The Masakhane campaign is floundering as politicians dither over ultimate control, reports Gaye Davis THE three ministers in charge of the Masakhane Campaign are unable to agree who should take ultimate control of it and are fighting what one official described as an “unseemly turf battle” — putting the R30-million strategy to improve living conditions […]

Thabo Mbeki’s media task team has ruffled the feathers of the major newspaper conglomerates, writes Jacquie Golding-Duffy Major newspaper conglomerates are worried that the 10-member media task team appointed late last year by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki will exercise its power to ensure large scale affirmative action at newspapers — up to the level of […]

Deficits are still the norm in many OECD member countries, and South Africa is no exception, reports Simon Segal GOVERNMENT’S budget deficit, now likely to be above 6% of gross domestic product (GDP) for this fiscal year (5,8% or R29-billion was budgeted for last March), blights an otherwise impressive economic record that boasts the most […]

David Beresford in Luanda Sitting on a hotel balcony, the ambassador recounted with gleaming eyes how a diamond prospector had invited him to grab a random handful of gravel from a river bed, and had then picked three precious gemstones from the palm of his hand. Below, in Luanda’s stinking, garbage-strewn streets, a street-urchin kicked […]

THEATRE: David Le Page KAFKA Dances is not an attempt at dramatic history. That the character Franz Kafka is obviously based on the well-known writer is no more important than that entirely fictional characters may be born of the real experiences of those who create them. As Australian playwright Timothy Daly writes: “Better to try […]

Mail & Guardian Reporter There has been a shake-up at Independent Newspaper’s golden egg, Natal Newspapers. Loss-making Natal Mercury editor John Patten has suddenly taken early retirement. It is due to be announced next week that his place has been taken by David Wightman, editor of the massively profitable Sunday Tribune, which went down-market in […]

THEATRE: Matthew Krouse IF, in some afterworld, the great muralist Diego Riviera were to see Helene Lombard playing his wife in Frida Kahlo’s Eyes, he’d probably fall in love all over again. Her dark, angular features are so similar to Kahlo’s, it makes you wonder whether playwright Harry Kalmer created the role especially for the […]

In the dangerous game of media-bashing, in which some elements of the ANC have recently been indulging, the charge has been levelled that the press has failed to discharge its responsibilities. This week the cry was taken up by President Nelson Mandela who reportedly criticised the South African media for failing to expose the role […]

Too little, too late was the response to the announcement that the Transitional National Development Trust is finally to begin work, Rehana Rossouw reports MILLIONS of rand earmarked for education programmes have been held up by the failure of the Transitional National Development Trust (TNDT) to set up shop. The TNDT was established in October […]

Bantu Holomisa, deputy minister of tourism and environmental affairs, in The Mark Gevisser ‘My friend,” says Bantu Holomisa with his trademark imp-twinkle when asked about his role as deputy minister and his political ambitions, “you must remember that I have already tasted power. Absolute power. I’ve been there. I’ve had it all. Now I’m just […]