National Parks Board CE Robbie Robinson has chosen to retire on a matter that could split the board, reports Anita Allen The imminent departure of Dr Robbie Robinson as chief executive means that the 17-member National Parks Board is going to be put to the test. Not only does it have to choose a successor […]

HAZEL FRIEDMAN finds out why the work of local art guru, the late Neil Goedhals, is hanging in Johannesburg finds out why t THE life and death of Johannesburg artist Neil Goedhals inspired as much myth-making as his work inspired emulation. Six years after his death, his memory and the legacy he bequeathed to a […]

turbojav ATHLETICS: Julian Drew Africa has never won a medal at Olympic or world championship level in the throwing events. Some theorists – no doubt from the same school of thought which once asserted African physiology was not suited to running – have claimed that this is as a result of anatomical differences. The exploits […]

Andrew Meldrum in Matandele, Zimbabwe SURROUNDED by government ministers and tribal chiefs, Sinqobile Mabhena appears a model of female subservience as she bows her head and modestly lowers her eyes. But this demure 23-year-old has rocked Zimbabwe’s traditional culture by becoming one of the first women to take on the powerful mantle of tribal chief. […]

Thousands of children have been recruited into a fearful army that claims inspiration from God, reports Anna Borzello in Gulu, Uganda IN northern Uganda, villagers do their best to follow the 11 commandments of Joseph Kony, altar-boy turned born-again guerrilla whose Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is terrorising the countryside. The first 10 are as given […]

Marion Edmunds Pragmatism has defeated romance at Villiera Wine Estate just outside Stellenbosch, where wine-maker Jeff Grier has swapped natural corks for synthetic stoppers to seal his cheaper bottles of wine. While some wine aficionados have decried the move as a tragedy for South African wine drinkers, others are praising Grier for bravery. They are […]

Rupert Murdoch is way ahead of his media competition. Henry Porter wonders if anybody realises his power IN Full Disclosure, Andrew Neil’s telling account of his life as a Murdoch editor, he reveals that Rupert Murdoch’s presence is so strong in News International that he appears to his executives in their dreams. It’s a pity […]

Gauteng throws its investigation nets wider after shocking revelations from matric cheats, reports Andy Duffy Confessions from Gauteng’s matric cheats this week have prompted the province to widen its investigation to include the elite academics who drew up the exam papers. Gauteng Education MEC Mary Metcalfe told the Mail & Guardian that statements from several […]

Martyrdom would be the best way for the hostage-takers in Peru to secure change, argues Richard Gott THERE is a long and honourable tradition of guerrilla activity in Latin America that has ebbed and flowed over decades and centuries. Independence from Spain in the early 1800s would never have been successful without the innumerable guerrilla […]

redundancies THE Education Ministry is struggling to determine whether its drive to reshape state schooling has achieved much more than lose South Africa thousands of experienced state teachers and unnerve those who remain. Pressure is growing on the ministry -even from its own officials – to rethink the programme, which is supposed to redeploy teachers […]