David Beresford in Luanda Sitting on a hotel balcony, the ambassador recounted with gleaming eyes how a diamond prospector had invited him to grab a random handful of gravel from a river bed, and had then picked three precious gemstones from the palm of his hand. Below, in Luanda’s stinking, garbage-strewn streets, a street-urchin kicked […]

Karen Harverson South Africa’s first national lottery — expected to generate billions-of-rands in turnover a year — should begin operating by Minister for General Services Chris Fismer will appoint consultants before the end of February to advise on the format of the lottery as well as to make changes to the National Lottery Act to […]

High-heeled boys are Hollywood’s new rage. But, asks ERIKA MILVY, does today’s fetish for drag really mean the coming of a new LARGER than life and sashaying soon to A Theatre Near You, the drag queen is having her day. More and more, Hollywood stars are sporting high heels and hairy chests. Outrageous, outlandish and […]

The apartheid state’s most efficient killer wants his murder trial put on hold so he can tell all to the truth commission, writes Eddie Eugene de Kock is ready to talk. The former Vlakplaas commander — dubbed “Prime Evil” by former colleagues because he is reputed to be South Africa’s most effective assassin — will […]

THEATRE: David Le Page KAFKA Dances is not an attempt at dramatic history. That the character Franz Kafka is obviously based on the well-known writer is no more important than that entirely fictional characters may be born of the real experiences of those who create them. As Australian playwright Timothy Daly writes: “Better to try […]

Soccer fever has gripped much of South Africa but in Port Elizabeth the sport doesn’t rate that highly SOCCER: Andy Capostagno and Mark Lamport- PORT ELIZABETH has never seen anything like it and has been largely underwhelmed by the dubious honour of hosting Group D of the African Nations Cup. Football has been front and […]

When it comes to advertisements in magazines, women are being discriminated against by the ad industry. Surely, the time has come for equality in advertising, writes Ricardo Dunn Women’s magazine publishers believe they can’t secure advertising for products that have traditionally been thought of as “male” because of the prejudice among advertising agencies and clients. […]

Mail & Guardian Reporter There has been a shake-up at Independent Newspaper’s golden egg, Natal Newspapers. Loss-making Natal Mercury editor John Patten has suddenly taken early retirement. It is due to be announced next week that his place has been taken by David Wightman, editor of the massively profitable Sunday Tribune, which went down-market in […]

KwaZulu-Natal’s embattled monarch finds himself between a rock and a hard place as negotiations for an imbizo gather momentum, writes Ann Eveleth There are few indications that the multi-party imbizo (mass gathering of the Zulu nation) planned for KwaZulu-Natal will achieve its nominal purpose of promoting peace and reconciliation in the blood-soaked province. Strategically planned […]

Obituary:Harold Wolpe Colin Bundy “Everything I have written in these lectures underlines the importance to the intellectual of passionate engagement, risk, exposure, commitment to principles, vulnerability in debating and being involved in worldly causes.” (Edward Said, Representations of the Late last year, Harold Wolpe flew from Cape Town to deliver some lectures in Sheffield. In […]