Americans are a great people, but do they have the vision to lead the world? asks Drew Forrest “The tempest bursting from the waste of time On the world’s fairest hope linked to man’s foulest crime” The lines, by American writer Herman Melville, capture the complex nature of the United States far more accurately than […]

Minister of Land Affairs Thoko Didiza is a charming person and no fool. But even she must concede the deeply worrying shortcomings of the government’s land reform programme. South Africa is not Zimbabwe and there is no real possibility of violent, large-scale, land-related upheavals in this country. But the Bredell invasion and sporadic illegal land […]

Telkom aims to provide enterprises with a e-business platform for the 21st centurty Mail & Guardian reporter Here is a way of doing business that goes under many names: “i-commerce”, “e-business”, “e-commerce” and “e-tailing”, to name but a few. It conjures up images of purchasing flowers for Mother’s Day with a few clicks and keystrokes […]

Mail &Guardian reporter Telkom has co- engineered the SAP/ Commerce One Platform, unique in South Africa and one of just six in the world. The system allows com- panies to set up and run online trading. Telkom is a Cisco Gold Partner and has also achieved the Cisco powered network status for virtual private data […]

Existing laws could be used against people who fail to disclose their HIV-positive status while having unprotected sex Belinda Beresford The South African Law Commission has advised against laws to prosecute people who intentionally expose others to the HI virus, saying such legislation would be impossible to police or implement. Rather, the state should concentrate […]

Glenda Daniels More than 50 000 delegates from around the world are expected at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa next year making it a bigger event than the recent United Nations conference on racism. South Africans have begun to formulate their positions and representation for the summit, due to be staged […]

RUGBY Andy Capostagno When the Falcons Rugby Union decided earlier this year to relocate from Brakpan to Kempton Park the headline writers did not stir, even though the final match at the Bosman stadium unfolded in surreal circumstances. Quarter of the way through the Vodacom Cup match between the Falcons and the Lions one floodlight […]

channel vision Robert Kirby I’ve spent a rather pleasant week being escapist, reading stories about a fascinating young fellow called Harry Potter. I don’t know why I’ve waited this long to have a peep at what’s earned JK Rowling such obscene amounts of money, at the same time wondering like every other writer why I’ve […]

Sean O’Toole “I am married to the idea of the symbolism of this place,” explains Reverend Deon Snyman. Yet it is not merely the symbolic that connects this mild-mannered Afrikaner, a minister with the Unifying Reformed Church, to the Emakhosini Valley in northern Zululand. “In a certain sense it feels as if I am coming […]

Jaspreet Kindra Eskom is battling under a mound of more than R1-billion in unpaid electricity bills, with Soweto alone accounting for R670-million of this. Municipalities, which also supply electricity to ratepayers, are also facing a financial crunch because of non-payment. The total debt owed to municipalities across the country is believed to be R500-million. The […]