A magistrate went beyond rhetoric in sentencing a rapist, writes journalist Charlene Smith The worst thing a criminal does is remove the dignity and humanity of those he seeks to victimise. The criminal justice system is worthless unless it restores that to the survivor of violent crime. It took a magistrate in one of the […]
Andrew Muchineripi Bafana Bafana kick off their campaign for the 2002 World Cup against minnows Lesotho There is no reason why South Africa should not get off to a winning start against Lesotho on Sunday in their quest for a second consecutive appearance at the World Cup finals. Bafana Bafana are, man for man, a […]
Paul Kirk More details about the intelligence services’ complicity in KwaZulu-Natal political violence came to light this week when it emerged that a top army spy held secret meetings with one of Richmond’s most notorious killers while the killer was being hunted by police. Bob Ndlovu, otherwise known as “Comrade Bob”, was once described by […]
Neil Manthorp CRICKET Herschelle Gibbs is to the South African cricket team what a glass of Eno is to the nocturnally reckless come the morning after – a welcome shot of effervescence and bubble. He’s the one who keeps the guys going when tours start disappearing over the psychological horizon; he’s the tension- breaker on […]
Which African books have had the most powerful influence on you or your society? The Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF), which takes place in Harare later this year, has invited nominations for a list of Africa’s 100 best books. The idea is to celebrate African writing, publishing and research. The top titles will be announced […]
Andy Capostagno GOLF It seems only right that in the week prior to the 64th Masters the name of Nicklaus has been in the news. It is 14 years since the Golden Bear won his sixth and last green jacket, but he still sells newspapers. In the week that Tiger Woods revealed he kept a […]
Jane Rosenthal EMBRACE by Mark Behr (Little, Brown) Mark Behr’s first novel, The Smell of Apples, was prescribed for schools and won the M-Net and CNA Awards more or less simultaneously with his revelation of his spying activities in the apartheid era. Or so it would seem in the popular memory. His new novel, Embrace, […]
Deon Potgieter BOXING Tsietse Maretloane etched his name in the history books on November 14 1977 when he became South Africa’s first “supreme” featherweight national champion. The bout was a unification of the black and white national titles. Maretloane is a former minister who has turned his hand to promoting boxing. He seeks to honour […]
Womad, the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Sama awards last week overloaded the aural senses of the nation Nicky Blumenfeld The term “pink noise” best describes the momentous series of events which took place in our land of plenty last weekend. It refers to the sound produced when combining all the frequencies of the […]
Ivor Powell and Jubie Matlou The SABC’s entire top management will lose their jobs if the proposals of an independent consultancy into restructuring the beleaguered corporation are accepted. In a confidential report completed two weeks ago, international consultancy Gemini slams the corporation’s group executive for a shortage of skills and a lack of leadership, and […]
THE ACT Brumbies on Thursday named an unchanged side for Friday’s Super 12 match with the Otago Highlanders in Canberra. ACT coach Eddie Jones unsurprisingly stuck with the same starting 15 that trampled the Cats 64-0 a week ago to lift the Brumbies into third place on the standings, just a point behind the Highlanders. […]
A subjective assessment of the main men (and woman) on the global stage The balance of power in global sport is shifting and few individuals better illustrate the changes taking place than Rupert Murdoch. He does not play sport, he does not administer it and he rarely even watches it. However, over the past decade […]
The first place a visitor normally looks for in any city is a good caf, where you can catch the spirit of the city while lingering over a cup. We look at the ten best in the world and five in South Africa Sarah Turner 1 Vienna – Braunerhof, Backerstrasse 9: A trip to Demels, […]
Laurie Copans About 350 computer hackers from around the world fought off security interrogations, attempts to silence them and an all-round bad image to complete the first hacker convention in Israel last Thursday. The two-day Tel Aviv gathering, which included “hack these sites” and “spot the feds” competitions, was the first such gathering since hackers […]
Mail & Guardian reporters Autonomy, the fast-growing British intelligent software company, last week launched a new product which it claimed would sound the death knell for the traditional Internet search engine. As part of a profile-raising exercise before its planned Nasdaq flotation, the Easdaq-listed company announced plans for Kenjin, a free software product expected to […]
GAUTENG allrounder Andrew Hall will make his iinternational debut against Australia after he was included in the South African squad of 14 for the three one-day internationals against the world champions. The South Africans will play Australia in the first one-day international at Kingsmead on Wednesday. Squad: Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, […]
