Janet Smith There was remarkably little snow and far fewer fat white men in red suits sleighing across the hundreds of Christmas cards that passed through the Mail & Guardian offices this year. It has taken some time for South African Christmas card manufacturers to realise that we’re not in the northern hemisphere, and now […]

Chris McGreal Nigeria’s military government is poised for a new wave of arrests following the detention of 11 senior officers accused of plotting to violently overthrow the country’s dictator, General Sani Abacha. A senior army source said the alleged plot extended beyond those already detained. Those arrested last weekend include Abacha’s deputy, three other generals […]

TUESDAY, 5.30PM: FESTIVE cheer seemed to help recharge the JSE on Tuesday, where the gold index climbed another 19,2 points to 810,9 thanks to the advancing international bullion price. Gold shares have climbed 45,3 points since Friday’s close. The gold price reached $292,55 in London, with some dealers predicting that it could reach $300 before […]

TUESDAY 1.30PM: FORMER Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda returned home on Sunday for the first time since a failed coup in October against his successor President Frederick Chiluba. Kaunda office said on Monday that he returned by road from neighboring Zimbabwe after a two-month lecture tour that also took him to Britain, the United States, India […]

How clued up are you on the highs and lows of 1997? Exercise your memory with this brain-teaser 1 South African arms were found in at least three African hot-spots this year. Which countries were they? 2 Which South African city is leading the pack of candidates as the future site of Parliament? 3 A […]

Desmond Tutu’s concept of a rainbow nation just doesn’t match up to reality, writes Lizeka Mda If ever there was any doubt that the notion of a rainbow nation is unravelling, President Nelson Mandela’s speech at the African National Congress’s 50th conference laid those doubts to rest. For almost four years as the president of […]

The truth commission was confronted this year with bouts of amnesia, half-truths and outright lies — and scenes of humanity * “I am not in possession of any information that might be of use to you.” — Former president FW de Klerk, giving the National Party’s response to questions posed by the truth commission about […]

Was Madeleine Albright correct in hailing Africa’s ‘strong new leaders’ as ‘beacons of hope’ during her recent tour of the continent? Chris McGreal reports aThey have been hailed as the “new breed” of African leaders, the kind of men who front this continent’s renaissance heralded by Thabo =0BMbeki. Others have disparaged them as little different […]

The Electronic Mail & Guardian, the daily online sister to the print edition, won a Loerie design award for best Internet news site, beating almost 100 rivals. eM&G editor Irwin Manoim became the first journalist in the history of the Loeries to win the advertising industry’s most prestigious award. Antjie Krog was the joint recipient […]

Gwen Ansell Jazz ‘You know,” says Damon Forbes, “with all my artists, right up to now, I couldn’t tell whether any of them played a bum note.” This bluff philistine act might just fool you if you didn’t know who Forbes was. He looks the part: six-foot, rugby-player shoulders, ruddy face — the kind of […]