Khadija Magardie Malaria is by far Africa’s most important tropical parasitic disease, and kills more people than any other communicable disease except tuberculosis. And though the geographical area affected by malaria has shrunk over the past 50 years, the Southern African region continues to experience a resurgence in malaria transmission, especially in the past four […]

Howard Barrell There is widespread support for democracy among people in countries neighbouring South Africa, according to a six- nation survey of public attitudes conducted by a consortium of researchers headed by the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa). Southern Africans credit democracy for achieving significant increases in their political freedoms but they are […]

Facing the challenges of a post-apartheid South Africa should be an urgent priority, especially for the media Barney Pityana As a nation we are always at our best when we face a common cause. When we queued together to cast our votes in 1994 or when we erupted as one nation when Francois Pienaar hoisted […]

Glenda Daniels A Thokoza domestic worker who filed a sexual harassment complaint with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) is being sued in turn – for defamation – by her former employer. The domestic worker has received a lawyer’s letter from her former employer, a doctor, claiming R100 000 plus costs because she […]

South Africa has the most skewed distribution of income in the world after Brazil Glenda Daniels Wage gaps in South Africa are excessive, the second largest in the world after Brazil, recent research shows. A report by the National Labour and Economic Development Institute (Naledi) shows that wage policy is one of the most contested […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The Pietermaritzburg Regional Court this week dismissed a high-profile rape case against Johannesburg tycoon Jonty Sandler, who had been accused of assaulting a security guard at gunpoint in a Drakensberg hotel. Magistrate Fred de Beer threw out the case on the grounds that the evidence presented against Sandler in court this […]

Ntuthuko Maphumulo Residents near Johannesburg’s Zoo Lake have teamed up with the city council to try to restore the treasured green belt to its former glory – complete with a multicoloured lighting display at the fountain in the lake. They have formed a committee to raise funds to restore Zoo Lake, which has suffered in […]

The Department of Correctional Services is in the dock over its treatment of HIV-positive inmates Marianne Merten and Aaron Madadasane A man who contracted HIV while incarcerated in Pollsmoor prison six years ago is suing the minister of correctional services in the Cape High Court. The Department of Correctional Services said this week it was […]

Robert Kirby loose cannon I am inspired to write this article (in ebullient defence of our worthy and misunderstood presidential representative) by the quite unseemly attacks made on his character and intellect in last week’s Mail & Guardian (“Mbeki’s malaise goes deeper than Parks”). Really! When a newspaper sinks to such murky invective simply because […]

Thebe Mabanga IN YOUR EAR Religion provides a rich source of interesting debate on a range of moral issues and radio has wisely latched on to its pulling power. Commercial stations do not touch religion with a bargepole. You see urbanised black people spend their Sunday mornings recovering from a Saturday night of clubbing, playing […]