South Africa `Most people are here because they thought South Africa was going to burn. I am here because it did not,” said a newcomer to South Africa’s 30-family community in Caaguazu, eastern Paraguay. “De Klerk sold out his country”; “We did not even […]

Craig Bishop `My neighbours still believe in it, but the politicians are destroying the spirit of ubuntu.” Arthritic and near-destitute, Sindiswa Frans does not think she will vote African National Congress next year. Many of the estimated 635 000 pensioners in the province who have not received their pension cheques for December and January may […]

of education Mail & Guardian reporter More popular and less pie-in-the-sky. Thats what The Teachers new editor Philippa Garson has set out to do with the publication she took over last month. Readers may not notice the subtle redesign, but the new columns and features tailor- made for teachers cannot go unnoticed. A Day in […]

Stefaans Brummer and Mungo Soggot Documents in the possession of the Mail & Guardian show that the deputy president of the Constitutional Court accused Mathole Motshekga, the man who is to be sworn in as Gauteng premier on Monday, of fraudulently administering international donor money. These, or similar, allegations have been known to senior African […]

Ferial Haffajee Gender commissioner and renowned Muslim cleric Faried Esack has been given state protection after a series of death threats from the supporters of the renegade community station Radio Islam. Members of VIP protection services provide 24-hour security to the man who serves as acting head of the Commission for Gender Equality. “I have […]

Anthony Kunda in Lusaka The detention of former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda in connection with the botched military putsch of October 28 last year has brought frustrating privations for journalists. The government has not introduced any new legislation to restrict the media. But the police seem to have become paranoid, especially about journalists from independent […]

Peter Makurube When you hear Philip Tabane play guitar you know you are in the presence of greatness. Tabane is the spiritual and creative force behind Malombo, a band that is a national institution or would be if South Africa cared much about original music. This weekend, those who do care will once again have […]