Dawood Dithato International tributes poured in this week for President Ketumile Masire of Botswana, who resigned this week before his term of office ended. After 18 years as head of state, Masire ducked out of office as his party began to face the challenge of preparing for its toughest election battle next year. The tributes […]

Charlene Smith A retrenchment package will often be the largest lump sum a person ever receives and the temptation is to spend all the money, hoping tomorrow will take care of itself. Each year employees contribute R27-billion to retirement funds – and those who lose their jobs rarely make sensible re-investment decisions. Hermie Rossouw, regional […]

Dror Eyal The dust is blowing in from the east. Sand clouds that whip the air, flay my skin, sting in my eyes. Dust in each breath I swallow, grit grating between teeth, sticking in my throat. Dust in my food, dust in my beer. Winds blowing up a storm in front of the main […]

For the time being, war-torn Sierra Leone has no standing army of its own. But Chief Sam Hinka Norman, reappointed as deputy minister of defence, says he has other forces to call on. “If you point your rifle at me, you may believe it, it will not strike me,” he says. “When all this is […]

Mungo Soggot The downfall of state oil chief Don Mkhwanazi this week came after the Cabinet blocked an earlier attempt by the Minister of Minerals and Energy, Penuell Maduna, to keep him at the helm of the Central Energy Fund (CEF). Maduna tried to persuade the Cabinet that Mkhwanazi, the fund’s chair, and his board […]

Andy Duffy The African National Congress is engaged in frantic lobbying among its Western Cape branches to ensure that Ebrahim Rasool is the only contender to succeed Dullah Omar as the party’s provincial leader. Nominations for the post are open until April 13, but insiders are already spinning the line that Rasool, the provincial caucus […]

Lizeka Mdacity limits To create room for visitors to her home, Noluthando Mrasi takes out a bucket filled with soiled diapers and a laundry basket. Then she pronounces the place ready. It isn’t really. You step in and then don’t know where to go, and step out again. Mrasi’s 3m-by-2m shack is home to her […]

The editor, Phillip van Niekerk, replies to claims against Mail & Guardian reporter Lizeka Mda: Lizeka Mda’s article was merely pointing to a pattern of perception about the leadership style of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki. In politics – despite what Ronald Suresh Roberts says – perception is everything and even hallucinations, if they are genuinely […]

Paul van Woudenberg : Mountain biking Dutch-born athlete Bas de Bever has claimed his greatest downhill mountain biking victory in Stellenbosch, the serene town Afrikaners see as their cultural home. This time last year, he hurtled down the vineyard-clad slopes of Botmaskop, about a kilometre east of Die Moederkerk in the centre of town, to […]