1996 was a big, exciting year for new South African music. Glynis O’Hara gives the run-down on some of the favourites There certainly was a plethora of South African material released this year and the new trend, kwaito, was responsible for wagon loads of it. Kwaito is South Africa’s version of house — contemporary disco […]

What’s green and crinkly and threatens civilisation as we know it? The all-conquering Hollywood dollar. Derek Malcolm takes a sceptical look back at the movies of 1996 I’VE recently seen, though you haven’t yet, Barbra Streisand’s The Mirror Has Two Faces, in which our beloved if narcissistic star is supposed to spend three-quarters of a […]

SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi South African soccer moves into the new year with one goal eclipsing all others ‘ qualification for the 1998 World Cup finals in France. After comfortably disposing of Malawi in a preliminary tie, the African Nations Cup holders found Zaire a very different proposition in Johannesburg during November. The Leopards from Central […]

Marion Edmunds reports on an old man who runs a pharmacy which occupies the ho ttest piece of undeveloped property in Camps Bay. But he’s not selling HE is not selling at any price. Not his pharmacy nor the fittings nor his flat above – although he is regularly pestered by developers. They’re willing to […]

The Mail & Guardian’s third annual politicians’ report-card comes halfway thro ugh the Government of National Unity’s term of office – the ideal time to make a rigorous assessment of the performance of each individual Cabinet minister. This year, we have formed a five-person panel of experts: Wilmot James, execut ive director of the Institute […]

President Nelson Mandela and Graa Machel, the widow of the late Mozambican pre sident Samora Machel, have been involved in a very public relationship. Kingsl ey Makhubela, chief of state visits in Mandela’s office and M-Net presenter Do reen Morris are expected to tie the knot in the near future. South African rug by wing […]

Scientists made a giant leap this year in understanding the HIV virus, which u ncannily changes itself as it invades human bodies, writesLesley Cowling It’s taken more than a decade of concentrated study by thousands of scientists all over the world to begin to understand how HIV operates. Part of the probl em is that […]

Julia Grey Seeing barefoot, shivering urchins begging on a cold winter’s night is not unu sual. What was unusual on that particular July night in 1995 was that my frien d Lee and I didn’t blindly breeze past them, or dismiss them with a 50c piece. Instead, we spoke to them as children. Stanley (7), […]

Mail & Guardian writers, photographers and cartoonists produced prolifically t his year – and won a number of awards You Have Been Warned (Viking), written by Mail & Guardian co-founder Irwin Man oim, covers the newspaper’s first turbulent decade. l Zapiro, aka Jonathan Shapiro, published Zapiro – The Madiba Years (David Phi lip), a collection […]

Black economic empowerment is taking place gradually, but a more holistic approach is needed, writes Madeleine Wackernagel The buzz-word of 1996 was BEE – black economic empowerment, epitomised by the Johnnic deal. Later, there was JCI, sold to Mzi Khumalo’s Capital Alliance with far less fanfare, but no less significance. The cynics would sneer that […]