Staff Reporter

Andy Capostagno RUGBY There are still some dinosaurs who will tell you that the game of rugby union should have nothing to do with show business, most of whom probably thoroughly enjoyed England’s try-less 15- 9 win over France in last week’s Six Nations. Such relics of a former amateur regime will be appalled by […]

David Martin OBITUARY:IANCHRISTIE In the days before it was fashionable to have a local accent, Ian Christie’s Scottish brogue would have been a barrier to his working as a radio commentator. Such was the reaction of Mozambique’s late president, Samora Machel, when Christie broadcast for the first time from Maputo in the 1970s for the […]

>From songs to sermons, these new South African poems represent some remarkablework Dan Wylie Some years ago, when I reviewed Adam Schwartzman’s The Good Life, The Dirty Life, I thought that here was a poet to watch out for. Schwartzman’s new (1998, just received!) collection, Merrie Afrika! (Carcanet) doesn’t disappoint, though it’s not a pacific […]

A MAN suspected of murdering his lover’s three-year-old son over the weekend has been handed over to police. The suspect’s brother found him hiding in a mealie field at Rietfontein 7 farm, 30km from Lydenburg, where both of them work. Provincial police spokeswoman Inspector Olga Marais said the suspect was taken to the farmer, who […]

The imprint of apartheid is clearly evident in staff composition at universities and technikons across South Africa Barry Streek The academic staff at South Africa’s 36 public universities and technikons are still overwhelmingly white and male dominated, particularly at the historically white institutions, according to the Council for Higher Education. The council has found 80% […]

Dale T McKinley CROSSFIRE Is it a revolutionary change of course or merely a more overt expression of the predictable (if somewhat uneven) evolution of African National Congress’s socio- economic strategy and policy? President Thabo Mbeki, in his State of the Nation address, finally gave an unapologetic, institutional and public affirmation of the ANC leadership’s […]

Jubie Matlou The thumping and rhythmic beats from a batar drum to the tune of a melodic choral rendition bring a small displaced community together. The place for this spiritual union is Mayfair, and the day and time is Sunday afternoon. The sound created by the batar drum is very special to the Somali refugee […]

answered It is insufficient merely to make allegations in order for these to constitute prima facie findings or prima facie violations. Before a person can fairly and reasonably be said to be implicated in anything there must at least be some evidence which has formed the subject matter of an investigation leading to the making […]

NOTICE IN TERMS OF SECTION 9(1)(c) OF ACT 54 OF 1994 Notice to appear before the South African Human Rights Commission, sitting at Council Chambers, Ground Floor, Council Chambers Wing, Metropolitan Centre, 158 Loveday Street, Braamfontein: To:The Editor – Mail & Guardian Media Hill, 7 Quince Road, MILPARK WHEREAS, 1. The South African Human Rights […]

LESOTHO have named three foreign-based players in their 20-man squad for a Cosafa Castle Cup first round match against Zimbabwe in Harare on March 5. South African-based Lebajoa Mphongoa and Lehlohonolo Seema of Bloemfontein Celtic and goalkeeper Thabo Khoboli from second division Ria Stars join up with 17 Lesotho-based players in the squad. The team […]

Bob Woolmer FROM THE PAVILION The recent tug of war over Allan Donald mirrors, in a way, the club or country pull that Bafana Bafana players are experiencing. In all these matters, inevitably, it is the player who suffers. Naturally Donald wants to play for South Africa – as I am sure Mark Fish does. […]

Barry Streek The HIV/Aids epidemic which has so far infected five million South Africans – about 11,1% of the entire population – has serious economic dangers as it would in future decrease labour productivity while increasing unit labour costs, the Department of Finance has warned. “The economic and social impact of HIV/Aids is hard to […]

Steven Friedman WORM’S EYE VIEW Sometimes, the way we try to start a conversation can be guaranteed to end it. An example is the planned government attempt to start a discussion on race. There is no issue on which we need more urgently to talk. Race continues to dominate our society and will do so […]

Michelle Matthews If you’re reading this on Friday morning, call in sick, grab your sunscreen and a sleeping bag, and get down to the Breede River for a weekend of music and wallowing. The Savanna Up the Creek Music Festival will give you three days of hot bands, warm cider and chilled vibes. Tan, splash, […]

Duncan Campbell New techniques are revolutionising the art of creating murals in the world’s mural capital, Los Angeles. A new generation of artists is exploring the potential created by digital imaging. “Digital imaging is going to bring muralism into the 21st century,” said Judy Baca, founder of the city’s Social and Public Art Resource Centre […]

