Mukoni T Ratshitanga The National Party lost three municipal by-elections to the Democratic Party this week, indicating that the party’s support base among white South Africans is crumbling and raising questions about its future. The NP polled 22,3% in its traditional stronghold of Bergvliet in the Western Cape – 48 hours after Gerald Morkel was […]
Chris Roper The saga of censorship at Stellenbosch University took a new turn last week when students exhibiting at the university’s gallery took down their work because the show had been tampered with. A triptych by Mark Coetzee, featuring erect penises, was removed from the exhibition by Professor Greg Kerr, head of the Stellenbosch art […]
Mail & Guardian reporter The archbishop of Cape Town, the Reverend Njongonkulu Ndungane, is to present the world’s largest gathering of Anglican bishops with an explosive document suggesting the church take a fresh look at issues such as polygamy and euthanasia. The 24-page report, entitled Called to Full Humanity, is to head the agenda at […]
FRIDAY: 4.00PM PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela will only consider intervening in the violence-torn taxi industry if Transport Minister Mac Maharaj requests his assistance, presidential aide Parks Mankahlana said on Friday. Even then, Mankahlana said, National Taxi Drivers’ Organisation’s demands that Mandela declare a state of emergency in the industry are impractical, as the industry does not […]
Anthony Egan CHRISTIANITY IN SOUTH AFRICA: A POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY edited by Richard Elphick and Rodney Davenport (James Currey/David Philip, R120) Christianity as a historical subject in South Africa has been largely under- researched and rarely studied. Given that almost three- quarters of South Africans regard themselves as Christians, this is surprising. Given […]
Krisjan Lemmer Mrs H Bingham, a resident at a Johannesburg retirement village, would like it to be known that her name is Henrietta, not Hugh. And no – she does not know the whereabouts of that aristocratic desperado, Lord Lucan. Henrietta has been inundated with calls from investigative journalists convinced she is Hugh Bingham, the […]
An offensive by southern Sudan’s secessionists will fuel famine, writes Peter Beaumont from Wun Rog The wind was blowing dust devils in Bahr el Ghazal, southern Sudan’s arid plain of thorns. It promised to bring rain but in some areas few farmers will be ready if it comes. There is little sign of any attempt […]
Fiona Macleod Douw Kruger has this theory that buck can’t tell the difference between blue and green, because they have a blue receptor in their eyes. To the human eye, however, his bright blue camouflage uniform is an alarm signal. This means he can stalk really close to his quarry when he’s out hunting, but […]
Tracy Murinik On show in Cape Town “Everything is art,” I am informed as I sit down for the interview. Well, that should leave impotent and irrelevant those irksome and defensive little retorts of “but is it art?” that often riddle commentary around work that cannot be mounted flush against a wall. “Even when you […]
Anton Simanowitz Nyatela Baloyi, living in a village in Khomanani Tribal Authority in the former Venda, is typical of many of the poorest families in the Northern Province. She lives in two mud brick rondavels together with five children. She has no husband -he passed away some time ago, and supports her family with her […]