There is nothing like the stroke of a pen to lighten a presidential load. United States President Bill Clinton not only lit White House intern Monica Lewinsky’s fire, he was also every cartoonist’s dream come true. A plethora of phallic symbols was sketched, like Zapiro’s version of Airforce One. One US cartoonist went for the […]

Urban legends, made in the US of A, have a uniquely South African flavour, writes Arthur Goldstuck After the 1994 elections, South Africa began to resemble most other countries in the world of urban legends. In other words, people stopped believing everything they heard. Of course, that meant they could still believe half of everything […]

General Sani Abacha (54), brutal Nigerian strongman and kleptocrat who seized power in a military coup in 1993. Official cause of death was a heart attack. Chief Mashood Abiola (60), Nigerian businessman and winner of the annulled 1993 elections who was incarcerated by Abacha and died within days of the dictator when his release from […]

report card NELSON MANDELA President Grade: A Few people in recorded history have been the subject of such high expectations; still fewer have matched them; Mandela has exceeded them. We knew of his fortitude before he left jail; we have since experienced his extraordinary reserves of goodwill, his sense of fun and the depth of […]

Peace and goodwill to all – it is the message of Christmas that inspires people of every religion. But there has been fighting this month in Bethlehem on the West Bank, the cradle of Christianity. Mail & Guardian correspondents fanned out from Namibia to Jamaica, from Wales to the Free State, to discover the spirit […]

A `necessary pretence’ seems common practice in politics worldwide. David Beresford wonders if South Africa will suffer the same fate The most intriguing aspect of Thabo Mbeki’s recently released collection of speeches (Africa, the Time Has Come, Tafelberg Mafube, R80) is not the speeches, but the introduction which contains a brief biography of the man, […]

LOOSE CANNON: Robert Kirby Despite the seasonal rush, it arrived just in time to top-up their Christmas hampers. From humble purse-snatcher, through rapist, murderer, fraudster and paedophile, to international car-hijack operative, the members of the South African criminal community are fair yowling with yuletide gratitude as they welcome yet another priceless gift brought them by […]

Things are looking up for the local film industry, writes Andrew Worsdale At this year’s Sithengi, Cape Town’s film and video market, Zimbabwean producer Joel Phiri said of South African cinema: “There’s a lot of cinema, but there’s not much on the screen.” Sithengi is, of course, one of the many strong initiatives that have […]

David Sharrock This is where Christendom began, and where it is ending, for Bethlehem at least, and, perhaps, for the Holy Land also. In a gloomy cave beneath the basilica of the Church of the Nativity is the spot where the Virgin Mary is supposed to have given birth to Jesus. If it wasn’t for […]

Best South African avant-jazz album:A tie between Zim Ngqawana, for Zimology – a burning free-blowing session -and Moses Molelekwa, for Genes and Spirits, where jazz pianistics meet the new era of drum’n’bass. And praise be to Sheer Sounds and MELT 2000, who recorded them. Best South African commercial jazz album:Paul Hanmer’s smoothly and confidently laid-back […]