Staff Reporter

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Friday ZIMBABWE’S Supreme Court this week again tried to end a violent squatter campaign on white-owned farms, and gave President Robert Mugabe’s government six months to craft an acceptable land reform program. The nation’s highest court told police for the third time in two months that they had to evict squatters […]

“The daily slaughters of men, women and children is an indictment against each and every one of you.” Former president Nelson Mandela, addressing the belligerents in the Burundi conflict in Tanzania “The only way in which Dene Smuts was disadvantaged by apartheid was that she was prevented from having sex across the colour line.” Minister […]

It was supposed to have been a universal high, but culturally the year 2000 was one of blood, guts and acrimony Matthew Krouse Below the belt: October 23. It was a foreskin fury when artist Peet Pienaar raised the ire of fellow exhibitor Thembinkosi Goniwe upon announcing he was to stage his own circumcision as […]

!Xu-Kwe Radio is a first in Southern Africa a station that caters exclusively for two San communities, in their own languages Jubie Matlou Nine-year-old Willem Kovia narrated the origins of a fall-out between a bear and wolf on the one hand, and a rabbit on the other, that resulted in the latter becoming a target […]

THE corpse of man was left lying in Kampala’s main taxi park for two days because of fears that he had died of the highly contagious Ebola fever. The old man had been bleeding through the nose, eyes and mouth shortly before he collapsed and died on Sunday morning, according to media reports. A lorry […]

Denise Ford State hospitals are dysfunctional places over the festive season. Staff are run at skeleton levels, on the theory that “non-urgent” cases will be kept at a minimum. Unfortunately, the state’s continued cutting of resources and beds in secondary and tertiary care facilities means that most beds are filled with very ill patients. It […]

Mail & Guardian reporters The Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, has axed the board of the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) and called in the police to pursue a criminal investigation of the state oil company’s R1,5-billion deal with an international oil company. Mlambo-Ngcuka has also asked for the resignation of Keith Kunene, […]

It has been recognised that there are inherent problems in a system like globalisation, where capital calls the shots, while labour is voiceless Larry Elliott A subtle shift has occurred in the lexicon of globalisation over the past 12 months. Prior to Seattle, it was assumed that there was an inexorable logic to the process […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, United Nations | Friday CANADA has proposed that the UN Security Council create a team of experts to permanently monitor the sanctions regime applied against diamond and weapons smuggling that funds armed conflicts. The best way to ensure a follow-up of UN sanctions is “establishing a permanent office … to monitor the sanctions,” […]

KwaZulu-Natal gets the honours as South Africa’s dodgiest province in the year 2000 Paul Kirk They fled with trust funds, they fleeced investors and they stole from the state this year’s crop of rogues proved that crime does pay and that 2000 was a bumper year for South Africa’s underworld. The survivor of the year […]

All that glitters: Having been knighted, actor Antony Sher was celebrated by Ambassador Cheryl Carolus at South Africa House. As an openly gay man he lamented that his partner, theatre director Gregory Doran, would not be called Lady Gregory from then on. Going for gold: In an industry full of fat egos and tiny balls, […]

In the quest for fast food and efficiency people have forgotten how to taste. A lobby group aims to reawaken the senses Barry Streek Mercifully, a new international movement has been launched, first in Italy and now sweeping the United States, to promote the enjoyment of food and the long lunch or dinner. Slow Food, […]

SOME 28 million people are going hungry in sub-Saharan Africa because of drought and civil war, the UN food agency said in a report this week. The Food and Agriculture Organisation said in Eritrea, some 1.5 million people have been displaced by a two-year border war – now officially over – with Ethiopia, and they, […]

Cedric Mayson spirit level Oupa: What are you drawing? Child: It’s a picture of Jesus. Oupa: But no one knows what Jesus looked like. Child: They will do when I’ve finished. The marvellous Christmas pictures drawn by Luke and Matthew are full of meaning and to dismiss them as myths is to miss the point. […]

For foreign investment to grow in South Africa, political leaders must learn to be careful about what they say Reg Rumney The South African economy enters the new year with a lot to prove. The growth rate for 2000, which has been steadily revised downwards, is now expected to come in at 3% way off […]

Andy Capostagno rugby ‘Dear Santa Claus, I hope you can find time during your busiest period to visit my humble home in Hermanus. I can assure you that the mince pie and glass of sherry will be above the hearth as usual and while I am grateful for the presents you have showered on me […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday APPROXIMATELY a fifth, or 16%, of South African graduates want to leave the country either permanently or only for a few years, a recently published Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) study has found, Die Burger newspaper reports. Only one third of the people, who are planning to go overseas, […]

