Shimmer Chinodya The day his father sent him to see Mr BV he put on his cream-coloured, long-sleeved shirt, his flared grey “something else” trousers and his black moccasin shoes. His mother had suggested he put on a tie and insisted on his having a solid lunch, and his father had dropped hints about him […]
Robert Kirby LOOSE CANNON It makes me extremely happy to announce that I am also suffering from deep clinical depression. What’s more I didn’t own a shade of the material assets acquired by Hansie Cronje during the period in which I became so deeply clinically depressed. I got my deep clinical depression without any help […]
transformation SERJEANT AT THE BAR The brouhaha that was occasioned by the statement of Smuts Ngonyama about the judiciary (that is, the first statement, in which he apparently did not mean to say what he was reported to have said!) has perhaps taken on rather more significance after the tragic loss to the judiciary of […]
Gregory Mthembu-Salter A planned meeting in Johannesburg this week of Burundi’s Hutu rebel Forces pour la dfense de la democratie (FDD) and Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) failed to materialise, prompting fears that neither party will attend peace talks in Arusha, Tanzania, next month. Nevertheless, Nelson Mandela, who has mediated the talks since January, remains […]
The dust is settling after Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel ended the acrimonious Nedcor-Stanbic battle Belinda Beresford In an age where bigger is better, the government has finally put the brakes on the growth in size and power of the “big four” banks. In refusing Nedcor permission to go ahead with an attempted hostile takeover […]
Barry Streek OBITUARY Mary Benson, the passionate and committed South African author who died on Sunday June 18 of a heart attack at the London Free hospital, went out, as she did in her own life, in some style. Three months ago, a party was held at South Africa House in London for her 80th […]
Barry Streek Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Ronnie Kasrils has bluntly admitted that the government’s strategy of providing all South Africans with clean water has not been as successful as originally planned. He says the water programme has served more than 5,6-million people with water – 2,6-million to Reconstruction and Development Programme standards – […]
Kathryn Smith REVIEW OFTHEWEEK The commission for a monument to the women of South Africa was recently awarded to the combined team of sculptor Wilma Cruise and architect Marcus Holmes. As part of the Cabinet’s Legacy Project, administered by the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, construction has already begun in a vestibule and […]
Mercedes Sayagues In a last, desperate move to win the election, Zanu-PF militia are confiscating identity documents from villagers and farm workers across the country. ID documents are needed to vote. A replacement costs Z$250, or three days of work. At Shaka farm in Wedza, militia collected all ID documents, as well as Z$16 a […]
Whatever the outcome of the election in Zimbabwe this weekend, Robert Mugabe has a tough time ahead David Moore Call me an individualist, but the crisis Zimbabwe faces for the next few weeks could be fixed by one man: President Robert Mugabe. Even if a huge Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) or Zanu-PF majority floods […]