POINT: In April 2001, 22 months after Thabo Mbeki became president, the Mail & Guardian ran a full-length front-cover photograph of him alongside the question: ”Is this man fit to rule?” Letters to the paper the following week convey the intensity of the reaction. ”Who are these racists masquerading as newspapermen?”
<b>COUNTERPOINT:</b> While we agree with our colleague Drew Forrest that Mbeki is a man past his sell-by date, we do not agree that the paper was ahead of its time in its appraisal of Mbeki. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> 2001 and the<i> M&G</i> 2008 are two different papers.
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/ 24 November 2005
Former editor Howard Barrell reflects on a time of sometimes painful transition at the <i>M&G</i>.