THE Rwandan government has demanded the immediate return of 41 orphans flown to Italy by non-governmental organisation during the 1994 genocide. According to a senior Rwandan official, only 81 out of the 122 orphans had so far been returned from Italy. Rwanda’s justice minister, Jean de Dieu Muco, said in Kigali that the parents or […]
The controversial French film, Romance, broke the South African record for the biggest opening week ever for a foreign-language film. The film’s performance at the box office improves on previous records set by Roberto Benigni’s Oscar gem Life is Beautiful and the award winning Central Station. Romance explores the sexual odyssey of a young schoolteacher […]
Neal Collins cricket Today, I will talk of the tree. Not to the tree you understand. England may be losing regularly to Zimbabwe but I haven’t lost my sanity. Yet. The tree? There is only one worth talking about in cricket. You may have seen it on telly recently, while the West Indies were getting […]
They might have been underpaid and overworked at the Mail & Guardian, but many of the staff have gone on to lead other media
workers’ ownership scheme Thuli Nhlapo The Northern Province government has blocked a Tzaneen farmer’s efforts to sell land to his employees after accusing the farmer of trying to short-change his workers. The farm workers have denied the government’s claim and stood by their employer and the plan of owning shares on the avocado farm. In […]
There is something bizarrely, tragically and profoundly wrong in the way our government is thinking about the nation’s health in the light of the HIV/Aids crisis. Heaven knows this point has been made to government leaders often enough before now – with evidence provided – by us and very many others better qualified to do […]
Alex Clark Martin Bauman: A Novel by David Leavitt (Little, Brown) The confessional genre, the colossal growth area in non-fiction of recent years, has attracted a healthy readership and a rather unhealthy amount of critical disdain. Why, detractors protest, must writers shine a light on the shabby corners of their lives simply because they have […]
Deon Potgieter boxing With the current proliferation of world- title-sanctioning bodies, fight fans are often left in the dark as to who the “real” world champions are. Added to the equation is wide-ranging evidence of corruption and favouritism in those selfsame bodies. There is light at the end of the tunnel, however. The boxing task […]
Chris Visser The biggest challenge facing the average investor is to structure a portfolio that affords the best possible returns for the lowest possible risk. Evidence published in the April 1998 issue of Insurance and Investments indicated that an investor with an offshore element in his portfolio can earn the same return as available domestically, […]
Nigella Lawson Body Language For the first time in years, someone asked me how many men I’d slept with. To tell the truth, I couldn’t remember. That’s not because my youth was spent in such an oblivious promiscuous whirl – I think I probably lack the promiscuity gene, although I don’t, either, claim a nun-like […]
Some of sport’s long-running rows range from the petty to the frankly dangerous Kevin Mitchell Mark James might think he’s got the tiger by the tail in his “feud” with the equally stubborn Nick Faldo, but he doesn’t know the half of it. It’s all very well, a couple of golfers handbagging it in a […]
Nelson Mandela ended the 13thInternational Aids Conference by urging delegates to rise above their differences Tim Trengrove-Jones The 13th International Aids Conference began with exasperation and ended in muted hope. The exasperation sprang from the opening address given by President Thabo Mbeki. The hope came from the careful, principled closing address of his predecessor, Nelson […]
Jonathan Steele A second Look Now that the furore over Zimbabwe’s election has abated, let’s draw a deep breath and admit it: Zimbabwe is an African good-news story. At about 90% the country has one of the highest literacy rates on the continent. Its race relations are excellent. The attempt to fan black hostility against […]
Adrienne Carlisle More evidence is emerging from apartheid- era documents that the State Security Council (SSC), staffed by top apartheid politicians and securocrats, including former presidents PW Botha and FW de Klerk, may have discussed and, at least in principle, approved the assassinations of activists. The Mail & Guardian has obtained copies of top-secret minutes […]
James Hall Swaziland’s parliamentarians this week voted to ban miniskirts in schools in an effort to retard the spread of HIV/Aids and considered a motion to sterilise all people with the disease. The man behind the Swaziland Senate directive banning miniskirts in schools was Majahenkhaba Dlamini, the son of a former prime minister and chief, […]
Despite equity plans, poorer pupils are still being taught by teachers less qualified than those of their wealthier peers Russell Wildeman When the education landscape was transformed from 19 racially based education departments to nine provincial departments, large inequalities were found between provinces. Redress was initially driven by redistributing funds between provincial education departments and […]
