Angella Johnson THE rural Eastern Cape town of Lady Grey is so small you can still get someone on the phone by dialling the exchange and asking for them by name. So when local gun enthusiast James Thorne was peppered with seven bullets at his farm one Friday afternoon, it was not long before tongues […]

Mail & Guardian Reporters He is said to have the whole world in his hands … but Nelson Mandela continues to be frustrated in realising the dream that appears closest to his heart: a walk down the aisle with Gra?a Machel as his bride. In his first on-the-record interview dealing with his love affair with […]

Alex Brummer in London The decision by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) the Basle-based central bankers’ club, to widen its membership to include nine emerging market countries, represents a critical milestone for the global economic order. It has been evident since the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) 50th anniversary meetings in Madrid in 1994 that […]

John Simpson reports on two Somali fiefdoms — one governed by guns; the other by the laws of Islam MOGADISHU must be the most divided city on earth. Several distinct factions confront each other across great swaths of wrecked buildings and empty streets. There is not just one front line, there are two. In the […]

Last week’s story opened up a hornet’s nest. KAREN DAVIS reports THE story about Tebogo Lerole caused a row over composer’s recognition and royalties for a Fifties song called Tom Hark. The song was a hit in its time and was also re-arranged and recorded by British jazzman Ted Heath. “It was a standard tune […]

Rehana Roussouw The public protector, Selby Baqwa, has been asked to investigate alleged corruption by senior government officials during a takeover of Paternoster Fisheries. Paternoster’s plight was highlighted at a parliamentary portfolio committee hearing in June which investigated complaints in the fishing industry. The committee decided Baqwa should investigate the downfall of the village. “The […]

The failure of inflation figures to reflect the rand’s plunge raises doubts about the data’s accuracy, report Madeleine Wackernagel and Mungo Soggot SCEPTICISM about the reliability of South Africa’s statistics is spreading to inflation figures in the wake of repeated complaints about the accuracy of the monthly trade numbers generated by Customs & Excise (C&E). […]

Marion Edmunds The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), in a quandary after the snubbing of the KwaZulu-Natal constitution, cannot decide whether or not it should return to the national constitutional negotiating table. And while the Constitutional Court did refer the issue of provincial powers back to the national constitution-makers for revision, the judgment allows little scope […]