A plan to mine for diamonds along the Limpopo River is causing the biggest environment controversy since St Lucia, writes Eddie Koch ON the banks of the Limpopo River between Messina and the Kruger National Park there lies a stretch of South Africa’s last wilderness — baobab thickets, tropical flood plains, riverine forests, a diversity […]
Doctors in Gauteng’s public hospitals work up to 100 hours a week for pitifully low salaries. Pat Sidley IT’S 7am. The early shift at the hospital has begun. But the fresh doctors are working alongside others who have already been at work for 12 hours — and may have to continue for another 24. Many […]
The Reserve Bank Appearance: Gotham City meets Sun City. Filled with minions performing arcane rituals. Not to be confused with: Your neighbourhood bank. The Reserve Bank is the unfriendly one that makes esoteric statements from afar about gold, foreign exchange, money supply, inflation, and what is left of the Rand. Most famous for? Interrupting Friday […]
Justin Pearce A last-minute submission by the Western Cape provincial government has delayed an application by the province to the Constitutional Court which will have far- reaching consequences for local elections in the province. The two-week delay has ruled out the chance of a November 1 election in Cape Town. The Western Cape government has […]
Adam Bacher and Shaun Pollock have famous names to live up to but they are playing their own way in Sri Lanka CRICKET: Ahitisham Manerjee THERE is a popular myth amongst Westerners that Sri Lankans, and Asians in general for that matter, are all fanatical about cricket. For their part, Sri Lankans have a similar […]
Inside Parliament: The onerous committee system, the code of ethics … and the ushers By special arrangement, we feature extracts from Parliamentary Whip, the publication of Idasa’s Parliamentary Information and Monitoring Service Pims MPs are seriously overstretched by the committee system, with some sitting on more than a dozen of these An investigation by Parliamentary […]
Justin Pearce A RADIO advertisement for the Mail & Guardian has been disallowed by the SABC on the grounds that it might offend the religious sensibilities of listeners. The advertisement, devised by the ad agency Network, features background music of an angelic choir, and a voiceover that begins: “On the first day his gaze fell […]
GOLF: Jon Swift IT IS a measure of the determination, talent and sheer guts of the man that Ernie Els would come back from the bitter disappointment of the US PGA the way he has. To understand that, it is worth recalling one of the oldest maxims of professional golf: you can win the Masters […]
Karen Harverson Anglo Alpha may set up a cement factory in Namibia to protect its stake in the 200 000-ton Namibian cement market from Malaysia, which is also considering investing in a factory there. However, the Namibian factory is just one of three options Anglo Alpha is considering to expand its cement-producing capacity, says managing […]
THEATRE: Mark Gevisser THERE is a wonderful moment in Valley Song when Athol Fugard, playing himself, turns on his audience and explains that he moved to the Karoo village of Nieu Bethesda because ”I wanted to return to essentials, to the real world” where, away from the chimerical world of theatre, of ”actors and producers”, […]