Staff Reporter

John Pilger crossfire Kevin Toolis’s article last week about Peter Hain, “Hain’s world”, contributed to the promotion of Hain as South Africa’s “son of the soil” and bold liberal voice in Tony Blair’s government, but left much unsaid. These days Hain is seen very differently in Britain from the portrait painted by Toolis, who failed […]

The current South African team has been heavily influenced by the West Indies and now the Proteas are off to the Caribbean to take on their ‘mentors’ John Young Last Saturday principals, cricket teachers, parents and provincial coaches would have been forgiven for allowing themselves a pat on the back when Rushdi Magiet announced the […]

Paul Kirk Larger-than-life prison boss Russel Ngubo is again in hot water this time after trying to free prisoners so he could play soccer with them. On Saturday morning Ngubo arrived at the gates of the Pietermaritzburg New prison and announced that prisoners were to be let out to play soccer on a nearby field. […]

Glenda Daniels Brutal forced removals are taking place in Thokoza, but local councillors are making no apologies for the lack of humanity involved. Gauteng provincial government officials are abdicating responsibility, saying “it’s an autonomous local government issue”. Councillor for Thokoza ward 21, Mahlomola Mabote, says: “I’ve heard many times I am responsible for what is […]

MUNGO SOGGOT, Johannesburg | Friday TRAFIGURA, the trading company embroiled in the South African state oil kickback scandal, has 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. Trafiguras South African joint venture, High […]

The shack dwellers of Unit F in Thokoza received no notification to vacate the land and were unprepared when the demolishers arrived Thuli Nhlapo The screaming started at 5am when men in red overalls invaded the tiny informal settlement. “It was still dark and I was on my way to the toilet when they approached […]

Paul Kirk Nurses chanting freedom songs took to the streets in the Eastern Cape last week, demanding the axing of the head of the South African National Tuberculosis Association (Santa) the largest organisation responsible for fighting the disease. The Eastern Cape is one of the areas hardest hit by an “epidemic” of tuberculosis (TB) that […]

Ireland are no longer the wooden spoon contenders in the Six Nations Championship Neal Collins A year ago, Warren Gatland’s future in Ireland looked about as secure as a hill climber in Holland or a water diviner in Britain this soggy winter. On February 5 2000 the big Kiwi had seen his Ireland side, consistent […]

WARRING factions in the Democratic Republic of Congo have agreed to begin disengaging their troops on March 15. Diplomatic sources said United Nations observers will monitor the withdrawal of forces, which is to be carried out over a two-week period. The six countries and three rebel groups that have been fighting in the central African […]

Each passing day Zimbabwe looks more like a country destined to bear out the adage that those whom the gods would destroy they first make mad. This cradle of a great, ancient civilization, this most promising and beautiful of countries, is in the thrall of a lunatic who, in the service of his hubris, is […]

Adam Sweeting CD OFTHEWEEK It’s difficult to believe that Radiohead once made The Bends, a rock record with power-chords, choruses and a Turtlewax production job. Even listeners raised on Krautrock or Ornette Coleman will find Kid A (Parlophone) a mystifying experience. Thom Yorke rejects the notion that the disc was designed to be “challenging”, but […]

Valentine Cascarino food ‘Henry, darling, that food is getting cold. Bacon-and-egg isn’t worth eating when it isn’t hot.” I was sipping a cup of skinny cappucino, waiting for my breakfast at De La Crme, at the bottom of Seventh Street in Melville, when my deer-like ears caught Henry’s distress signal. “This is ridiculous food,” snapped […]

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 […]

Jabulani Mzaliya right to reply A cursory reading of Craig Tanner’s Letters to the Best Man (February 2 to 8) may excite literary fundi as an honest attempt at avante garde satire. However, the subtext is that Dr Essop Pahad is like a monkey sitting on the President’s shoulder only so that the President may […]

The government has finally established guidelines to screen women for this disease Khadija Magardie For the first time ever the Department of Health has a policy on the single biggest cancer killer of middle-aged, but also younger, black South African women cervical cancer. Approved in the middle of last year at national level, the guide- […]

Victory in Malawi on Sunday would ease South Africa’s passage to next year’s World Cup in Japan and Korea Andrew Muchineripi Rugby legend Naas Botha never hesitated to point out that the Currie Cup was not won in May, so perhaps the third round is a mite premature to pass World Cup judgement on Bafana […]

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 […]

White South African emigrs carry on as though they’ve been driven into exile, but they’re having a whale of a time, Matthew Krouse discovers in Perth Perth: the city white South African dreams are made of. Nestling serenely on the banks of the mighty Swan River (more a coastal estuary) it fits contradictory descriptions. If […]

We’ve been inundated with calls and e-mails from many regular readers of the Daily Mail & Guardian, The Teacher, PCReview and Q websites who have been unable to access their daily online fix for the past week. The reason is that Internet service provider (ISP) M-Web, which owns two-thirds of the website, last week took […]

Peter Robinson cricket With the best will in the world, this has not been a particularly outstanding week for the administration of South African cricket. Only by the grace of God did the Standard Bank Cup semifinals manage to resolve themselves in time for Wednesday’s final and while Ray Jennings eventually backed down ahead of […]

Dale T McKinley crossfire African National Congress MP Ben Turok (“A conflict is looming between two worlds”, February 16 to 22) tries very hard to emulate those liberal capitalists-cum-sensitive human beings who always want to have it both ways. In Turok’s case, he waxes lyrical about the “new” anti-globalisation social movements taking on nasty capitalist […]

Municipal libraries are cautiously entering the information technology age with plans to introduce limited Internet access Buff Thokoa When was the last time you stepped into a library? If you are like me and enjoy these serenely musty environments with their treasure of information, advice and pure entertainment, you may have noticed a distinct lack […]

This is an open letter to Dr Ben Ngubane, Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, by Mike van Graan, carried on the artslink website Dear Minister Ben Ngubane, It must be quite difficult being the minister responsible for arts and culture right now. The Playhouse, which you’ve promoted as the epitome of transformation, has […]

Budget 2001 continues the theme of increased spending and a lower revenue-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio over the projections made in budget 2000, as announced in the medium-term budget policy statement in October 2000. It also signals a fiscal policy shift from macroeconomic stability concerns to microeconomic reform. The increased spending is based on a […]

Dale T McKinley Second look For a man who might soon find himself facing the life-threatening wrath of a former comrade turned despotic head of state, Dzinashe Machingura shows amazingly little concern. Maybe that’s because he is better placed than most to know exactly who and what he is dealing with. Machingura (aka Wilfred Mhanda) […]

Glenda Daniels Two blind workers were dismissed from a private health company this month and have filed charges at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). This followed a restructuring exercise in the North West company where everyone was required to reapply for their jobs, but the two blind men were not rehired. The […]

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 […]

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 […]