Andrew Muchineripi SOCCER To most countries in Southern Africa the Castle Cup is manna from heaven, a rare opportunity for cash- strapped football associations to make money while spending none as the brewer foots travel and accommodation bills. For South Africa it is less of a blessing because the national association is extremely wealthy by […]
Robert Kirby loose cannon I am inspired to write this article (in ebullient defence of our worthy and misunderstood presidential representative) by the quite unseemly attacks made on his character and intellect in last week’s Mail & Guardian (“Mbeki’s malaise goes deeper than Parks”). Really! When a newspaper sinks to such murky invective simply because […]
Jaspreet Kindra The Department of Public Enterprises is showing extraordinary sensitivity about possible leaks of its latest policy document on privatisation – the cause of tension between the government and its union allies. The department this week threatened to search the bags of people, when two copies of the still- confidential document circulated at a […]
Ivor Powell The media blackout on Judge Willem Heath’s special investigations unit came about as a result of pressures from Judge Heath’s own staff – a staff afraid of losing jobs as the government squeezed ever harder on the maverick unit. Sources close to the unit said this week a virtual palace coup has been […]
Glenda Daniels While a lower-level employee at the African National Congress headquarters said last week she was looking for another job because she did not get an increase this year and earns only R2 600 after tax, ministers who earn about R40 000 a month got a 10% increase. Top ANC officials such as secretary […]
Thebe Mabanga IN YOUR EAR Religion provides a rich source of interesting debate on a range of moral issues and radio has wisely latched on to its pulling power. Commercial stations do not touch religion with a bargepole. You see urbanised black people spend their Sunday mornings recovering from a Saturday night of clubbing, playing […]
Out of chaos come international biosafety rules, signed but still to be ratified John Vidal When Professor Howard Atkinson and colleagues at Leeds University genetically modified a potato to be pest- resistant without the use of chemicals, it was decided to test it in Bolivia, one of the world’s poorest and most malnourished countries and […]
With South African property about the cheapest in the world, perhaps now is the time to stop being a tenant and think of becoming an owner Ian Fife Property insiders who say that it’s time to start investing in residential property are supported by a recent world survey by Knight Frank that shows South African […]
Glenda Daniels A senior official of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has been dismissed for criticising the union’s handling of a strike amid claims by some of his colleagues that he was targeted for being too left wing. Dinga Sikwebu, who has been nominated for the post of general secretary, was […]
Clare Boylan Body Language When asked what age a woman ceases to feel the torments of the flesh the Princess Metter-nich replied: “I do not know. I am only 65.” Last week Marj Thoburn, a 60-year-old marriage guidance consultant, rocked a youth-obsessed boat by stating at a conference that people over 50 were more likely […]
The summits have turned into expensive media fests that don’t deliver very much Larry Elliot The good news for United States President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the other G8 leaders is that Okinawa was no Seattle. Holding their annual shindig on a tropical island, converted for a couple of days into […]
Andy Colquhoun in Parramatta RUGBY Reporting on the Springboks occasionally puts one in mind of what it may have been like tramping in the wake of Caesar’s army as it marched into Germania each summer to campaign against the Visigoths (the author and proprietors of the Mail & Guardian in no way vouch for the […]
July 20 is the 75th anniversary of his birth. Richard Pithouse reflects, from Durban, on the unusually heroic life of a brilliant intellectual When McDonald’s opened their first branch in Durban a local business columnist read the landing of the empty smile and iconic arches in Old Fort Road as an advance blessing from the […]
A new report uncovers a secret SADF project to ‘cure’ homosexuals by giving them sex changes Paul Kirk Sex-change operations, medical torture and chemical castration were perpetrated on national servicemen in a bizarre programme to cure “deviants” during the apartheid era. To this day dozens of victims of the programme are crippled and disfigured, stranded […]
Kirk The victims of the South African Defence Force’s (SADF) weirdest experiment – biological, chemical and psychological warfare on conscripts – are many and varied. Few, however, are keen to go public with their stories. For years dark rumours circulated about how badly homosexuals were treated by the SADF and at least once the army […]
Khadija Magardie BEYOND RIGHTS TALK AND CULTURE TALK: COMPARATIVE ESSAYS ON THE POLITICS OF RIGHTS AND CULTURE edited by Mahmood Mamdani (David Philip) The politics of rights and culture revolves around a specific question – can a culture of individual rights coexist with the right of every individual to practice one’s culture? The essays in […]
