Weekly Mail Reporter THE White Paper on Housing presented by Housing Minister Joe Slovo to the cabinet this week formalises agreements reached by bankers, the Department of Housing, community representatives, materials suppliers, builders and others at a housing summit in Botshabelo at the end of October. But there is one major change: the White Paper […]

South Africa has produced its first full-length opera — about the life of enigmatic `prophet’ Enoch Mgijima. Justin Pearce spoke to librettist Michael Williams THE old government liked opera. Or so it seemed, since they subsidised the building of opera houses and the staging of lavish performances of Verdi, Wagner and Puccini. But, for all […]

Shadley Nash: Port Elizabeth THE Cradock community, still reeling from shock at recent revelations that three Port Elizabeth civic leaders were brutally murdered by the security forces, believe the bodies may be buried at the site of their torture and murder. A privately-owned holiday farm now stands where the Pebco Three were allegedly tortured and […]

Trade and Industry Minister Trevor Manuel is pushing hard for better access for South African exports. Reg Rumney reports TRADE and Industry Minister Trevor Manuel, just returned from Brussels, says he is hopeful that South Africa will get preferential treatment for exports in terms of the Lome convention. Manuel was in Europe doing what he […]

DONNA SUMMER: Endless Summer (Casablanca) DONNA SUMMER’S fourth greatest-hits package, no less, contains little that wasn’t on the first three, but it does serve to remind why she was the undisputed queen of what was once called disco. Her voice was enormous, and was never better than when she dropped it to a Barry White-like […]

Vusi Khoza and Annie Mapoma HUMAN hands — burnt to ashes and mixed with herbal ingredients — are considered an effective anti-stroke remedy by muti men who use body parts in their practice. This is according to Johannesburg muti shop owner Kessavan Naidoo, a herbalist for 30 years and close observer of traditional healing methods. […]

fight He may be vulnerable and fragile, but Joe Slovo’s political and personal battles are not over yet, reports Phillip van Niekerk A FEW weeks ago Joe Slovo’s battle with cancer took on a very public dimension. A dramatic weight loss and sudden gaunt appearance, brought on by an unfavourable response to new medication, unleash-ed […]

Native tongue Bafana Khumalo I HATE them all. My parents, my friends, my schoolteachers and all the other scum who taught me that going to school is a two-year guarantee ticket out of the ghetto. You have gathered that this column is going to be one of those do-it-yourself psychotherapy sessions, haven’t you? “Why do […]

The high prophets of commercialisation lost the struggle for the soul of the SABC this week, reports Mark Gevisser TWO men were notably absent from the panel of five SABC big shots going face-to-face with the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) yesterday as the corporation unveiled its plans for transformation: Quentin Green and Steve Schubach. Green, […]

The relaunch of the Afrikaner Volksfront appears to be little more than a damp squib, reports Jan Taljaard THE once-influential Afrikaner Volksfront (AVF) — relaunched last weekend after its demise in the wake of the April election — has been dismissed as “the Conservative Party in disguise”. At a press conference held to launch the […]