David McDonald Truth or fiction every impoverished person on the African continent is desperately trying to get into South Africa to find work or commit crimes, and current border operations are simply unable to cope with this growing human tide? Unfortunately, this alarming scenario is all too easy to believe given the nature of police […]
Madeleine Roux : Moveable feast Food fashion victims went through a quail- egg phase some time ago. Naked little ovals were served in nests of designer lettuce, or tiny fried eggs on toast bites. As if this fascination with miniature werent enough prepare for the arrival of the quail itself. Its not much bigger than […]
Mungo Soggot The top government oil trader suspended in March on the instructions of Minister of Minerals and Energy Penuell Maduna has been awarded a salary increase. Chair of the Central Energy Fund (CEF), Don Mkhwanazi, confirmed this week that he had upped Kobus van Zyls salary and said he would decide whether to discipline […]
Andrew Worsdale went on set at Brave Two Zero an international war-action film being shot in South Africa In January 1991 an eight-man SAS (Special Air Services) team went behind Iraqi lines on a mission to take out Iraqi president Saddam Husseins portable scud missile launchers and break strategic communication lines between Baghdad and North […]
Sechaba kaNkosi Zodwa does not know her age but she looks about 16. She cannot read or write, and every morning she wakes up before dawn to get her one-year-old child ready and, by six, starts her duties at a small farm near Boksburg. If you are a few minutes late, the farmer forfeits your […]
Craig Bishop Seven years ago, the tiny Eastern Cape hamlet of Hertzog was referred to as the valley that died. Today, many of its 1 000 inhabitants have increased their earnings fivefold and are leading the way in community-based agricultural initiatives. The national governments recently released draft, Rural Development Strategy, focuses on the concept of […]
Suzy Bell In an explosive report in last weeks Mail & Guardian we exposed the chaos surrounding the financial records of the the KwaZulu Natal Arts Cultural Council (KZNACC). Now, as an internal audit and an external investigation by Dr Vincent Zulu, Kwazulu- Natal minister of Education and Culture, draw to a close, new questions […]
This weekends Kora Awards focus attention on African music. We consider the nominees, Africas peace song and Baaba Maal, last years best vocalist winner Gwen Ansell Theres crisis in Africa. A bunch of famous singers get together to make a song about it and, yes, yawn, youve been there, heard the music, and almost certainly […]
Lay down your swords and get on with the job The last we heard about the hotly contested Basic Conditions of Employment Bill was Tito Mbowenis unilateral announcement a few weeks ago that consensus had been reached a claim as quickly refuted by business as by the labour constituency. Since then, no attempt has been […]
In these two excerpts selected for the M&G by JMCoetzee from Boyhood, his new book, he recalls episodes of his early years in Worcester and Cape Town The bicycle They live on a housing estate outside the town of Worcester, between the railway line and the National Road. The streets of the estate have tree-names […]