Edward de Bono is a leading authority on communication. So why is he so bad at conversation? Emma Brockes Edward de Bono, inventor of lateral thinking and a man who regards himself as a more powerful visionary than Plato, is outlining his plans for our interview. We are in his ground-floor flat in Albany, the […]
Iden Wetherell President Robert Mugabe can be forgiven for feeling rather besieged this week. He is on the receiving end of importunate members of Parliament reminding him of their sterling work on the electoral front and promises made of preferment. He is deeply hurt by the lyrics of songs belted out by opposition supporters at […]
David Macfarlane A second look A woman lies on her back in a chilly-blue hospital examination room. Her stomach, genitals and legs are bare; her knees are raised and apart. Her facial expression is resigned, vulnerable – yet somehow in control. Eight or nine white-coated medical interns surround her, and one by one pull on […]
slopes Monica Graaff Obituary To those who don’t climb – and I am one of them – the question “why” always comes up. Why risk your life unnecessarily? Why choose the most difficult route up a mountain when you could stroll up the back? Why? To Duncan Elliott, the 35-year-old South African alpinist who died […]
The Tiger Woods star treatment extends even to the entourage Jamie Wilson There was only one show in town last weekend and everybody wanted a piece of Team Tiger. Even the autograph of the world number one’s caddie, Steve Williams, reputed to be the highest-paid New Zealand sports star through his association with Woods, was […]
innovations A new privacy-issues battle has erupted on the Internet over the use of a surreptitious yet invasive device called the “Web bug”, which allows online advertising companies to track your surfing habits without your knowledge. Unlike the more widely recognised “cookies”, which you can disable in your browser, the “Web bug” is virtually undetectable. […]
Belinda Beresford There are only a couple of hundred doctors in South Africa fully trained to treat HIV-positive individuals. But thousands of other medical personnel are having to deal with HIV/Aids patients, because the hospitals and clinics can no longer cope. Anti-retroviral treatment regimes are difficult to administer because of the powerful side effects and […]
Paul Kirk Transvestites are almost always men and very often hetero- sexual. They enjoy dressing as women either some of the time or permanently. They may dress up in full female regalia in public or in private. They might also be quite satisfied by wearing a single item of female underwear beneath normal male clothing. […]
The Cape Comedy Collective has prospered in a town notorious for fab ideas and feeble follow-through Guy Willoughby ‘Is South African comedy Joe Parker?” the question was raised unexpectedly by Sam Pearce, co-director with stand-up comic Mark Sampson of the year-old Cape Comedy Collective (CCC), during a hip-hop interview around the present/future of Kaapse laughter. […]
Dave Simpson CD OFTHEWEEK Mexico and pop generally go together like Cliff Richard and a bottle of tequila (worm included). History throws up only Los Lobos of La Bamba fame (who were actually from Los Angeles), and Gram Parsons’ Flying Burrito Brothers – as Mexican as a beef dripping sandwich. Mexican pop has existed for […]
David Le Page If ever the history of a particular technology demonstrated how human progress can be undermined by greed, power and machismo, it is that of the electric vehicle. And it is a repetitive history – a constant cycle of disappointed optimism has unfolded throughout the 20th century as the time for electric vehicles […]
NicK Mallett has reshuffled a Springbok pack – but it still contains few aces Andy Capostagno It has been a tough week for Nick Mallett, the coach who could do without Mark Andrews and AJ Venter, but who thought that Percy Montgomery was indispensable. The crumbs on the floor are the last remnants of a […]
Barry Streek With 24,3-million hectares under its control – about 20% of the surface area of South Africa – the state is far and away the country’s biggest landowner. Even then, that figure excludes vast tracts of state-owned land, such as land owned by parastatals like Transnet and the 2,9- million hectares owned by the […]
Karen Rutter LIFESTYLE People are quick to use the word “charming” when describing Kalk Bay village. Especially people who write for glossy magazines or take tours around the Cape Peninsula. “Picturesque” is another word that pops up, while “quaint” is a firm favourite in the adjective line-up. All of which is quite true when viewing […]
Mark Ouma OLYMPICS The stringent qualifying criteria to make the South Africa Olympic team has inspired Jannie du Toit to believe he is a serious medal contender. Du Toit has posted impressive performances since last year that have earned him a place among the world’s top freestyle wrestlers in a discipline that has been dominated […]
Khadija Magardie Malaria is by far Africa’s most important tropical parasitic disease, and kills more people than any other communicable disease except tuberculosis. And though the geographical area affected by malaria has shrunk over the past 50 years, the Southern African region continues to experience a resurgence in malaria transmission, especially in the past four […]