Staff Reporter

democracy SERGEANT AT THE BAR Politicians do not like limits placed upon their power. They have a vision, whether fuelled by greed or

Neil Manthorp Cricket Gary Kirsten-baiting season is back. It’s a national cricket lovers’ pastime that stems from an understandable desire to have Lance Klusener batting everywhere from one to nine and to have Nantie Hayward (or whoever else is flavour of the month) bowling from both ends. Paying spectators have paid for the right to […]

Hutu detainees are fighting disease and hunger in concentration camps, while the Burundi army blocks attacks on the capital, writes Chris McGreal Josephine Ntahuga fears her son is dead. He was among 350 000 Hutus herded by Burundi’s army into dozens of camps beyond the capital, Bujumbura. Then he vanished. The army said he must […]

Channel vision As any year draws to a close it is usual for columns, such as this one, to be devoted to retrospection. What was the best and worst television of the past year? Fortunately such solemn assessments will not be my responsibility this year. This is because my various deep moles in the halls […]

M&G reporters Ccrimes against the state unit: A squad of former murder and robbery unit detectives tasked with probing People against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) related crimes. The unit was initially known as the Pagad task team, but later changed its name. It reports to Western Cape police Director Leonard Knipe, the man at the […]

Peter Dickson Eastern Cape Premier Makhenkesi Stofile has hijacked the appointment of mayors in an effort to strengthen support for the African National Congress ahead of next year’s local government elections. Stofile has given himself the right to pick all the province’s mayors, a task that has traditionally been left to local councils. The move […]

technology Bob Woolmer FROM THE PAVILION What a great Test match at Port Elizabeth – it had everything that a cricket connoisseur would want. Great bowling, gutsy batting, an English revival, confirmation of South Africa’s standing in world cricket and the fact that a game of cricket can last five days. Credit to the groundstaff […]

Speciality stores are springing up everywhere. From mom and pop to megastores – there’s a price tag on every passion. Claire Bezuidenhout, Langley Kirkwood and Matthew Krouse went shopping Western Cape Old Mill Guest Cottage, Gallery and Gift Shop: Some of the finest Karoo art for sale alongside home-grown herb teas, Robertson wines, handmade soaps […]

Barry Streek God may not play dice with the universe, as Einstein famously posited, but a church group in Caledon has a different take. The Anglican Church in the sleepy town is a partner in a bid for a casino licence. The church has taken this extraordinary decision after setting up an empowerment trust which […]

Paul Kirk Tycoon Jonty Sandler is to be charged with indecent assault, three months after allegedly raping a 22-year-old security guard. But a top KwaZulu-Natal policeman has accused the province’s director of public prosecutions of going soft on the millionaire businessman. The original police docket included sodomy, indecent assault, bribery and pointing a firearm. “If […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The head of Edupark, a private company launched by the University of the North, has slammed a R2-million inquiry commissioned by the university as being little more than a smear campaign against the former vice-chancellor Njabulo Ndebele. Moss Leoka, the chair of Edupark, told the Mail & Guardian this week that […]

Khadija Magardie talks to an artist who is using music to take religion to the youth When Shaheed GC embraced the Islamic faith at the age of 16, he thought he had firmly closed the door on a singing career that began in his early teens. At the time, he says, he felt that music, […]

A war’s being waged in Durban, writes Alex Sudheim of the Battle of the Bands Having witnessed the unspooling drama of Durban’s seminal Battle of the Bands from the various perspectives of contender, manager, spectator, judge and now journalist, I must say the view from each hill is remarkably different. As contender I got pissed […]

Q&A Pop star Ringo Madlingozi will perform at the Union Buildings on New Year’s Eve. He tells us about his new single, his attitude to life and love, and his hopes for the new millennium. What can you say about your new single Into Yam? The song brings that kind of vibe that has always […]

