Alex Duval Smith in Washington NINE years after Roseanne began its ground- breaking, irreverent portrayal of working- class family life, television viewers in the United States will switch on with relief tomorrow for the last episode with the family America used to love to hate. Roseanne’s ratings have plummeted in the last two seasons and […]

Dawn Blalock A PLAN to build a high school for disadvantaged students has stirred up charges of racism in Sophiatown – and illustrates how the community is still haunted by its turbulent history. Sparrow Schools Educational Trust, a non- profit group that runs special education schools for disadvantaged children, is trying to buy a plot […]

Joe Slovo’s handpicked Director General, Billy Cobbett, asked the auditor general to investigate a R185-million housing project in Mpumalanga – and lost his job. Stefaans Brmmer, Mungo Soggot and Peta Thornycroft report BILLY COBBETT, Director General of the Department of Housing, has been fired after asking the auditor general to investigate a multi-million-rand housing project […]

THE ANGELLA JOHNSON INTERVIEW GRACE KHUNOU had barely been in her job as headmistress for five minutes when an angry parent stood up during a meeting and exclaimed: ”But you are only a girl. What can you know? How can you make this place any better after all this time?” The consensus was that it […]

Despite all the criticism, Nkosazana Zuma’s department is revolutionising health care, reports Jim Day DESPITE scandals, unauthorised spending and a history of putting her foot in it, Dr Nkosazana Zuma’s Health Department is systematically revolutionising South Africa’s health-care system. Zuma is blamed by many for the R14,2- million Sarafina II disaster and the trumpeting of […]

Jim Day LITTLE Leboteng Bakada is sick. The one- month-old girl is suckling at her mother’s breast, but every few moments a cough interrupts her meal for a few seconds before she starts suckling again. ”She has the flu,” says her mother, Yoliswa Bakada. ”It is because we stay in the shacks.” Bakada has been […]

FINE ART: Tracy Murinik MAKING the proverbial splash is taken a step further by Bridget Baker in her latest exhibition at the Hnel Gallery this month. The gallery space has been cleared to accommodate an installation, introduced by a placard on a plinth bearing the artist’s academic credentials in front of a large, round portapool […]

THURSDAY, 2.30PM The eceutive committee of the Northern Province government will follow the African National Congress line on border disputes in Bushbuckridge and Groblersdal, local government MEC John Dombo said on Thursday. If the proposal is accepted by the provincial legislature, it will mean that Bushbuckridge will remain in Northern Province, while Groblersdal will remain […]

THURSDAY, 11.30AM: SOUTH African seeds Dawn Kaiser and Bryony Joscelyne were both victorious in the women’s section of the Macmed World Masters squash championship in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Kaiser beat Barbara Sanderson of England in the 55-60 division, while Joscelyne did battle with Jenny Clarke of Australia in the 45-49 division, to win 10-8, 6-9,9-10, […]

INTERPOL ON LION CASE The investigation into lion hunting in South Africa, first exposed in the Mail & Guardian, has received a boost with the news that a team of Interpol agents will join SAPS detectives investigating the practice of hunting drugged or tame lions in enclosed areas. See M&G’s expos of canned lion hunting. […]