Ellen Bartlett looks at the significance of the discovery of the bones of two children near Sterkfontein The question that probably will never be answered is how the bodies of two children ended up in a cave on the farm called Drimolen. Perhaps they died there, of cold, disease, starvation. Perhaps they died nearby, and […]

Lucy Hannan in Nairobi Surrounded by filth and terrorised by crime, residents of the suburb of Korogocho routinely refer to themselves as the “forgotten ones”. But even their misery could be ignored when a cholera epidemic took grip in Nairobi’s slums as a nurses’ strike entered its third week. Government hospitals have remained deserted since […]

Mungo Soggot : A Second Look Judge Monas Flemming bestowed on Allan Greenblo the honour of becoming the new South Africa’s first banned author when he turned the clock back on the country’s media law in the Johannesburg High Court last week. His decision to ban Greenblo’s biography of Sol Kerzner was all the more […]

There are grounds for thanksgiving, perhaps, that Nelson Mandela’s sudden taste for loquaciousness did not lead him to challenge Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s record of 11 days as the world’s longest speech. But South Africa has little else to be grateful for where the president’s five- hour “Enemies of Change” address to the African National Congress […]

Howard W French In a cavernous hall that once served as the VIP bar of an overthrown dictator’s ruling party, several dozen shabbily dressed children shout out the refrain “Jesus Christ lives!” as they are led through prayers by an evangelist preacher. Just five months ago, nearly all these children lived on the filthy streets […]

Africa Marcellus Chuene writes a cautionary message to Pallo Jordan and the new elite I am responding to an article by Pallo Jordan that appeared in the Mail & Guardian of November 28 to December 4 1997 entitled “ANC must cultivate the new elite”. I am not opposed to the views of the minister about […]

FRIDAY, 5.30PM: FUTURES trades hijacked the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Friday during the last two hours of trade as the December ’97 contracts closed out leading most of the major indices to be knocked lower as the derivatives market sold scrip, dealers said. At the close the all gold index had gained 4,8 points to […]

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is likely to bounce back from the apparent public humiliation of her last-minute withdrawal from the deputy presidency race – after garnering paltry support on the conference floor – by coming out tops in elections for the national executive committee (NEC). The result – due out on Saturday – will ensure her survival […]

Janet Smith The pigeons were shitting all over irreplaceable original artworks, so Lesley Cohn came up with a simple but brilliant solution to the problem: chicken wire in the eaves. If only the pungent details of The Bag Factory’s outstanding rates bill with the Transitional Metropolitan Council (TMC) were as obvious to unravel. More than […]