Native tongue Bafana Khumalo I HATE them all. My parents, my friends, my schoolteachers and all the other scum who taught me that going to school is a two-year guarantee ticket out of the ghetto. You have gathered that this column is going to be one of those do-it-yourself psychotherapy sessions, haven’t you? “Why do […]

Critical Consumer Pat Sidley CONSUMERS may have noticed a campaign directed at making them “more secure” at automatic teller machines (ATMs). The campaign is cunningly framed to make consumers believe that all the ATM fraud, theft and related crime in general is the consumers’ own fault. Now that the banks are kindly giving its consumers […]

MUSICAL THEATRE: Bafana Khumalo AS a concept in the producer’s mind, Born at the Right Time (Upstairs at the Market Theatre) might have worked pretty well. But when it comes to the execution of the project, it doesn’t work at all. Described as a “unique interpretation of the music of Paul Simon”, this is an […]

Weekly Mail Reporter THE White Paper on Housing presented by Housing Minister Joe Slovo to the cabinet this week formalises agreements reached by bankers, the Department of Housing, community representatives, materials suppliers, builders and others at a housing summit in Botshabelo at the end of October. But there is one major change: the White Paper […]

Mozambique’s election results reflect a practical solution to the country’s crises, not moral amnesia, argues Ross Herbert RENAMO’S relative electoral success in Mozambique is a riddle worth analysing. Yet the article by Eddie Koch and Joe Hanlon (November 25 – December 1) does more to cloud than clarify. Perplexed about how Renamo could win a […]

Jacques Magliolo WHEN Albert Einstein said that imagination was more important than knowledge, the South African assurance industry probably thought he was talking about them. The latest Financial Services Board statistics reveal shocking figures for 1993, heralding an industry-wide investigation by the LOA. In addition it highlights how assurers develop new imaginative schemes to sell […]

SOUTH African businessmen have come through a tough time in the past five years. They have faced high inflation, prohibitive interest rates, political upheaval and rampant violence and crime. The general election may have changed the country, but negative factors have not entirely disappeared. Since April, we have seen strike action and violent confrontation at […]

fight He may be vulnerable and fragile, but Joe Slovo’s political and personal battles are not over yet, reports Phillip van Niekerk A FEW weeks ago Joe Slovo’s battle with cancer took on a very public dimension. A dramatic weight loss and sudden gaunt appearance, brought on by an unfavourable response to new medication, unleash-ed […]

The high prophets of commercialisation lost the struggle for the soul of the SABC this week, reports Mark Gevisser TWO men were notably absent from the panel of five SABC big shots going face-to-face with the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) yesterday as the corporation unveiled its plans for transformation: Quentin Green and Steve Schubach. Green, […]