A degree of chaos was almost inevitable where the organisation of the 1999 elections is concerned. Its arrival is confirmed with the start of voter registration this weekend. The populace is now urged to rush out and register to vote in the district where they will be on election day. But, as election day has […]

Without more aid nearly 300 000 people, now subsisting on leaves and roots, will starve early next year, reports David Gough from Xuddur The threat of famine hangs over war- torn southern Somalia, for the second time in six years. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says as many as 300 000 people are […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 11.00am. HOME Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi had an extremely close relationship with the notorious Bureau for State Security (Boss) during a decades-long collaboration with apartheid-era security structures, according to explosive in-camera testimony presented to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This testimony “leaked to the Mail & Guardian this week” was […]

A new history of South Africa could engender controversy. Author Frank Welsh spoke to Anthony Egan The great British historian EH Carr said that a crucial way to understand history was to understand the historian. The life of Frank Welsh – businessman, banker, boatbuilder – tells us much about his book. A History of South […]

Keith Henderson Although raves have been milked dry by all and sundry out for a quick buck, an Ice party is a different animal altogether. Entertainment moguls Ice are once more stepping up to the plate with the Ice Playstation Fusion Festival on Saturday November 28 at the Nasrec Amphitheatre. Those who have experienced Ice […]

Donna Block: SHARE WORLD Just when you thought it was safe for a little dip in the world’s financial waters it appears that those sharks of Wall Street, the hedge funds, are preparing a new feeding frenzy. Hungry after a three-month absence from the international investment scene, the funds are hunting for opportunities to engorge […]

Andy Colquhoun in Dublin Rugby Imagine being lightly beaten about the body with baseball bats while running a 10km race – a race that you have to win – and you may have some idea of the mental and physical threshing machine through which the Springboks seem to have been passing every Saturday since the […]

Mail & Guardian reporters Wally Mbhele and Mungo Soggot have won the prestigious Foreign Correspondents Association Press Award for their courageous investigative journalism. Plaques honouring their achievement were presented on Thursday to the reporters by President Nelson Mandela, who was the guest of honour at the ceremony. The award was established in 1995 to recognise, […]

Cameron Duodu: LETTER FROM THE NORTH Who knows cricket who only cricket knows? This question, penned by the late West Indian writer CLR James, would not have made any sense to me when I first went to live in Britain in 1983. On previous sojourns in England, friends had tried to get me interested in […]

amnesty decision Wonder Hlongwa A man who ordered the killing of more than 50 people has been appointed a lieutenant colonel by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) – before the amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has decided whether he will be granted amnesty. The amnesty committee will only rule on […]