David Le Page A dramatic report from the World Commission on Dams (WCD), based in Cape Town, has overturned the long-standing assumption that hydroelectric power is environmentally clean. According to the report, dams often release large quantities of methane gas from rotting vegetable matter. Methane is a 20 times more effective greenhouse gas than carbon […]
Tara Turkington An elderly Free State couple are fighting to return to their home of 65 years, after they were evicted two weeks ago by a farmer who sold all their possessions to pay for outstanding “rent”. David Maarman says he was born on the farm Mostertshoek in the Boshof District in the Free State […]
GregBowes CD OFTHEWEEK ‘When I step on to that floor I’m gonna be all business,” proclaims the voice on the intro to Aim’s Cold Water Music (Grand Central), and from the first notes you can sense that something beyond the usual is surely happening here. This coolly packaged debut on breakbeat’s new major force, the […]
A new book lifts the lid on a slug-fest involving some of the country’s most distinguished scientists Ellen Bartlett Palaeoanthropology researchers at Wits University – renowned the world over for their scientific work – have become such a fractious bunch internally that the university’s management has had to separate the opposing factions, placing them at […]
show ‘reform’ Nawaal Deane Sex, gangsters and robberies are the main focus of articles in the Boksburg Progressive Press, with drawings of dismal prison cells reflecting the gloomy life of a prisoner. The newspaper, introduced as a rehabilitation programme in the Department of Correctional Services’s Boksburg prison, may not interest Rupert Murdoch or Tony O’Reilly, […]
The government is planning to transfer one-third of all farming land to black people Barry Streek A revolutionary plan to transfer a third of all farm land to black people in coming years is being drawn up within the government. About 3,5-million hectares of South Africa’s agricultural land will be involved in the first five […]
Matthew Krouse Mail & Guardian editor Phillip van Niekerk has won the National Television and Video Association (NTVA) Avanti award for best script in the drama category for his contribution to the series Saints, Sinners & Settlers. This was one of the few surprises at the award ceremony, held at Kyalami on June 3, that […]
Several vacancies could pave the way for the appointment of more black judges to the Supreme Court of Appeal Khadija Magardie The Supreme Court of Appeal could soon undergo a major shake-up as several vacancies provide the opportunity to significantly alter the composition of an institution long criticised for being too white and too male. […]
Khadija Magardie A newborn South African baby can expect an average of 40 healthy years. That’s the grim news from researchers, as the HIV/Aids pandemic slashes up to seven years of healthy life expectancy off the average South African life. Next to Sierra Leone, Malawi and Namibia, South Africa ranks as one of the lowest […]
Tracey Naughton Currently showing in Pretoria is an exhibition of Australian Aboriginal art owned by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Some may question this showcasing of Aboriginal culture, titled Seasons of the Kunwinjku, in the context of the Australian prime minister’s reluctance to offer an official apology for the effects of history […]