up Winning tenders to run government contracts is becoming an increasingly important source. There are widespread fears that this may contribute to a decline in criticism of the government. Mark Heywood, head of the Aids Law Project, which may close at the end of this month after government funding was cut back, says foreign funders […]
stand Jansie Kotze and Jonathan Ancer The volk were armed with cellphones. And the leader was reduced to flogging off two bottles of mampoer dressed in a vierkleur, in his last-ditch bid to stay out of jail. It was all a long way from the Battle of Majuba. Or, for that matter, the heady days […]
Mandy Collins Thankfully, the days when “living together” was considered a mortal sin are over. Today, many heterosexual couples choose not to get married, homosexual couples may not get married and many customary marriages are not recognised by South African law. All that adds up to quite a few couples who live within a committed, […]
Lynda Gledhill Preliminary results of a financial audit of South Africa’s largest literacy NGO – the National Literacy Co-operation (NLC) – closed the doors of the organisation last week amid allegations of mismanagement. The initial report, released to the Mail & Guardian this week, confirms a lack of proper record keeping and expenditures that were […]
Timothy Ryan: A SECOND LOOK The Minister of Welfare and Population Development has asked the Drug Advisory Board to formulate a drug masterplan for South Africa. This masterplan will ultimately direct the government’s response to the use, distribution, manufacture and cultivation of illicit drugs. The decriminalisation of dagga is one of the controversial issues facing […]
politicians It seems there may be some kind of inverse correlation between the popularity of political parties and public figures in the media on the one hand, and with the public on the other. At the very least the issue would provide fertile ground for research for a PhD thesis! During the 1994 elections, most […]
THURSDAY, 6.00PM: WORRIES about the stability of the Asian markets, an imminent drop on Wall Street, and the weak rand and gold price, knocked the spots off all Johannesburg Stock Exchange indices on Thursday. The all gold index shed 21,9 points to 744,7, the industrial index, 187,3 points to 8117,3, and the financial index 511,7 […]
THURSDAY, 3.30PM: PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela will obey a subpoena to appear in the Pretoria High Court next week to testify in the South African Rugby Football Union’s attempt to have a judicial inquiry into its affairs declared illegal, Mandela’s lawyer Wim Trengrove said on Wednesday. However, in a conflicting statement, Mandela’s spokesman Parks Mankahlana said […]
THURSDAY, 5.45PM: THE South African Chamber of Business’s Business Confidence Index (BCI) strengthened in February, on the eve of the Budget, Sacob announced on Thursday. Regardless of the economy’s slowdown and the weakness of consumer demand, the BCI improved by 1,5%, after remaining static since November last year. The falling inflation rate, expectations of lower […]
WEDNESDAY, 12.00NOON VUYANI “The Beast” Bungu, South Africa’s international IBF featherweight champion, will share top billing with American IBF lightweight champ Shane Mosley in the United States in April. Golden Gloves promotor Rodney Berman confirmed Bungu’s upcoming bout, saying: “Bungu has become such a force in world boxing that the Americans are literally queuing for […]