Noreena Hertz, one of the world’s leading young thinkers whose new book on corporate power is sparking intense debate, argues that governments’ surrender to big business is the deadliest threat facing democracy today In the hullabaloo following the United States presidential election, with hanging and pregnant chads, and ballot forms that needed a PhD to […]
A seventh league title in nine years could not ease the pain of losing in Munich and Alex Ferguson’s team might split up David Lacey and M&G reporters A championship hat-trick is still sufficiently rare in English football to be worth a second glance. Yet such are the changed priorities among top clubs that no […]
South Africa’s victory over the West Indies puts the Proteas within reach of greatness Peter Robinson Just over two years ago South Africa beat the West Indies 5-0 in a home series, only the fourth five-Test clean sweep in Test history. Rather than acclaim for a considerable achievement, however, the triumph was dogged by incessant […]
Roshila Pillay food In Hindu mythology, King Dasaratha greatly desired an heir. As part of the prescribed ceremony, he gave each of his three wives a cake to eat and subsequently the gods generously granted him four sons (one of his wives had twins). Desserts or sweetmeats, as they’re known in Indian culture are an […]
Ntuthuko Maphumulo soccer Bafana Bafana have a hectic schedule in the coming two weeks. They play Italy on Wednesday in Perugia and four days later take on Mozambique in Maputo in a Cosafa Cup match, followed by a World Cup qualifier at FNB against Zimbabwe on May 5. The friendly against the European powerhouse ranked […]
Hanif Kureishi is a playwright, novelist and film-maker. He talks to Robert McCrum about death, his father and the suburbs of Bromley Hanif Kureishi started out as a playwright, with his first play, Soaking the Heat, staged at the Royal Court Theatre in 1976. He wrote the script for the acclaimed Stephen Frears film My […]
Paul Lester CD OFTHEWEEK Perhaps even more than Fatboy Slim and the Chemical Brothers, Artful Dodger are the most successful dance act in the United Kingdom today. Southampton thirtysomethings Mark Hill and Pete Devereux sold upwards of 1,5-million copies of their first three singles, Re-Rewind, Movin’ Too Fast and Woman Trouble, over the last 12 […]
Nawaal Deane and Mungo Soggot Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi has denied he fled the scene of the Ellis Park soccer stampede, amid allegations from other police officers that, after attending as a spectator, he abandoned the stadium and only returned later in a police helicopter. Selebi dismisses any suggestion that he fled the scene, […]
Deon Potgieter Two of South Africa’s best will be in action on the undercard of the Lennox Lewis-Hasim Rahman universal heavyweight world title fight at Carnival City in the early hours of Sunday morning. Lehlohonolo Ledwaba, the best pound-for-pound boxer active in South Africa at the moment, makes the fifth defence of his International Boxing […]
THE Portuguese government on Wednesday signed an agreement with the Mozambique government to disburse $18m to support flood victims in this southern African country, a year after devastating floods in southern and central Mozambique. Pledged at a donors’ conference last May, the money arrived almost a year late. The governors of the Manica, Sofala, Tete […]
Doug Pollitt in Toronto Gold mining is a miserable place to do business these days. Sure, a soft local currency cushions things a little, but it nonetheless remains that production is declining, reserves are depleting and future prospects are dimming. Imagine looking up as you, a gold miner, take the cage down for the start […]
Neal Collins says there are lessons to be learnt from Britain in order to avoid a repeat of Wednesday’s disaster Like a lot of far more talented individuals, I’ve played football at Ellis Park. In front of 101 000 people, or so they reckoned when they counted the receipts. The same Ellis Park that hosted […]
Ntuthuko Maphumulo soccer Just two Bob Save Super Bowl quarterfinals will take place this weekend, with Kaizer Chiefs’ and Orlando Pirates’ games postponed so their players and officials can attend the funerals of the 43 victims of the Ellis Park stampede. Santos will face Maritzburg City on Saturday and Sundowns will face Manning Rangers at […]
David Le Page One of South Africa’s most prominent financial services companies stands accused of exposing policyholders’ funds to excessive risk. Senior figures in the financial services industry this week took the rare step of raising serious questions on the record about Fedsure’s handling of their smoothed bonus Guaranteed Fund. Such funds are designed to […]
SOME of the nine Noordelikes Rugby Club members accused of murdering a Northern Province teenager may apply for bail in the Pietersburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. The bail application got off the ground on Wednesday, and bail was denied to the club’s match secretary Jaco Hartslief, who was the first to apply. The nine accused […]
Thebe Mabanga MUSIC Guitar prodigy Selaelo Selota will be well advised to savour the adulation that comes with the status of being in vogue on the music scene a fact that was confirmed with a South African Music Award (Sama) for best newcomer recently.? For lurking ominously in the background is Ernest John Smith, who […]