Gregory Mthembu-Salter The Zambian government this week secured $1-billion in funding from international donors despite pre-election political intrigue that has suggested dictatorial behaviour on the part of President Frederick Chiluba. The Consultative Group (which is the annual gathering of donors) for the first time met in Lusaka rather than Paris. The group gave the government […]
Gear may soon be a thing of the past as the ANC debates what our new economic strategy should be Howard Barrell Yes, it appears it may really be happening. The seemingly endless – and little understood – economic debate about the government’s market-friendly macroeconomic policy may be coming to an end. Gear, the acronym […]
A South African father explains to his son, who lives in England, why the sensational All Blacks victory against the Wallabies does not spell disaster for the Springboks on Saturday Thanks for the letter of sympathy, son, although I do feel you go a bit far in suggesting we sue for peace and adopt ping- […]
Martin Whiting Gerald Durrell: the Authorised Biography by Douglas Botting (HarperCollins) Douglas Botting, author of three other biographies including that of Gavin Maxwell (Ring of Bright Water), now provides a detailed account of the life of Gerald Durrell – conservationist, educator, writer and champion of endangered species and animals the world over. Best known for […]
BoE believes the United States economy’s dramatic growth spurt is coming to an end Anet Ahern The global economy has continued to recover in the last quarter, but signs are emerging that world growth is beginning to peak. Global leading economic indicators are topping out, and there are initial signs of a slowdown in the […]
Belinda Beresford Hundreds of Cape Town penguins owe their lives to recycled cooking oil and a schoolboy inventor. Louis Kock was 17 when he developed and patented BD1, a chemical that helps strip crude oil from feathers. The product, which is produced from vegetable oil, is being used to clean the penguins caught in the […]
Charl Blignaut LIFESTYLE One had to wonder, at some of the lower points of the evening, as the swirling lights hailed yet another African dawn, the corporate voice-over declared yet another renaissance-in-heels and the worst of the human zebras passed on the catwalk, what New York would make of it all. The four winners of […]
sector cannot be avoided Claude van Cuyck Investors may be wary of the TMT (technology, media and telecoms) sector following Nasdaq volatility in the past six months, but it continues to be the fastest growing sector in the world and investors who ignore it will miss out. Sectors geared to the superhighway (TMT and electronics) […]
Thebe Mabanga Comedy lovers can brace themselves for a dose of good fun, rasping wit and downright silliness when two events bring a total of nine comedians to stages in Gauteng. The first event is the 5fm/Savannah Dry Jay Thang Heavyweight Comedy Jam, which brings together some of the circuit’s finest comics. Heavyweight Barry Hilton […]
Outgoing Transnet managing director Saki Macozoma has ruled out any possibility of returning to full-time politics when his contract expires with the transport company next year. Macozoma, who announced last week that he will not seek renewal for his contract, this week said he was looking at spending most of his time at Standard Bank […]
Khadija Magardie In a landmark judgement, Britain’s highest court has given 3 000 South African litigants the go-ahead to sue United Kingdom asbestos company Cape Plc in the UK. The litigants are all suffering from various asbestos-related illnesses which they contracted while working for Cape, which pulled out of South Africa in the 1970s. The […]
Neal Collins The very first helmet camera to hit British television screens belonged to Richard Johnson, a Grand National jockey, in 1998. Sadly, Johnson, riding a horse called Banjo, fell at the first fence. Though it was a spectacular crash where we saw turf, fence, sky and turf again, we were given no further glimpses […]
Central Johannesburg has had the life sucked out of it by surrogate central business districts – the shopping malls David Le Page In the 1970s Johannesburg residents used to talk about “going to town”, the central business district, without contemplating the hire of an armoured vehicle. In fact, for any serious business or shopping, there […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi The SABC this month begins searching for someone to fill the country’s top media executive position – head of the public broadcaster’s beleaguered news department. The position is expected to be advertised soon, as well as the posts of CEO and chief financial officer. The news candidate is expected to harmonise what has […]
The simple investment, unit trusts, doesn’t seem that simple anymore Alan Finlay The growth of the local unit trust industry holds something of an irony. The point of unit trusts is that they allow ordinary individuals, who may not have much economic savvy, to invest sensibly in the market. The advantage of maximum returns has […]
David Le Page The extremely cold weather that has hit the country this week may feel aberrant to most of us, but meteorologists and climate modellers are adamant that it’s nothing unusual. A cold front, or large and unpleasantly cold mass of moist air, moved across the Western Cape on Wednesday afternoon. Preceding it, along […]