Chris McGreal in Nairobi PAUL MUITE has been accused of a few things in his time. There was the conspiracy to recolonise Kenya and the plot to overthrow the government. But the opposition leader and other members of Kenya’s elite are braced for a new charge: consorting with the devil. And the government has an […]

Coverage of the Dunblane tragedy – a massacre of children in a small Scottish town – raised serious questions about media intrusion. But a new report casts a gentler light on the old Grub Street image, writes Peter Preston THE newshound of myth and legend has a soft smile and a hard heart, a grey […]

The trend of featuring children in advertisements has provoked outrage in some circles, writes Hazel Friedman NO one knows for certain who coined the phrase “butthead”, but most South Africans will recall it as the endearing expletive in the Sanlam Bank “For Sure” advertisement. The words mouthed by a toddler togged up as a company […]

THE ill-fated South African Everest expedition has come under fire again – this time from an American mountaineering journalist who claims that expedition team leader Ian Woodall refused to allow stricken climbers use of his radio in the midst of a catastrophe near the Everest summit on May 10 and 11. The allegation is made […]

A new series of corruption allegations has hit South Africa’s public broadcaster write Mail & Guardian Reporters A BATTLE between two of the three most powerful women in the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has broken into the open over an expenses claim for a cheap lunch and transport in London. The two who have […]

NEWS that three of the world’s largest oil companies are discussing a merger of their refining and marketing operations in the United States signals a huge shake-up of the industry. The talks, which could lead to a merger of operations by Shell Oil, Texaco and Star Enterprises – a joint venture of Texaco and the […]

THIS year, the Mail &Guardian is in agreement with the Boeke Prize verdict. The promotional “award” is given to one of six books selected by Exclusive Books, based on the votes of critics around the country. Last year the M&Gchose Robertson Davies’s last novel The Cunning Man, but in the end the prize went to […]

Mungo Soggot THE puzzle surrounding possible South African involvment in a United States satellite phone system took another twist this week when it emerged the system might not be geared to work above South Africa. A report compiled by the University of Colorado indicates the Ellipso satellite phone system will not function south of 20 […]

The author of bestseller Waiting to Exhale recently visited South Africa to promote her new novel. Terry McMillan spoke to MARIANNE BRACE AIR JAMAICA ought to be paying Terry McMillan commission. The heroine of her new novel, How Stella Got Her Groove Back (Viking), goes to the West Indies for a little rest and relaxation, […]

Joshua Amupadhi SOUTH AFRICANS seeking fortunes in Angola’s fabled diamond fields have fallen foul of the government’s crackdown on illegal immigrants as the ruling party, the MPLA, tries to prove it has stopped using South African mercenaries in ongoing skirmishes against the opposition, Unita. This is one reason given by the Angolan government for what […]