Khadija Magardie CROSSFIRE The lead article in the Mail & Guardian (January 28 to February 3) on “Africa’s new slaves” demonstrated a one-sided view of the civil war in Sudan. The three crucial flaws in the article were Cameron Duodu’s failure to probe the role of Christian Solidarity International (CSI) in the alleged “slave trade” […]

Philippa Garson CLASS STRUGGLE The decision by Minister of Education Kader Asmal to appoint an independent panel of educationists to review Curriculum 2005 is welcome news indeed. After so much speculation, confusion and controversy about the new curriculum and its bumpy implementation, a cool, collected look by a group of people who do not have […]

David Le Page TAKING STOCK As dot.coms scream up the graphs in the United States and Europe, it’s hard for local investors to ignore the lure of the information technology sector. Media stories about the Y2K problem have been replaced by predictions for likely IT developments in the next 20 or 30 years that would […]

John Matshikiza WHO ARE … THE HAINS? ‘Liberal” was a term that was often (and sometimes still is) regarded as a swear word on both sides of the South African political divide. Liberals were either thought of as being the ones who sat on the fence and held back the tide of revolution, or as […]

Bhorat Haroon Minister of Welfare and Development Zola Skweyiya recently announced his department’s intention to pursue the feasibility of setting up a national income grant scheme. There can be no doubt that such a grant system requires serious consideration, to buttress the current suite of social assistance programmes directed at the country’s most indigent. One […]

Brett Morris It was purely by accident that I found Peace in Jo’burg the other day. I was driving along Louis Botha Avenue, on my way to do all sorts of pre-planned Saturday afternoon things, when my clutch cable snapped. I managed to push my car on to a side street amid a barrage of […]

Andrew MuchineripiSoccer The African Cup of Nations quarter-finals showdown between South Africa and Ghana in Kumasi on Sunday brings together teams that can only improve after disastrous endings to their mini-league programmes. I have never been more ashamed of wearing Bafana Bafana colours than in midweek, when even a first-minute goal from Shaun Bartlett could […]

CD of the week One of Johannesburg’s most happening clubs, always packed to capacity, is 206, with its ever-impressive line-up of top musicians on the stage and talented DJs spinning the best acid jazz, drum’n’bass, jungle and the like. Now you can take the party home with the excellent album 206 Mix (Virgin), with its […]

Fiona Macleod Mpumalanga province declared its first internationally protected wetlands on World Wetlands Day on Wednesday. The Verloren Vallei Nature Reserve, 10km north of Dullstroom, is the province’s first proposed Ramsar site. This means it will be recognised internationally as a wetland system of importance, and will be protected against degradation and development. “We started […]

Fiona Macleod Controversial wildlife dealer Riccardo Ghiazza was arrested this week on charges of fraud and falsely obtaining South African citizenship. Ghiazza (46), the man at the centre of the Tuli elephant furore, appeared briefly in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday for allegedly failing to declare he had a drug conviction in Italy when […]