<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>President Thabo Mbeki launched a scathing attack on the Democratic Alliance and Inkatha Freedom Party on Friday, saying voters will decide the fate of this "right-wing coalition". He accused the IFP of siding with various right-wing groupings to protect "white interests" since 1992.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=33240">Haiti inspires Africans, says Mbeki</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>
The doors of culture may be open to all, but the fine print of today’s practise of the Freedom Charter states that the politically connected elite shall have first call on the stages. Last year organisations representing artists wrote to the Department of Arts and Culture to query how the funds allocated to this year’s celebrations would be spent, writes Mike van Graan.
The food security situation in Eritrea remains bleak despite a partial improvement in agricultural production last year, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies reported on Wednesday.
US lawmakers joined the chorus of criticism on Thursday of the European Union decision imposing a record fine and other sanctions on Microsoft for antitrust violations.
The political party founded by Côte d’Ivoire’s slain former military ruler General Robert Guei, the Union for Democracy and Peace in Côte d’Ivoire, decided on Thursday to pull its two ministers out of the government, its secretary-general, Alassane Salif N’Diaye, said.
It is hard to imagine a person in a greater state of elation than an artist who has just released an album. This is probably because, as this month’s hottest pop exponent, Thandiswa Mazwai puts it, it is a "labour of love". Mazwai is leaving kwaito behind her to explore her Xhosa genealogy, writes Thebe Mabanga.
‘I am not a one-trick pony," Nelly Furtado sings on <i>One-Trick Pony</i>, the opening track of <i>Folklore</i> (Universal), the follow-up to her hit debut album Whoa Nelly!. And one has to agree wholeheartedly, writes Riaan Wolmarans.
"Bob Marley was great, but we all know that. Even if you don’t like reggae, you can’t ignore the fact that his music had an uplifting effect upon the music-loving world". Benjamin Zephaniah has worshipped Bob Marley since childhood. But as another ‘best of’ is released, he says it’s time to leave brother Bob alone.
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Mel Gibson’s Jesus movie, <i>The Passion of the Christ</i>, is stirring up, ahem, passions all over. But, more than anything, it demonstrates the way communal myths can be reworked again and again. Gibson’s version is just the most single-mindedly gory and reactionary to date, writes Shaun de Waal.