“The personal opinions of the editors have no weight in the eyes of the public. What they seek in a newspaper is knowledge of facts, and it is only by altering or distorting those facts that a journalist can contribute to the support of his own views.” – Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) It might appear […]
The first description of the wonder of the Aughrabies Falls, one of the world’s six largest falls, was published 175 years ago Stephen Gray When George Thompson, the Cape-based trader, first beheld the awesome Aughrabies Falls, in the Northern Cape, in 1824 at the end of a long trek through iron-tinted rocky desolation, he was […]
Will new regulations help or worsen the working conditions of security guards? Nawaal Deane Lionel Sheperd* starts work at six in the evening, six days a week, and finishes 12 hours later. A security guard in a shop in a Johannesburg suburb, he observes the customers and keeps an eye out for firearms. There is […]
Mary Dover Johannesburg’s luxury Westcliff hotel turns two this year, in the wake of last year’s centenary celebrations of its sister hotel, the Mount Nelson, in Cape Town. Fondly referred to as “the grand old dame of Cape Town” or “the Nellie”, the Mount Nelson also forms part of the exclusive Orient Express Hotel’s African […]
ARREST warrants on murder charges have been issued against six leaders of the Ugandan doomsday cult held responsible for the deaths of around 1000 followers, officials said Thursday. The director of public prosecutions Richard Buteera has listed the six leaders of the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God as Joseph Kibwetere. They are the […]
Last weekend at the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Good Hope Centre floated on a cloud of sheer contentment Karen Rutter Only the most mean-spirited, music- hating, non-mellow bastard would be able to find fault with Cape Town’s finest moment this year, the North Sea Jazz Festival. Undoubtedly a success on the kind of scale […]
Luvuyo Kakaza With a few hitches the South African Music Awards (Sama) got off an hour late on March 30 amid great dramatics. Five musicians were honoured for their lifetime achievements – these included the three former exiles, Jonas Gwangwa, Hugh Masekela and composer Caiphus Semenya; accordionist Nico Carstens, who has sold two-million records in […]
It was most disturbing to read last week’s Mail & Guardian revelations about Mr Enoch Sithole. No one enjoys seeing such stylish colossi toppled. What is more, it makes for a general nervousness in the television- watching populace when, one after the other, senior SABC directors are suspended for fraud and corruption, stealing each other’s […]
Jaspreet Kindra The CIA has warned that the HIV/Aids pandemic sweeping sub-Saharan Africa will lay waste to the ruling political and military elite in the region, provoking damaging power struggles over scarce state resources. In a recent report, posted on the intelligence agency’s website, the CIA warns: “In our view, the infectious disease burden will […]
PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki expressed sorrow at the death on Thursday of Tunisia’s first president Habib Bourguiba and praised his efforts for the development of Africa. Bourguiba, Tunisia’s first president after independence from France in 1956, died on Thursday after a long illness. He was 96. Africa “feels greatly indebted to the efforts of leaders such […]
Fiona Macleod Ronnie Kasrils, former Umkhonto weSizwe head of military intelligence and democratic South Africa’s first deputy defence minister, gets to be the demolition man again when he blows a giant concrete overflow tower to smithereens. In his present role as Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, Kasrils is planning to push the button that […]
Marianne Merten Parliament has been warned of an impending collapse of university and technikon education because of drastically falling student numbers. The Council on Higher Education this week told MPs there were at least 100E000 fewer students at tertiary education institutions than predicted in 1995. And, the council said, the majority of students appear out […]
Lebohang K Moleko T he report “SA’s Lesotho massacre ‘cover- up’” (March 20) says “silence surrounds a massacre in Lesotho by South African paratroopers, straining relations between the two countries”. Eighteen months ago, Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces came to Lesotho when three opposition parties, with the assistance of elements of the Lesotho Defence […]
Brenda Atkinson MIXED MEDIA Most of us have accepted that the glory days of television are over, which cannot be altogether bad. For one thing, we are no longer in thrall of Cliff Saunders’s duplicitous droning on the SABC news; for another, the proliferation of alternative news and entertainment media can only improve the quality […]
Melvyn Minnaar LIFESTYLE What becomes a legend most? In South African wine the compelling answer would be: keeping tradition on the roll. This weekend’s Nederburg Auction 2000, the 26th annual sale of “rare Cape wines” in Paarl, sports a zingy new logo. In place of the previous rather drab landbouskou design, a golden globe backs […]
THE Joint Military Commission on the ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo late on Thursday announced that warring parties had agreed to a plan of disengagement of forces and their redeployment to new defensive positions. At the end of a three-day meeting in Kampala, delegates from all parties in the JMC adopted the plan […]