Making the grade What the scores mean A: Take a bow. You’re doing an excellent job B: Good, but room for improvement C: You’re OK, but that’s all we can say for you D: Get your act together. You’re verging on useless E: Do yourself and the country a favour: resign F: You’re fired Last […]

Gavin Foster It’s hard to believe that all the fuss about the “millennium bug” took place a full year ago. But a year can be an age in sport. Sharks and Springbok winger Deon Kayser hasn’t been really thrilled this year. “I broke my jaw in the World Cup semifinal against Australia last year, and […]

Khadija Magardie Cynthia Shange’s eyes light up when she describes the summer night in 1972 that she says changed her life for ever. The then reigning Miss Natal remembers the smoke-filled venue, brimming with a capacity crowd, screaming, whistling and calling for her as she stood before them, her white swimsuit glowing under the lights. […]

Andy Capostagno golf This was the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese calendar, but if it is possible for one man to influence the heavens then it was quite definitely the Year of the Tiger. A young American wrote his name in the history books so consistently there can be little doubt that this […]

Deon Potgieter boxing The future of boxing received two serious blows last weekend in two world title bouts featuring South African fighters. On Saturday Mbulelo Botile hammered a brave Paul Ingle into a critical condition in their International Boxing Federation featherweight world title bout in England. The night before, Dingaan Thobela was robbed of his […]

Robert Kirby CHANNELVISION I confess happily to being an ardent South Park fan. There can be no other television programme, of whatever form or theme, which has stretched the limits of tolerance quite as far as this one has. Dreamed up by two high school boys and pushed into reality by them as soon as […]

Undoubtedly the country’s holiday capital, Cape Town is brimming with funky festive fare Guy Willoughby ‘Save water save the Cape”, breathes the man on the radio as you wing down the N2, through the Huguenot tunnel and into the Peninsula. So the first tip for this post- or pre-millennial summer is: don’t drink the H2O. […]

Sheree Russouw Last year, as millions of people across the globe guzzled champagne and saluted the new century with rowdy renditions of Auld Lang Syne, the pervasive threat of Y2K was on their minds. But the predictions of computer systems crashing worldwide on the eve of the millennium paled this year alongside a very real […]

Iden Wetherell What has turned out to be the most ill-fated year in Zimbabwe’s history more devastating in its impact than the Great Depression of the 1930s started off on a hopeful note. A commission appointed by President Robert Mugabe to draw up a new Constitution had heard country-wide evidence of the head of state’s […]

Nawaal Deane Choosing a toy that is politically correct, educationally based, functionally and physically stimulating, that is non- satanist and does not perpetuate aggressive, violent behaviour are criteria most parents consider. But their children just want to have fun … and keep up with their classmates. The Mail & Guardian asked the experts how some […]

With no presents or homes to go to, street children won’t see much festive cheer this season Boetie Damane While many, bolstered by seasonal good cheer and fat 13th cheques, are whipping themselves into a spending spree this Christmas, what is the state of the Yuletide economy for Mduduzi, Nhlanhla, Mpho & Co, teenaged members […]

From the US election fiasco to the cricket match-fixing scandal, it’s been an interesting start to the millennium David Le Page The United States Supreme Court helped George “Dubya” Bush to become that country’s next contribution to unfettered international capitalism, while 2,3-million votes across the country went uncounted. In Russia, premier Boris Yeltsin stepped down […]

With plenty of entertainment on television, there’s no reason to feel alone this festive season Christmas Eve (Sunday December 24) SABC1, 13:00 Christmas in London The Serendipity Singers and various guests perform Christmas music e.tv, 15:00 ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS Average comedy about two children whose Christmas wish is to get their divorced parents […]

As Beijing braces for its full plunge into global trade, a cautious realism is replacing the old illusions John Gittings The Chinese phrase for joining the World Trade Organisation which should finally take place in the coming year is rushi or “entering the world”. After more than 20 years of economic reform and “opening up”, […]

Belinda Beresford At first hearing usually being sung by squeaky pre-pubescent voices The 12 Days of Christmas is a collection of nonsense phrases designed to test the memory. But like many nursery rhymes the song has a grimmer history. It was forged in the fires of the British Reformation, when the Church of England, created […]