Rural women say the government has failed them on land reform Tara Turkington Diminutive yet fiery Emily Tjale was one of the first to take the stage at a historic assembly of 250 rural women, who gathered to denounce and mobilise against landlessness in Kimberley at the weekend. Tjale is a member of the community […]

open letter A letter from the International Press Institute to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell Dear Mr Secretary, The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, is becoming increasingly dismayed at attempts by the US State Department to influence the flow of news in the Middle […]

After taking over the leadership of the New National Party, Marthinus van Schalkwyk developed a reputation for pragmatism and common sense. He saved his dying party by taking it into the Democratic Alliance. He also accepted, apparently without complaint, the necessity for Tony Leon who was the strength behind the Democratic Party’s phenomenal increase in […]

With no clear idea of where world markets are headed, and as equity prices fall, fund managers have little to say Neil Thomas As local unit-trust investors start to assess the extent of the knock they took over the third quarter, here’s a quote from United States fund manager John Holden: “It’s very difficult as […]

a second look Faizal Farouk South African NGOs have reached a critical juncture where it has become important for us to engage in local-resource mobilisation. The struggle for democracy in South Africa bred a range of NGOs within civil society that played a prominent role in shaping our Constitution, which has been heralded as one […]

Barry Streek Controversy-dogged land tenure legislation is to be tabled in Parliament next year, after a week-long national conference on land rights at which the government hopes to forge consensus among conflicting actors in the land field. The legislation is intended to give tenants, living under chiefs’ tenure, rights guaranteed in the Constitution. Seen as […]

Glenda Daniels In a move that could heighten tensions between labour and the ruling African National Congress, the Congress of South African Trade Unions is to stage a national summit on economic reconstruction involving all elements of civil society. The summit, which Cosatu wants to convene by the end of the year, but is more […]

Mail & Guardian reporter The South African Revenue Service (Sars) set the seemingly arbitrary date of October 1 this year as the date that capital gains tax (CGT) came into effect and the base cost of units is determined. But the date turned out to be anything but arbitrary. As fate would have it, just […]

Paul Kirk A Durban bus company that has gone into liquidation claims a spate of hijackings crippled it. The government-run KZT Transport – which was the major provider of public transport to blacks during apartheid – was half-owned by the Bantu Development Corporation. The company’s operations in rural areas were later subsidised by the KwaZulu-Natal […]