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/ 22 December 2006
Imagine it’s the year 2010 and a United States tourist with an adventurous streak goes journeying through the South African countryside. Finding himself lost in the rural Free State, Sesotho is the only language he hears being spoken for miles. Disoriented and confused, he could try to sign and signal his way out of oblivion; or he could use his cellphone to learn a foreign language.
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/ 20 December 2006
”By heading out into the harshest environment known to man, all alone, equipped with yourself and whatever you remembered to pack, is a sure way to find out just what you are made of and what you are capable of,” Ray Chaplin writes on his website 3poles.co.za
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/ 18 December 2006
Sitting in the sunlit dining room of her friend’s house, 55-year-old Fazila* removes her spectacles, wiping a tear from her left cheek. ”I’m sorry,” she says, apologising for her break in composure, ”it’s hard to talk about this.” Fazila, a Muslim mother and first wife of her husband Aziz*, has lived in a polygamous marriage for almost 30 years.
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/ 8 December 2006
”Always Cary a gun, apply for one or do your thing, for any small mistake from a white terrorist handle him with full aggressiveness and brutal force if necessary,” writes an anonymous user, verbatim, on a South African online discussion forum, referring to himself as ”a regular brother with war credential”.
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/ 30 November 2006
Zackie Achmat, chairperson of the TAC and South Africa’s most famous purveyor of the slogan ”HIV-positive”, has been an activist for 30 years.
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/ 27 November 2006
"In the past you’ve watched soccer … Now experience it!" Words flash across a cellphone screen, introducing viewers to the "soccer experience". Shaky footage shows amateur players passing the ball between themselves. Quick-moving shots capture sky, grass, players and legs — all in head-spinning motion.
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/ 16 November 2006
The Department of Correctional Services plans to keep prisoners from escaping over the festive season by involving them in so-called "offender escapism". "Operation Vala" will see the tightening of security measures in prisons while channelling inmates’ attention towards recreational and sporting activities.
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/ 15 November 2006
"With a little bit of vision, a little bit of money, something new is beginning to emerge [in the inner city]," said Lael Bethlehem, the chief executive officer of the Johannesburg Development Agency, at Constitution Hill on Monday. Constitution Hill is located at the edge of Hillbrow, one of the most derelict areas in central Johannesburg.
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/ 8 November 2006
On Saturday, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) will celebrate a decade of what it calls improved relations with South African workers and employers. Nerine Kahn, director of the CCMA, calls the organisation a ”worldwide model of success” in terms of what has been achieved since its initial inception.
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/ 7 November 2006
A pamphlet stuck on a wall in Fordsburg advertising the healer ”Dr Ismael … from the Spiritual Mountain Kumi” offers solutions to a range of problems, from removing bad luck and making one likeable at work to providing muti if one is ”weak in sex” and helping ”women who can’t produce”. Read part two of the Mail & Guardian Online‘s report on traditional healers.