Staff Reporter

Matthew Engel in the city going crazy over a game of baseball If you wander around the cheapo art shops on Seventh or Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, you can probably still find a framed print of the famous old New Yorker cover which plays tricks with perspective to depict the world as seen from the […]

Mail & Guardian reporters The G7 industrialised nations intervened on behalf of the euro last month to test whether the clamour for United States assets, which has been boosting the dollar on the foreign exchanges, had been overdone, the Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Eddie George, said recently. Since the euro was launched, […]

The country’s first-ever “people’s choice” music awards took place in Johannesburg recently Charl Blignaut Although the Sama Awards have sort of sorted out their categories and got with the programme, and although the Kora Awards have allowed us to take in the bigger pan-African picture, the South African music revolution was still seriously in need […]

David Le Page The abundance of unscrupulous players in the fitness industry, and its failure to set about self-regulation, could make life a lot tougher for the new owners of the Health and Racquet Club (H&RC), whoever they may be. The Department of Trade and Industry has proposed regulations in terms of the Unfair Business […]

Eldene Eyssell and Elisabeth Lickindorf A Stellenbosch team has found a fast, accurate test for the fungus known as “black goo” which has been devastating the world’s vineyards. Slow to grow, the deadly fungus (Phaeomoniella chlamydospora) is difficult to detect in its early stages. Like cholesterol that blocks arteries in humans, the fungus attacks the […]

Robert Kirby CHANNELVISION These last two Tuesdays have seen the broadcast of the awesome BBC production of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast on M-Net. The detail, the imagination and technical tour de force of this series is hard to praise sufficiently. It was received to rapturous critical acclaim in the United Kingdom and sets its own benchmark […]

Michael Berger Crossfire The Mail & Guardian editorial of October 20 to 26 sees the Middle East situation in terms of apartheid, and the Oslo peace accord as an unjust settlement, presumably even as an interim arrangement in an ongoing evolutionary process to finding accommodation for both Jews and Arabs in an inflammable region. This […]

Jaspreet Kindra Thirty-three amakhosi previously aligned to the Inkatha Freedom Party are standing as Democratic Alliance (DA) candidates in December’s local government elections on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. Lack of delivery and development, unemployment and growing disillusionment with the ruling IFP and the African National Congress government have prompted the traditional leaders to seek […]

James Hall The Kingdom of Swaziland has been wracked by an unprecedented bout of public protest after the eviction of two chiefs that cuts to the heart of a social compact that ties Swazis together. For centuries land has been obtained not by ownership but by use and allegiance to the king through his chiefs. […]

Ebrahim Harvey left field Since taking office President Thabo Mbeki has often spoken about the need to “activate” black intellectuals to participate in national debates on transformation and said that they have an important role to play in this regard. He is right. But the truth is that many of our intellectuals, both black and […]

Jaspreet Kindra A COUNTRY UNMASKED: INSIDE SOUTH AFRICA’S TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION by Alex Boraine (Oxford University Press) No Future without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu (Rider) After the TRC: Reflections on truth and reconciliation in South Africa edited by Wilmot James and Linda van der Vijver (David Philip/Ohio University Press) Antjie Krog’s book on the […]

South Africa’s girl next door has swopped her down-to-earth image for something appealing to mortgage-laden post-30s Andrew Kay Sonja Herholdt is back with an exciting new image and album – one, in fact, that contains some of the most stunning new music to be heard on the contemporary pop scene in South Africa. Gone are […]

Nawaal Deane Hendrik Louw was sentenced to three years in prison in December 1998 for pushing his sister-in-law off a balcony. In his judgement, the Booysens magistrate said the fall could have killed her. But he failed to ask one crucial question: how high was the balcony? This week the case found its way to […]

Shaun de Waal Body Language Cape Town artist Peet Pienaar’s work I Want to Tell You Something …, in which he had himself circumcised on camera (reported in this paper last week) raises debate about taboo issues. The first is that of cultural traditions. Fellow artist Thembinkosi Goniwe objected to Pienaar’s original plan to go […]

Rupert Neethling Invasion of privacy is a hotly debated topic on the Web. Which is not surprising, since surfers’ personal details are of interest to anyone from government agencies to marketers. This may not be a big deal to many users, but it is the debate between privacy advocates and marketers, in particular, which is […]

Former Springbok media liaison officer Alex Broun examines how over a period of almost two years Nick Mallett was slowly forced out of his position as Springbok coach, nearly causing a breakaway by the Springbok team in the process Despite what the South African Rugby Football Union’s (Sarfu) public relations department (better known as certain […]

