Staff Reporter

FOUR Liberian journalists arrested on espionage charges over an article criticising the government have been denied bail. The prosecution argued that espionage was a “capital offence and is therefore not bailable”. The four were arrested for an article which said the government had spent $50 000 to repair three military helicopters at time when civil […]

In Hillbrow a dispute between two groups claiming ownership of a building has left residents uncertain of their future. Nawaal Deane reports ‘Who should I pay?” This is the question most tenants are asking at the BG Alexander Building in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. Gladys Ndlovu stands outside the building with her tattered mattress up against a […]

Tracy Steward The Mail & Guardian is among South Africa’s fastest-growing weekly newspapers. Our year-on-year sales, according to Audit Bureau of Circulation figures released late last week, have increased by 13,4%. The M&G’s circulation figure for the period July to December 2000 was 37 456, against 33 031 for the same period in 1999. Since […]

Joan Smith Body Language A device to produce female orgasms? Excuse me, but I think we’ve been here before, and I’m not talking about the penis whose value in this context has long been the subject of debate or the kind of battery- driven vibrator you can buy in sex shops. It was mooted as […]

MALAWIS former education minister Cassim Chilumpha has been arrested and charged with corruption over his alleged involvement in awarding contracts for schools which were never built, a court official said. Chilumpha refused to plead guilty or not guilty, saying: “I am confused by the charges”. Chilumpha – who was sacked by President Bakili Muluzi last […]

The assistant director of the Health Department lab allegedly milked medical schemes of nearly R2-million Nawaal Deane A senior national Health Department official, Joel Mokonoto, appeared in court this month on charges of fraudulently milking the state’s medical aid scheme of R1,9-million. The assistant director at the tuberculosis (TB) laboratory in the Health Department is […]

Mail & Guardian reporter Mercedes Sayagues, the Mail & Guardian’s Zimbabwe correspondent, flew into Johannesburg on Thursday afternoon after being expelled by the Robert Mugabe regime. Before her departure from Harare airport, Sayagues, accompanied by her nine-year-old daughter Esmerelda, was told she would not be allowed to leave unless she signed an acknowledgement of receipt […]

whipping boy Murphy’s law if something can go wrong, it will applies to horseracing more than any other sport. So when an animal named All Will Be Well heads what seems to be a reasonable list of “good things” this weekend, one naturally gets suspicious. All Will Be Well takes on nine rivals in the […]

Lauren Shantall The book is dead! Long live the cyber book! Right now, this is merely the kind of conjecture that Web entrepreneurs cling to as they try and convince us that the Internet will revolutionise everything and anything including, in this case, literature. Will the cyber book really reign supreme in the not-too-distant future? […]

Alta Folscher Spending on health, education, social welfare and housing will not keep up with population growth over the next three years, according to government projections. After several years of real growth in social spending, this change reflects the government’s view that existing funds should be disbursed more effectively. Spending on these areas is critical […]

Barbara Ludman Housing policy analyst Mary Tomlinson has spent 15 years looking at innovative ways to house people who can’t walk into a formal lending institution, like a bank, and walk out with a conventional bond. As senior researcher at the Centre for Policy Studies, she monitored the implementation of the country’s new housing policy, […]

Grant Shimmin athletics When one considers the man behind the newest national record in South African athletics, Burger Lambrechts, the clich “it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy” just seems to slip out. Not that one’s first sight of this bull of a man he was a Craven Week lock at school who tips […]

David April review OFTHEWEEK The FNB Vita Dance Umbrella has been a lifeline for South African performers and choreographers. It has grown to such an extent that a third Stepping Stones programme had to be added this year to cope with the increased number of entries. The first two Stepping Stones presenting works from youth/ […]

Khadija Magardie Eons ago the Prince of Denmark delivered his stinging pieces of prose to his once lady love; and, generations later, people are still debating what Hamlet meant by his infamous utterance “Get thee to a nunnery!” to Ophelia. Thanks to Shakespearean innuendo, nobody really knows, even today, whether the words were advice born […]

Peter Leon admits he has no local government skills, so why, experts wonder, was he appointed to oversee the area? Jaspreet Kindra Three months after Peter Leon, the former Democratic Party leader in Gauteng, was approached by Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi to head the ministerial task team on local government transition, […]

Dylan Evans Managing the Human Animal by Nigel Nicholson (Texere) In the past few years, evolutionary psychology (or EP, as it is known) has given the chattering classes a lot to chatter about, but hasn’t had much impact in the world of business. That, however, may be about to change. A new book by Nigel […]

