Richard Calland THE consortium of management consultants hired by Parliament to investigate restructuring, at a cost of almost half a million rand, is racked by internal tensions, accusations against one partner of previous failures to deliver and the defection of a respected team member. The South African firm of Kenneth Mgqamqo & Associates joined forces […]

FINE ART: Ruth Sack SONGS and Monuments by Bongi Dhlomo is an exhibition of drawings, paintings and assemblages in which the central, recurring image is of an African headrest, standing alone and without context — as, of course, they now do in museums. Some of these paintings make it easy to think of headrests as […]

Meshack Mabogoane reports on the political and racial issues that have arisen as the African Bank closes its doors The closure of the African Bank (AB), pioneering black financial institution, has sparked off racial emotions, political heat and personal anguish. The AB has been more than just a business venture; its symbolic value — reflected […]

The troubled Limpopo River area is in trouble again — this time from the effects of herbicides used by contractors employed by the SADF, writes Stephanie Dippenaar ILLEGAL and dangerous herbicides — used by South African Defence Force contractors to control 70km of sisal fence along the Zimbabwe border — have contaminated farmers’ crops and […]

The supreme court this week heard the heart-wrenching case of a mother suing her gynaecologist for allowing her extremely ill baby to be born. Pat Sidley and Annicia Reddiar report ‘THEY placed Alexandra on my tummy after the birth. Then a sister grabbed her and quickly took her to the furthest side of the room. […]

M&G Reporter ONLY three of the country’s nine premiers passed the Mail & Guardian’s second Government Efficiency Test. The newspaper investigated whether the premiers care enough about ordinary citizens to answer their letters. After six weeks, responses to a citizen’s letter had been received only from Gauteng’s Tokyo Sexwale, the Northern Cape’s Manne Dipico and […]

Itumeleng Mosala takes issue with last week’s article by Dr Mamphela Ramphele DR MAMPHELA Ramphele (Mail & Guardian September 8 to 14) makes several serious claims that need challenging. I am a member of the Azanian People’s Organisation; in fact, an immediate ex- president, but, contrary to the opportunistic claims of Ramphele, I was not […]

Four world-renowned musicians, playing together for the first time at Arts Alive, discussed the merits of jazz with MESHACK MABOGOANE GETTING four musicians from three continents together in a Braamfontein hotel and sounding them out on a range of views is like combining a classic jam session – – in which each player improvises on […]

Philippa Garson ROSEMARY MANGOPE, daughter-in-law of former Bophuthatswana president Lucas Mangope, still reaps the benefits of her former job as executive director of the Mabana Cultural Centre in Mmabatho, even though she left the centre when she fled the homeland 18 months ago. After the homeland uprising, which toppled her father-in-law, she was suspended from […]

Marion Edmunds and Ann Eveleth The recently released hardline Inkatha Freedom Party constitution calls for a provincial army, exclusive provincial policing powers and the right to refuse intervention in the province by the South African National Defence Force. It also claims exclusive powers over all constitutional, legislative, judicial, and financial matters and paves the way […]