The government has tabled a Bill proposing that all rights of a former homeland statutory body be ceded to it, but a local community says some of its assets belong to them Pule waga Mabe On the dusty and mountainous roads on the outskirts of Tzaneen in the Northern Province lies a big open pit […]

Lehlohonolo Shale Buchaki Theatre’s projects have always had the ability to infuse comedy in order to penetrate some of our social taboos – principally betrayal in relationships. This is the line that runs through Wrong Day, its current offering at Hillbrow’s Windybrow Theatre. Formed during the turmoil of the Eighties, the company produced some of […]

The art world is becoming more intimate due to bonds forged at a cultural development conference in The Netherlands Alex Sudheim A seminal, international art initiative has been launched by 12 young artists from India, Indonesia, Mexico, Mali, Argentina and South Africa. In June, at the behest of the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten and the […]

Nicky Boje has moved from being the second-choice spinner to the star of the South African batting attack Peter Robinson In some respects it seems as if it’s all happened for Nicky Boje in the blink of an eye. One minute he wasn’t there, the next he’s everywhere, knocking off run-a-ball centuries, taking wickets, holding […]

Cedric Mayson Spirit Level Banishing poverty is simple, but not easy. It is a spiritual problem, not merely economic, when prosperous South Africa allows half its population to live in desperate need. No human being should be forced to endure constant hunger, live in a crowded, leaking shack, dice with disease and death as a […]

James Astill Directly inspired by the popular uprising that felled Serbia’s strongman, street protests in Cte d’Ivoire swept out the West African state’s first and only military dictator this week, after less than a year in power. General Robert Gue is in hiding after trying – like Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade – to declare himself […]

Picasso was one of the most valued members of the French Communist Party – until a portrait of Stalin put him at the centre of an ideological row. Gertje R Utley on an artist true to his beliefs On October 4 1944, less than six weeks after the liberation of Paris, Pablo Picasso, then 63, […]

Neal Collins soccer Lucas Radebe’s career has been thrown into doubt after two serious head injuries. The Bafana Bafana and Leeds United captain has been knocked out twice in less than a month – and admits he fears further problems after a series of brain scans. First he clashed heads with team-mate Michael Duberry in […]

The community is said to be undergoing an identity crisis which has become more profound recently Howard Barrell Indian South Africans feel more deeply alienated from the government and the country’s political institutions than any other racially or ethnically defined community, according to a recent opinion survey. The surprise is that they have a significantly […]

Mark Ouma soccer Improved physical conditioning and better team cohesion are keys to a better performance by Banyana Banyana in the Africa Women’s Football Championships next month. The two-week competition – which kicks off on November 11 in Johannesburg – features defending champions Nigeria, runners-up Ghana, Cameroon, Morocco, Runion, Uganda, Zimbabwe and hosts South Africa. […]

Greg Bowes CD OFTHEWEEK The mother city has its designation as a prime party destination confirmed with a scintillating set from Dave Seaman, simply called Cape Town(Global Underground). The mix, a cross-section of the tunes that wowed audiences here earlier this year, emerges all hazy and dubby but by track four – a Futureshock mix […]

When it comes to filling senior posts in the judiciary, a judge’s ability is no longer determined by the number of gray hairs on his head Khadija Magardie When the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), the body tasked with appointing judges, met this week to interview its latest batch of candidates, its preoccupation with “transformation” appeared […]

The Gunners are through to the next round of the Uefa Champions League with a game to spare Neal Collins That’s more like it. Arsenal’s emphatic 4-2 win over Czech champs Sparta Prague on Wednesday will have the rest of Europe sweating – and boy, did the Brits need a result like that after the […]

Ten people were killed on the R66 route to Eshowe in KwaZulu-Natal after a taxi driver allegedly overtook on a barrier line in rainy conditions and crashed head-on with an oncoming truck. Five men, including the taxi driver, and five women died instantly. Four other women were taken to hospital in a serious condition. The […]

David Le Page An extraordinary new vehicle with a unique power source is lined up for production in South Africa, offering hope for those incensed by the cost of hydrocarbons. The car, called the Taxi ZerO Pollution (TOP), runs off motive energy stored as compressed air in tanks resembling those of scuba divers. The compressed […]

The workers’ compensation system fails to protect those it claims to serve Paula Howell Khadija Magardie’s article “Workers’ fund crippled by ‘steady rot’” (October 13 to 19) was an accurate description of what is happening in workers’ compensation. There is, however, a more fundamental problem, which is whether the current system can adequately serve the […]