With Cyril Ramaphosa shunted from the frontline, there are deep concerns in the ANC caucus. Gaye Davis reports CYRIL Rampahosa did not jump, he was pushed. His decision to opt for a corporate position was not his first choice: he would rather have been finance minister. But he found his political options closed off as […]

Ann Eveleth probes the ANC’s threats to boycott the KwaZulu-Natal elections on May 29 Poor leadership, organisational chaos and overstretched party machinery are the real reasons behind the African National Congress’s election panic in KwaZulu-Natal. ANC sources argue that the party leadership failed to grasp the significance of conceding victory to the Inkatha Freedom Party […]

Simon Segal THE great seven-year haggling game between divergent interest groups around the establishment of a regulated bond market appears at last to be moving towards a resolution. Last week the Bond Market Association (BMA) submitted its application to the Financial Services Board (FSB) to be licensed as South Africa’s bond market exchange. The FSB […]

Visiting jazz pianist Keith Tippett explores three decades of South African connections in conversation with GWEN ANSELL ‘SERIOUS musicians have to make a choice,” says visiting UK jazz pianist Keith Tippett. “Are they going to be curators or creators?” The question is typical of the man, whose own three-decade career has spanned jazz, jazz- rock, […]

TELEVISION: Andrew Worsdale THE state of Britain’s independent TV drama took a nosedive in 1992, when Carlton Television won the franchise for the greater London area and started playing to the lowest common denominator. Class Act — SABC 3’s new Saturday night sitcom — financed by Carlton in 1994, is no exception. This 14-part series […]

There are fears that last-minute bargaining is watering down civil liberties in the new Bill of Rights, reports Marion Edmunds Kempton Park-style horse trading between the African National Congress and the National Party over the last week is sealing disputes over the Bill of Rights, prompting criticism the two parties together have retreated from the […]

Mike Loewe The most ambitious public relations stunt by a South African newspaper is degenerating into farce as two ill-prepared women climbers scramble for the top of Mount Everest. South African mountaineer Cathy O’Dowd, a Rhodes University photojournalism masters student and daughter of Anglo-American director Michael O’Dowd, will carry with her the hopes of her […]

Ann Eveleth When former Military Intelligence Sergeant Andre Cloete shifted from his rigid attention- like stand in the witness box on Tuesday morning, lifting his right arm to his face, it seemed as if he might offer an apologetic salute to the generals in the dock. The salute never materialised, but the impression of the […]

The ‘good times’ may be over for non- governmental organisations, but that doesn’t mean they should just roll over and die, argues Thandi Orleyn ON a number of occasions over the past two years, and most recently again last week, the Mail & Guardian has published articles highlighting the difficulties facing many non- governmental organisations […]

against African at UWC’ University of the Western Cape lecturers Desiree Lewis, Sean Lewis and Kole Omotoso take issue with a recent M&G article about tensions at the institution Philippa Garson’s article entitled “The big battle for ‘Bush’” (Mail & Guardian, March 1 to 7) caused a furore at the University of the Western Cape […]