Sipho Seepe no blows barred Kader Asmal’s first public pronouncement when he took up his education portfolio was a breath of fresh air. With characteristic boldness, he declared that the education system was in crisis. This unprecedented admission endeared the triumphant minister to the public. After five years of democratic governance, conditions in black schools […]
John Matshikiza with the lid off One of the early successes scored by the Belgian cartoonist Herg was a book-length adventure called Tintin in the Congo. Written in the 1930s, it has Tintin, the morally impeccable, orange-quiffed wonder boy from hell, storming around the then Belgian colony with his smart-alecky talking dog, bashing up scheming […]
ONE person was killed and two were wounded when government warplanes dropped bombs on civilians gathered at an airstrip in the Nuba Mountains region of central Sudan, missionaries said on Wednesday. The Antonov planes dropped 14 bombs at Kauda airstrip where the people had gathered on Monday to bid farewell to visiting representatives of Italian […]
Bruce Whitfield Stockbrokers and analysts have been lured away by a United States subsidiary of the world’s biggest banking group, which looks poised to set up shop in South Africa. At least 20 stockbroking staff and analysts are leaving ING Barings South Africa to join US-based Citigroup subsidiary Salomon Smith Barney, which is due to […]
Stewart Bailey Harmony Gold, South Africa’s third-largest gold producer, is to shed more than 10% about 300 000 ounces of unprofitable annual gold production. The move hints at a turbulent round of March quarter production and financial results for South Africa’s gold miners. The largely unhedged Harmony Gold is renowned for making ends meet in […]
The producer of the magazine Hei Voetsek, Zebulon Dread, visited Oudtshoorn at festival time only to run in horror from what he found on the town streets It was the fifth consecutive year that I had loudly, brazenly and quite crazily taken it upon myself to go into the heartland of the enemy the Klein […]
NAMIBIA on Thursday welcomed a United Nations Security Council report exonerating the government on illegal mining activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The report, which was approved by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, on the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth in the DRC, was compiled by a panel […]
Alec Hogg Boardroom talk The detailed performances of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) during the first quarter of this year show there is still very good money to be made on shares provided you pick the right stocks. And judging from the experience of the first three months, finding companies involved in “corporate action” produces […]
Ufrieda Ho The number of animal experiments in South Africa is anybody’s guess. South African vivisectors are left to police themselves and are governed by a voluntary code of ethics. Despite calls by anti-vivisection lobbyists and some scientists for the government to produce transparent monitoring of the industry, the government is still to act. “It’s […]
Paul Kirk Armscor bosses are set to make a killing by buying arms from companies of which they are shareholders or directors. This week the Mail & Guardian obtained Armscor documents showing that Armscor chair Ron Haywood is a director of another company, Dynamic Cables, which is among the front runners to supply key components […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Carson City, Nevada | Friday SEBASTIAN Stephanus Bridges, the South African national sentenced to death for killing his estranged wife’s lover in Nevada, is ready to die. Bridges won’t appeal, even though he has said he is not guilty and was treated unfairly in court. Governor Kenny Guinn said this week he would […]
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The head of Sanco Investment Holdings (SIH), the investment arm of the South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco), has accused the president of Sanco of conspiring with a former employee to destroy the company. Moses Mayekiso, the managing director of SIH, and Sanco president Mlungisi Hlongwane are both contesting the presidency […]
Nearly 90 years after its birth Alexandra township, renowned for its squalor, is to undergo a revamp Ntuthuko Maphumulo As you enter Alexandra township you are greeted by the smell of rubbish and toilets. It comes from shacks on the pavements. Women wash and rinse their clothes on the road, which is also a playground […]
Robert Kirby CHANNELVISION It’s hard not to be cynical about the media response to the fatalities at Ellis Park last week. Print was bad enough, but South African television once again showed itself up as an institution almost completely devoid of dignity or restraint. I am sure that in the television newsrooms they hang a […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday FORMER Umkhonto we Sizwe commander and current foreign affairs official Robert McBride, former Vlakplaas police commander Eugene de Kock and rightwing leader Piet Skiet Rudolph have been given amnesty for various attacks committed during the apartheid era. McBride and ANC special operations senior commander Aboobaker Ismail were given amnesty for […]
Martin Gillingham road running South Africa might be without a royal household but this weekend one of the republic’s subjects could well find himself crowned monarch of his own kingdom in a ceremony performed right in front of Buckingham Palace. There may be nothing blue about the stuff that flows through Hendrick Ramaala’s veins but […]