Hazel Friedman Benni McCarthy acquired his soccer prowess by ducking and diving from the gangs who ruled his home turf. Well, that’s how the “against-all-odds” theorists would like to write the rag-to-riches story of 20-year- old soccer superstar Benedict McCarthy. Surveying the terrain where McCarthy grew up, it is miraculous that he not only resisted […]

Fiona Macleod The next time you raise your glass to Bacchus, ponder this: you may be poisoning yourself with the remains of chameleons which get mulched in the wine-making process. The organisers of a campaign to save chameleons in the Western Cape say they are being decimated by mechanical harvesters which have been imported from […]

Njongonkulu Ndungane: Ubuntu We stand on the threshold of opportunities which range from building on the economic strength of a country that arguably has one of the most developed infrastructures in Africa, to the challenge of ensuring that our fledgling democracy works. But we also face many other hurdles. All the good intentions and wise […]

Simon Caulkin in London It was trumpeted as the key to reducing unemployment. Everyone, just everyone, agreed: flexible working was A Good Thing. It was the wonder drug for good management. As with the medical variety, management wonder drugs all too often turn out to have nasty side effects. Indeed, sometimes the complications are worse […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi Gauteng MEC for Safety and Security Jessie Duarte, whose political career hangs in the balance, personally handed an allegedly fraudulent document to the Mail & Guardian last week in an attempt to ward off a series of damaging allegations levelled against her. The commission of inquiry investigating the charges heard this week that […]

Marion Edmunds The Eastern Cape government is allowing the province’s natural assets and tourist attractions to go down the tubes, because of a lack of funds, skills and political will to preserve the environment. Despite official denials of collapse, the picture of conservation in the Eastern Cape – the only province in the country which […]

The Mail & Guardian continued its steady growth with the latest ABC circulation figures showing a 5% year-on-year increase. The paper’s ABC figure from July to December last year was 34 144 copies, compared with 32 510 for the last six months of 1996. The paper experienced its highest sale ever over the Christmas period, […]

Peter Beaumont and Shyam Bhatia Who is . . . Saddam Hussein? Saddam Hussein doesn’t take chances. Two weeks ago when the United States first threatened to rain bombs on Baghdad, he moved the young thugs of the amn al’rais, the presidential security force that always accompanies him, out of their barracks and into quarters […]

Belinda Beresford Too broke to pay full price for that ticket to Cape Town or around the world? Quailing at the thought of standby again? Why not try to catch your flight using a ticket auction on the Internet? Ticket auctions allow you to offer a price for a ticket, usually subject to a minimum […]