Peter Dickson Shocked Mdantsane commuters, tired of a taxi war which has been raging in the East London township, were greeted with a horrific sight early last Wednesday morning. Tied to a pole at the side of a dirt track at Bulura, a note bearing the word “thief” nailed to his chest, was the severely […]

Robert Kirby Channel Vision I thought I might introduce my brand new assignment as the Mail & Guardian’s television ruminant with a merry thought from Mr Theo Erasmus. Mr Erasmus – or Thunderbox Theo as he’s known to his professional intimates – is general manager of SABC3. According to rumour, Theo earned this moniker from […]

Barry Streek African National Congress MP Pierre-Jeanne Gerber is Parliament’s biggest landowner: in his declaration of interests he has listed 255 properties he owns. Gerber, who resigned from the New National Party in April, has a built a 60m-long house on the platform of an old station, Malan Stasie, outside Wellington. He bought the station […]

Shaun Harris taking Stock You can search for and buy just about anything over the Internet these days – cars, books, shares, even (and it’s a sad reflection of the country’s recent high interest rates) repossessed houses. But apart from the convenience, is it worth it, what’s the catch? Surely the online companies must be […]

Barry Streek reports how a top-secret satellite and missile development centre has been turned into a specialist training unit for students The apartheid government’s top-secret satellite and missile development centre, worth billions of rands, has been transformed into a specialist training unit for physics graduates to study and research satellite communications. Last year, 36 students […]

Aids to SA’ Aaron Nicodemus A leading Aids researcher says military bases in Angola and northern Namibia – belonging to the old South African Defence Force (SADF), the African National Congress’s armed wing and the Inkatha Freedom Party – are primarily responsible for the rapid and uneven spread of the disease in South Africa. Dr […]

In a country where the war-weary people say they have no idea what is being fought for on their behalf, the one certainty is that the next dictator will be a popular man – after he has gone out of style, writes John Matshikiza In recently published letters and diary extracts, Che Guevara, the Argentinean-born […]

The Mail & Guardian is pleased to announce the following appointments: Hoosain Karjieker: Karjieker joins the M&G as financial director from MultiChoice Africa where he was finance manager. Zanele Gumbi: Gumbi joins us as marketing manager from Avon World, where she was accounts executive. Before that, she was accounts executive at the Sowetan. Barry Streek: […]

Minister of Justice Penuell Maduna has not been our favourite politician in the past: the public protector’s marathon inquiry into the Central Energy Fund has made Maduna’s mouth arguably the most expensive in the country’s history. But he does deserve some applause for the controversy he has stirred up around the judiciary, not so much […]

UNITED States-based commodities giant Cargill Inc will stop trading in South Africa from mid-December to mid-January due to worries over preparations for the millennium bug, London’s Financial Times reported on Thursday. The paper quotes a letter from the head of the group’s South African subsidiary to the Department of Agriculture in Pretoria, pointing to a […]