THE Mail & Guardian is the best English- language international newspaper in the world. This is the assessment of the International Press Directory, which honoured the M&G in its International Press Awards, presented in London on Tuesday night. The M&G came first in the English language section of the Johnsons International Press Awards, beating the […]

Adam Sweeting RECORDING a James Bond theme demands more dignified attributes than mere pop stardom, as Duran Duran demonstrated with A View to a Kill — stupid title, pathetic song, crap movie. Even wily pop veteran Paul McCartney found it difficult to shake and stir the perfect Bond cocktail, and his Live and Let Die […]

Wits University groups have rejected the tribunal set up to investigate the allegations against Makgoba, reports Philippa THE stage is set for further conflict at Wits University around the inquiry into deputy vice- chancellor Malegapuru Makgoba. The Wits Transformation Front (WTF) and Academic Staff Association have rejected the manner in which the tribunal — which […]

The tragedy of Susan Sithole, abandoned by love and the system. Rehana Rossouw reports ‘PAIN,” wrote Susan Sithole, “is wearing my husband’s face.” On Saturday — International Day of No Violence Against Women — the pain came to an end. Her husband is in jail on a murder charge. The tragic story of Susan Sithole […]

For the first time in years, Rockey Street, the pulse of trendy Yeoville, is free of drug pushers loitering on corners, writes Janine Lazarus IT has taken the murder of restaurateur Ridley Wright to clear the streets of pushers who had turned this colourful suburb into the newest drugs mecca of South Africa. Wright was […]

The government has delayed implementing its promise to recognise the Saharawi Republic, reports Gaye GOVERNMENT was tight-lipped this week on why it has back-pedalled on a commitment to give diplomatic recognition to Africa’s last colony, the Saharawi Republic, where the Polisario Front has been leading its struggle for freedom from Moroccan occupation of its territory. […]

In this extract from his unfinished autobiography, Joe Slovo recalls the reaction in the SACP to news of Stalin’s excesses WE HAD always been taught that the Party was the vanguard of the struggle. But it was the 1950s which gave real meaning to this maxim in revolutionary practice. The central committee (to which Ruth […]

Brenda Fassie, South Africa’s bad-girl singer, in THE MARK GEVISSER PROFILE ‘HOW can I make you smile?” I asked an enraged Brenda Fassie, dressed in baby-pink denim cutoffs and throwing the contents of her handbag around my car with the jerky impetuousness of a seriously cold turkey as we drove away from her latest humiliation […]

Rehana Rossouw and Ann Eveleth THE civil war in KwaZulu-Natal has created a destitute class of people who have converted pavements in the centre of Durban into an informal camp site. Most of the single mothers and children who have turned the crannies of the city into their home are refugees — over the decade, […]

Lynda Loxton LOCAL government is facing “an affordability crunch”that could have long-term consequences for the delivery of services by newly-elected local governments. Development Bank of Southern Africa policy co- ordination manager Chris Heymans last week told a parliamentry select committee hearing on local government that a great deal of innovative thinking would be needed on […]