Robert Plummer WRITING SOUTH AFRICA: LITERATURE, APARTHEID, AND DEMOCRACY, 1970-1995 edited by Derek Attridge and Rosemary Jolly (Cambridge University Press, R100) NOVEL HISTORIES: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE IN SOUTH AFRICAN FICTION: by Michael Green (Witwatersrand University Press, R120) Just over a decade ago, in a South Africa drawn in stark chiaroscuro rather than rainbow nuance, […]
Nigeria Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka visited South Africa for a writers’ festival in Durban. He spoke to Suzy Bell A distinguished man in black sips a cold Amstel in the retro lounge of the Blue Waters Hotel in Durban. He’s Wole Soyinka, acclaimed playwright, essayist, novelist and memoirist. He’s the quietly spoken winner of the […]
Investing in listed companies with interests in the gaming sector may be a dangerous gamble, but some are bound to hit the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) jackpot. Legislation passed a year ago legalised casino gaming in South Africa for the first time, setting in place a race between local and international gaming companies for the […]
Andrew Worsdale It’s a premium week for movies on television, especially on Friday with Thelma and Louise on SABC3 on Friday March 6 at 9pm. This exhilarating thriller is Ridley Scott’s best movie since Blade Runner. It stars Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, who set out on a holiday trip. A drunken dance- floor flirtation […]
up Winning tenders to run government contracts is becoming an increasingly important source. There are widespread fears that this may contribute to a decline in criticism of the government. Mark Heywood, head of the Aids Law Project, which may close at the end of this month after government funding was cut back, says foreign funders […]
Lynda Gledhill Preliminary results of a financial audit of South Africa’s largest literacy NGO – the National Literacy Co-operation (NLC) – closed the doors of the organisation last week amid allegations of mismanagement. The initial report, released to the Mail & Guardian this week, confirms a lack of proper record keeping and expenditures that were […]
Craig Bishop A two-year-old agreement with Danish funders to fund community radio projects jointly has finally been honoured by the South African government. Dr Pallo Jordan, the former minister responsible for broadcasting, agreed in 1995 to match a two-year Danish contribution of over R3-million to develop community radio through an independent fund. The agreement stressed […]
The political mud-slinging that erupted this week between the Democratic Party and the African National Congress over the so-called “Aids treatment” Virodene has served to obscure the real issues, and significant dangers, associated with the Virodene project. Minister of Health Nkosazana Zuma’s fierce response seems to indicate that the tenacious minister has not yet given […]
A bright new agency says the advertising industry is still on the old path, writes Ferial Haffajee ‘Hi, I’m calling from MDS.DD&M.” Say what? In an industry where acronyms abound, this one can get you more tongue-tied than most. The somewhat unwieldy name masks a new advertising agency with a very clear agenda. It wants […]
Mungo Soggot Central Energy Fund chair Don Mkhwanazi tried to crush government opposition to his appointment of Emanuel Shaw II with a string of threatening letters to the civil servant who raised the alarm. The Mail & Guardian is in possession of two letters Mkhwanazi wrote to Deputy Director General of Minerals and Energy Gordon […]