Transformation of the media in the new South Africa has become a controversial topic Sean Jacobs Under apartheid, white South Africans enjoyed a racialised “public sphere” that excluded black people. Political media and news were geared to whites and media content largely reflected the skewed balance of power relations in society at that time. The […]
Mail & Guardian reporters A former South African army colonel accused by the United States ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke, of supplying weapons to rebels in Sierra Leone has written to the US envoy vigorously denying the claims. The former South African Defence Force (SADF) officer, Fred Rindel, has told Holbrooke that the […]
Khadija Magardie Mail & Guardian editor Phillip van Niekerk and The Star’s associate editor Lizeka Mda this week served court papers on Minister of Public Enterprises Jeff Radebe and the African National Congress, kicking off a lawsuit that could set a crucial precedent in South African defamation law. Van Niekerk and Mda are asking the […]
Ebrahim Harvey Left field Coming on the heels of the Seattle, Davos and Washington battles against the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Prague last week has reinforced the rising power of the international mass movement against globalisation. Despite some major weaknesses it holds […]
Tangeni Amupadhi Namibia’s Minister of Home Affairs, Jerry Ekandjo, has perfected the art of jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Having barely recovered from a humiliating forced apology, he has now courted fresh controversy with statements that dwarf Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s gay-bashing. Ekandjo, who is in charge of the police, caused a […]
Belinda Beresford answers some of the most frequently raised claims put forward by the so-called dissidents A virus cannot cause a syndrome The orthodox viewpoint is that the human immunodeficiency virus – HIV – causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome – Aids. HIV is just another virus. Different viruses tend to have preferences for attacking particular body […]
EIGHTEEN people died and 39 were injured when a bus hit a crowd as it swerved to avoid the presidential motorcade in Tanzania. The accident happened on the outskirts of Mwanza on the shores of Lake Victoria. Drivers in Tanzania are expected to pull over when the presidential motorcade passes. The brakes of the bus […]
STELLA MAPENZAUSWA and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Friday ZIMBABWE state telecommunications officials have outlawed an independent radio station and confiscated its broadcasting equipment after President Robert Mugabe’s government bulldozed hasty new regulations into law. Officials from the Post and Telecommunications Corporation dismantled antennae and other equipment from Capitol Radio’s studio at a central Harare hotel […]
THE World Bank has placed Zimbabwe on non-payment status, noting that the country was behind on the payment of $47m. The bank said the principal amount outstanding on loans to Zimbabwe from the bank’s main lending arm totalled $452m, with overdue payments worth $45m. The bank’s concessional lending unit, the International Development Association, had made […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Port Elizabeth | Thursday THOUGHTLESS government policies are driving South Africa’s farmers to bankruptcy, outgoing Agri SA president Chris du Toit has warned, pleading with government to “just leave us alone.” Opening the annual congress of the farmers’ organisation, Du Toit said agriculture was seen as an endless source of wealth. […]