We evaluate the peformances of South Africa’s ministers over the past year Keeping score: What the marks mean A –Brilliant. On top of the job, innovative, delivering. Vote yourself a salary increase. B — Very good. Could do better. C — Average. Needs quite a lot of brushing up. D — Mediocre. Not up to […]

EXCLUSIVE BOOKS 1 What it Really Takes to be World Class by Clem Sunter (Human & Rousseau/Tafelberg) 2 Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt (Flamingo) 3 Madams Are from Mars, Maids Are from Venus by Francis, Dugmore and Rico (Penguin) 4 John Platter’s Guide to South African Wines 1998 =0B(John Platter) 5 Hansie and the Boys […]

TUESDAY 1.30PM: FORMER Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda returned home on Sunday for the first time since a failed coup in October against his successor President Frederick Chiluba. Kaunda office said on Monday that he returned by road from neighboring Zimbabwe after a two-month lecture tour that also took him to Britain, the United States, India […]

Summer poems for the beloveds 1 husband man with rampant tongue hold me and hear my heart howl with lust flaying my skirt to the thigh as I ride out on your voice man who holds me as if embracing womb I am with young by you my abdomen lows its fertility in this festive […]

The autobiographical stories in Deliver Us from Evil by Johnny Masilela focus on a rural upbringing. In this tale, young Johannes meets someone exciting on a train, but embarrassment follows My heart is filled with joy, for you have finally seen the light. You say in your letter he’d rather come and stay with me […]

How clued up are you on the highs and lows of 1997? Exercise your memory with this brain-teaser 1 South African arms were found in at least three African hot-spots this year. Which countries were they? 2 Which South African city is leading the pack of candidates as the future site of Parliament? 3 A […]

The Electronic Mail & Guardian, the daily online sister to the print edition, won a Loerie design award for best Internet news site, beating almost 100 rivals. eM&G editor Irwin Manoim became the first journalist in the history of the Loeries to win the advertising industry’s most prestigious award. Antjie Krog was the joint recipient […]

extinction William Makgoba Comment Eighty-five years of struggle, pain and experience have weaved a solid movement whose traditions, values and culture are unparalleled and rooted within the grassroots. The African National Congress as both a liberation movement and political party has refined its own complexity with African simplicity to produce a transformation machinery whose vision […]

Emanuel Shaw II may be the king of sleaze, but South Africa is not without its own homegrown sleazeballs, writes Mungo Soggot While discussing Liberian politician Emanuel Shaw II’s spectacularly corrupt track record in the West African country, a Liberian journalist based in Washington told the Mail & Guardian last month: “You must watch out. […]

TUESDAY, 5.30PM: FESTIVE cheer seemed to help recharge the JSE on Tuesday, where the gold index climbed another 19,2 points to 810,9 thanks to the advancing international bullion price. Gold shares have climbed 45,3 points since Friday’s close. The gold price reached $292,55 in London, with some dealers predicting that it could reach $300 before […]