The finale of the private TV channel bid was nail-biting and the fall-out spiteful, writes Ferial Haffajee Around the world, races for private television licences are known as beauty competitions. While the finalists in the contest for South Africa’s prized new private television licence didn’t parade in swim-suits and the judges didn’t make flimsy jokes, […]
David Shapshak The South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) can retain the Springbok emblem, but it will have little significance if the National Sports Council revokes Sarfu’s national representation, says council president Mluleki George. “They can use it if they want, but not on behalf of South Africa. It can only be a national emblem […]
Stefaans Brmmer Mininster of Safety and Security Sydney Mufamadi has shrugged off murder claims against Superintendent Lappies Labuschagne, the member of the police team investigating Robert McBride – but now Mufamadi faces civil action for the death of one of Labuschagne’s alleged victims. Mufamadi and police Deputy Commissioner Zolisa Lavisa have resisted calls for Labuschagne’s […]
Mish Middelmann ‘To hell with having our cake and eating it,” Microsoft seems to be saying, “we want the whole damn bakery!” Two weeks ago, Reality Bytes said Microsoft products were declining in quality, while the company begins to undermine its own flagship of universal compatibility. But neither Microsoft nor Bill Gates are stupid or […]
The editor, Phillip van Niekerk, replies to claims against Mail & Guardian reporter Lizeka Mda: Lizeka Mda’s article was merely pointing to a pattern of perception about the leadership style of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki. In politics – despite what Ronald Suresh Roberts says – perception is everything and even hallucinations, if they are genuinely […]
Paul van Woudenberg : Mountain biking Dutch-born athlete Bas de Bever has claimed his greatest downhill mountain biking victory in Stellenbosch, the serene town Afrikaners see as their cultural home. This time last year, he hurtled down the vineyard-clad slopes of Botmaskop, about a kilometre east of Die Moederkerk in the centre of town, to […]
Jonathan Proctor is the former head of Bop Broadcasting Corporation. The bte noir of Lucas Mangope, he aired certain programmes well before Aunty-SABC dared. Publicity-shy and independent, this is a broadcaster with a plethora of skills. He will lead e.tv for five years with Richard Magau as his deputy. Magau is an all-rounder from Bop-TV […]
Mail & Guardian reporter Chief land claims commissioner Joe Seremane is threatening to take the government and the African National Congress to the International Court of Justice in a desperate attempt to solve the murder of his younger brother, Timothy Seremane, at the infamous ANC Quatro camp in 1982. Seremane’s latest salvo against the ANC […]
Doctors at Johannesburg General hospital allegedly refused to examine a dying paraplegic patient, writes Angella Johnson A wheelchair-bound teenager died after he was found sitting in his excrement in the emergency waiting room at Johannesburg General hospital. He had spent four days there waiting to be examined for abdominal and chest pains. Petrus Ndlovu (19) […]
Andy Duffy The University of the Transkei (Unitra) is to embark on a massive reshape involving widespread job losses after a drop in its government funding. Management plans include rebuilding and streamlining the university’s academic programme, merging operations, farming out non-core activities and cutting staff perks such as housing allowances. The proposals follow a large […]