THE SA Revenue Service plans to recruit about 100 additional full-timeauditors and about 30 forensic auditors in the coming months in order to deliver on its undertaking to collect R210,4billion in taxes in 2000-2001. Business Day reports that this would be 7,2% higher than this year’s achievement. It reports that SARS commissioner Pravin Gordhan said […]

John Matshikiza WITH THE LID OFF So my friend and colleague Phillip van Niekerk might find himself in jail in the next few weeks, if he isn’t careful. I have been telling him that if it does come to the worst-case scenario, and he defies the Human Rights Commission’s (HRC) summons to appear before it […]

Budget 2000 has something for everyone: Tax cuts for the hard-working populace, incentives for job creation, a boost for our credit rating – and fiscal discipline for state departments Belinda Beresford Trevor Manuel walked to his budget briefing with a huge smile on his face, secure in the knowledge that he was about to become […]

Howard Barrell President Thabo Mbeki and Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel have thrust aside last-minute resistance from Cabinet colleagues and decided to launch on time what is likely to prove a silent revolution in the control of the state’s finances and its delivery of services. Manuel told Parliament in his budget speech on Wednesday that […]

Jean Spear It seems trendy to criticise backpackers and their guidebooks these days. With the proliferation of mostly generic guides on the market that cater for the backpacker crowd and an established backpacker circuit, travelling is no longer reserved for the elite. But is it such a bad thing? Sure, it is amusing that guidebooks […]

Andrew Muchineripi SOCCER If the South African under-23 side defeat Cameroon in Yaounde on Saturday and Ghana at Vosloorus Stadium next month, cries of siyaya e Sydney will reverberate around our beautiful land. It is a big if, with the first hurdle particularly difficult, but what a prize lies in wait should we succeed. A […]

EGYPTIAN President Hosni Mubarak welcomed Pope John Paul II to Egypt on Thursday with a call for a joint battle against fanaticism and hatred in order to fulfill the hopes of the new millennium. “We should oppose all forms of discrimination, injustice and double standards if we are to establish a new viable world order,” […]

Donna Block Foreign investors this week gave Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s budget speech the thumbs up, noting that it appeared designed mainly to secure a credit upgrade from leading rating agency Standard & Poor’s. “All in all this has been a very market friendly, economically orthodox budget,” said one London banker. But, he added, […]

Jack Schofield Short film and TV-style websites like to use “streaming media”, which means the movie starts within 20 to 30 seconds of clicking the icon or hot-link to display it. The advantage is that you can start watching a video without having to download the whole thing, which could take from 10 to 20 […]

Howard Barrell Human Rights Commission chair Barney Pityana co-authored a newspaper article three years ago in which he effectively prejudged the central issue into which he has now called a commission of inquiry – whether there is racism in the South African media. The terms of reference of the Human Rights Commission’s controversial inquiry ask […]

Mail & Guardian reporter Young travellers are becoming increasingly adventurous and travelling to more far- flung destinations, with many looking for the experiences highlighted in Alex Garland’s novel The Beach. Reasearch commissioned to tie in with the release of the film The Beach shows that 20- to 30-year-olds believe that independent travel is an essential […]

Thebe Mabanga IN YOUR EAR Surviving the weekend on South African radio is a pleasant but sometimes frustrating act. In search of something entertaining to listen to, one can sometimes find oneself listening to astrology on a Saturday night or receiving soccer commentary in a very entertaining but incomprehensible language. Here then is a guide […]

THE government has decided to retain the current asset swap dispensation, but to change the definition of the 15% limit from total assets employed in South Africa, to 15% of total assets. Unit trusts would be permitted to invest up to 20% of their total assets under management by way of asset swaps. Pension funds, […]

The Human Rights Commission says that it served subpoenas on newspaper editors, including the editor of the Mail & Guardian, Phillip van Niekerk, because it believed this was the only way of ensuring their attendance at the hearings. The Mail & Guardian never refused to attend. What we did do was seek to establish the […]

Peter Dickson More than 17 000 Bisho government employees are so indebted to loan sharks that they are only being paid 25% of their salaries in the Eastern Cape provincial education and health departments. Eastern Cape MEC for Education Stone Sizani revealed at a press conference this week that at least 1 000 government employees […]

Fifty years ago, the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four was newly wed … and dying. DJTaylor traces George Orwell’s final weeks In January 1950, a small procession of visitors could be seen each afternoon making their way singly and severally through the cheerless north Bloomsbury squares towards University College Hospital (UCH). Many of […]

Howard Barrell The Democratic Party has thrown its weight behind one of its MPs, Richard Pillay, who has been denied security clearance to serve on Parliament’s watchdog committee on intelligence, calling his exclusion unjustified and malicious. Pillay is a former member of the African National Congress who alleges he was tortured by ANC security personnel […]