Lauren Shantall Making a mini-pilgrimage to see the saffron-robed Sai Baba could easily be classified under the header “The Weird and the Wonderful”. For Baba is the controversial holy man who has been seen belching rings of blue flame from his belly, the venerable Sri who manifests gawdy gold jewellery from the aether, and the […]
Barry Streek The government has released details of its R374-million Community Based Public Works Programme (CBPWP) for the current financial year, including a R50-million programme to involve unemployed young people in making government buildings accessible to disabled people. It has also allocated R6-million for repairs to roads and bridges damaged by the floods earlier this […]
Traditional financial services are no longer confined solely to the ‘big fish’ or the conventional banking sector Alan Finlay With the hostile bid by Nedcor to acquire banking rival Stanbic dominating the headlines a few months ago, one might be forgiven for thinking that the health of the sector is entirely dependent on what the […]
Duncan Campbell Ridley and Tony Scott, two of Britain’s most celebrated film directors, reacted with fury and more than a little embarrassment to an advertisement placed by their company that critics say is offensive to black people and women. They apologised profusely for the advert, in the trade weekly Shoot, which has led to picketing […]
David Beresford ANOTHER COUNTRY Leafing through an old copy of the Penguin Book of Lies (out of which falls a dusty gift card fondly admonishing me not to “take it personally”) I am moved to a confession, not as to a lie, but a resource. Parkinson’s gets one down from time to time – times […]
commission Khadija Magardie The Human Rights Commission (HRC) is investigating possible criminal charges against Minister of Public Enterprises Jeff Radebe. This follows an application by the Mail & Guardian to investigate Radebe, after remarks he made in a submission to the HRC during the racism in the media hearings earlier this year. Radebe accused M&G […]
Paul Kirk The ease with which a child molester can escape prosecution came into sharp focus this week when a lowly suspected car thief was caught red-handed with a sensitive and stolen police investigation docket into the rape of a teenage girl. Had the docket not been recovered the rapist may well have escaped scot-free […]
Ivor Powell With Parliament gearing up to act and the auditor general questioning the probity of the process, the lid could finally be coming off South Africa’s controversial R32-billion weapons procurement programme after a report in the Mail & Guardian last week (“Nepotism in R32bn arms deal”) showing irregularities in the awarding of contracts. Both […]
Barry Streek The government has saved R45- million in rationalising and reducing the use of energy in some government buildings in Pretoria and Cape Town, says Deputy Minister of Public Works Buyi Nzimande. In some buildings savings of more than 25% of energy costs had been achieved, she said in Parliament during the discussions of […]
Antony Barnett, James Meikle and John Vidal A zoologist has found evidence that genes used to modify crops can jump the species barrier and cause bacteria to mutate. A four-year study by Professor Hans- Hinrich Kaatz found that the alien gene used to modify oilseed rape had transferred to bacteria living in the guts of […]