Ntuthuko Maphumulo soccer The gloom that characterised the past year for the South African soccer fraternity might finally be lifting. Last year the under-23 squad failed to lift Olympic gold; we lost the World Cup bid; lost the African women’s nation cup in a final marred by spectator violence in Vosloorus; and just 5 000 […]

Johnny Masilela A collection of short stories by 21 South African writers has just been published in Denmark. Entitled Opbrud, it is published in Danish by the Centre for Literature from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania (Aloa). Its publication was made possible by a generous grant from South Africa Contact (SAC), formerly the Danish […]

Niki Moore There have been more than 100 deaths. There have been more than 52 000 reported cases. Cholera is cutting huge swathes through the rural populations of KwaZulu-Natal and it appears no one has a plan yet. The regional councils of Ugu and Uthungulu, who were given the task of establishing structures to combat […]

The Canterbury Crusaders are probably favourites for a fourth consecutive title, but all South African eyes will be on the local contenders as the Super 12 kicks off Andy Capostagno The sixth season of Super 12 may be the last, with pressure from above to expand the format and take up even more space in […]

Mungo Soggot Trafigura, the trading company embroiled in the South African state oil kickback scandal, has had close links with Marc Rich, the alleged fraudster who broke international oil sanctions against apartheid South Africa and who has been controversially pardoned by former United States president Bill Clinton. Trafigura’s South African joint venture, High Beam Trading […]

Fiona Macleod Ten elephants that have been specially trained to carry tourists on their backs for bush safaris are the latest victims of land invasions by war veterans in Zimbabwe. South African game rancher Alan Selkinder has asked local conservation authorities for permission to give the elephants asylum on his farm in the Northern Province. […]

Mercedes Sayagues My mouth was dry as I walked up to the immigration officer at Harare airport. My future as a journalist in Zimbabwe was hanging on the officer’s reaction. He just took a look at the name on my passport and said “Go to line eight”. Then I knew. Within a few minutes my […]

Guy Willoughby theatre Is this the end or the beginning? How can we understand? John Betjeman’s lines hit home hard last week, as I watched the marvellous first performance in Cape Town of Death of a Salesman at once a gauntlet flung at the future and an elegy for a style of performance in fast […]

Sipho Seepe no blows barred In adopting the final Constitution of 1996, South Africans committed themselves to the creation of a non-racial, non-sexist, just and democratic society. The realisation of this commitment will be measured by the extent to which the country succeeds in transforming society so that being black does not necessarily mean being […]

Figures show that the numbers of houses built in South Africa are now greater than those of Cuba, Singapore and Sweden countries used as benchmarks throughout the world Barry Streek Between 4,5-million and 5-million South Africans have been given “secure tenure” homes since 1994 a level of delivery unsurpassed anywhere in the world, Minister of […]

Robert Kirby CHANNELVISION For those with a sense of nostalgia for a television show that was not only one of the first of its kind, but the product of truly immense gift in its progenitor, I pass on the knowledge that SABC2 is currently running a series of the original The Muppet Show. These half-hour […]

When Tranmere Rovers sent their Mersey rivals Everton and then Southampton crashing out of the FA Cup, it was not only the latest in a long line of giant-killings, but a reminder that loyalty and passion, not sponsorship and TV deals, are what make football ‘the beautiful game’ Kevin Sampson Many Tranmere Rovers supporters are […]

Deon Potgieter boxing Dave Hilton and a host of other boxers, including South Africa’s Dingaan Thobela, will have to wait until March 16 to find out where they stand with regard to the World Boxing Council (WBC) super- middleweight world title. Hilton, who controversially won the title from Thobela on December 15, stands accused on […]

David Macfarlane About 73% of grade seven learners don’t know what apartheid was, 95% know nothing about the 1994 elections and 98% are unaware of township grievances under the apartheid regime. Yet outcomes-based education (OBE) the teaching and learning philosophy that underpins South Africa’s new Curriculum 2005 for schools also produces results at least as […]

It’s a weekend of celebration as local jazz musicians bring out four new discs Thebe Mabanga In the past week, it has been difficult to talk to anyone in the music industry without mentioning the name Moses Taiwa Molelekwa. His tragic death has cast a haunting shadow on the scene. This weekend four artists and […]

Metrorail’s continual delays have infuriated passengers, writes Suzan Chala On Monday I saw a woman knocked down by a train at Longdale station in Johannesburg. She was flung across the railway line, covered with blood. Part of her dress was left hanging on the front of the train. The nightmare started in Naledi when about […]