ONE of South Africa’s leading political commentators, Phillip van Niekerk, has been appointed editor of the Mail & Guardian. Van Niekerk (40) has been South Africa correspondent of some of the world’s most famous newspapers including The Observer, The Boston Globe, the Toronto Globe and Mail and Volkskrant. A graduate of Stellenbosch University, he was […]
WORLD MUSIC:Gwen Ansell ASK Madam and (without Eve to prompt her) she may just have heard of Masekela, or foxtrotted to the African Jazz Pioneers at a banquet. But ask the kids in any Jo’burg suburb and – if they’ve listened to jazz at all – a name they’re likely to come up with is […]
child Gustav Thiel `MAN, I want to be a soccer hero one day,” says Richard. “What I’m doing now is not so bad. It won’t last forever.” Richard is 13. He speaks softly, and fiddles with his baseball cap. It’s 1.30 on a Sunday morning, near Cape Town’s Waterfront. As he talks a steady stream […]
South African scientists are discovering that traditional communities are rich in technology, writes Lesley Cowling THERE is a toad in the Northern Province that is considered a delicacy among local people. It is harvested from its natural habitat, has its innards removed and is braaied over coals to provide a gourmet treat for the lucky […]
Gustav Thiel CAPE actors currently employed by the Cape Association Performing Arts Board (Capab) plan the genesis of a major independent drama company, the first of its kind in South Africa, when they are retrenched at the end of this month. The resident artistic director of Capab, Marthinus Basson, responded to an article published ln […]
Despite a ruling that found him guilty of non-politically motivated torture and murder, an ex-policeman still hopes to get amnesty, reports Jim Day SITTING in a conference room at the maximum-security Zonderwater Prison, east of Pretoria, Hennie Gerber looks more like a casually dressed insurance salesman than a convicted murderer. He seems a nice enough […]
With the relentless advance of the Zairean rebels, to negotiate or flee seem to be the only options open to the government. Chris McGreal reports AN air of doom has settled on Zaire’s beleaguered regime after the lightning rebel seizure of Kisangani and the insurgents’ threat to go all the way to the capital unless […]
Iden Wetherell AIR Zimbabwe, at the centre of a row last year over President Robert Mugabe’s habit of commandeering planes, flew into another storm this week as pilots intensified a strike for better pay which grounded the entire fleet. It couldn’t have come at a worse time for the airline. Internal management documents reveal the […]
ALBANIA’S plunge into chaos has become Europe’s second great tragedy since the end of the Cold War. And, unlike Bosnia, it has not been unexpected. The risk is not just to life and safety for its people, but to its neighbours in the southern Balkans. This time there is no excuse for shoulder-shrugging on the […]
In Constitution Week, Mungo Soggot asks lawyers and academics for a scorecard on the country’s highest court IN the two years that the Constitutional Court has sat in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, the streets of nearby Hillbrow have deteriorated into some of the nastiest stretches in the city. The court’s neighbour to the east, the Hillbrow morgue, […]