Behind the beautiful, graceful film installations that won this year’s Turner Prize, hides an unassuming, bear-likeman. And, surprise, surprise, he hates talking about his art. Sabine Durrant reports To reach Steve McQueen’s Turner Prize- winning entries at the Tate, you have to walk through the rest of the shortlist first. Past Tracy Emin’s bed, onlookers […]

dispute Fiona Macleod A magnificent environmental education and conference centre is falling through the cracks of the dispute between Mpumalanga and Northern Province authorities about who owns the Bushbuckridge Nature Reserve. Mpumalanga spent R2-million on the centre, which is inside the reserve, but stopped building when it became clear the reserve falls within Northern Province. […]

Jubie Matlou Once a fortnight, Godfrey Debeila leads a delegation of the national executive of the Unemployed Masses of South Africa (Umsa) to the Democratic Party’s offices in the Gauteng legislature. The purpose is to meet DP MP Richard Pillay, who also serves as Umsa’s policy adviser and patron, to discuss Umsa’s projects, progress and […]

On a typical Wednesday night of knocking over illegal brewing stands and closing down shebeens, Aaron Nicodemus went on a ride-along with the Hillbrow liquor control unit Alexander “Big Alex” Kavouras plucks at two carnations with his thick fingers as police cart away R25E000 worth of his liquor . The flowers’ red petals litter the […]

Johnny Masilela Twenty-four screenplays drawn from across Africa are set to find their way into the ever-growing collective of motion pictures attempting to tell the African story. Angie Mills, of the Johannesburg-based Mamaland Productions, said the 24 scripts were shortlisted from a total of just over 400 synopses, treatments, short stories, story ideas and even […]

The 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have been interpreted by artists from 28 countries, writes Alex Sudheim As a measure of the significance of the International Print Portfolio exhibition, the United Nations was eager for the show to grace the proceedings at the world body’s New York headquarters during its recent […]

Chris Gordon This has been a season of rumour in Luanda, with speculation over Unita’s next moves as thick as the flowering of the flame trees. Five weeks of near hiatus in major confrontations following the fall of Unita leader Jonas Savimbi’s headquarters has now been ended by intensified fighting along borders associated with the […]

Sudan Mohamed Osman in Khartoum Sudanese president Omar el-Bashir on Sunday declared a three-month state of emergency, and state-run television said he was dissolving Parliament. Bashir said:”There are dangers against the country from abroad, and internal problems that will aggravate the country’s problems will not be allowed. In order to preserve the unity of the […]

Steven Friedman WORM’S EYE VIEW Sometimes principle is more of a paying proposition than pragmatism. The welcome afforded Ethiopia’s former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam and the Dalai Lama’s frosty reception have focused attention again on principle (or lack of it) in our foreign policy. For some, being nice to dictators and dictatorships is a small […]

SYNTHETIC fuel producer Sasol said on Tuesday it had approved an R835-million capital budget to build a new butanol plant with a capacity of 150000 tons a year. Sasol said in a statement basic engineering for the plant is likely to be completed by March 2000 and the plant is expected to enter production during […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 3.20pm. SUNDOWNS coach Paul Dolezar boasted this week that the Castle Premiership title race might be over by Christmas, but if his team continue to play like they did in midweek they may not even be in the lead by then. Bush Bucks, second last on the standings, were not […]

SOUTH Africa has been appointed as one of the three countries auditing the United Nations, new Auditor-General Shauket Fakie announced on Tuesday. This will result in a yearly foreign income of about R10-million for the country, he said at a news conference in Pretoria. The UN contract is four times the size of the one […]

A SECOND senior official resigned from the Post Office on Wednesday, only a day after the resignation of the institution’s senior financial general manager. The Post Office said in a statment that Doug Smit, the general manager of Speed Services, will be temporarily replaced by Steve Gill. The senior manager of the Post Office’s communications […]

IN a Caste Premiership match at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Wednesday night, Orlando Pirates beat bottom-of-the-log Mother City 2-0. The first goal was scored in the 51st minute by Phumlani Mkhize. In the 90th minute Pirates sealed the game when striker Sibusiso Zuma dribbled past three defenders before unleashing the ball into the […]

THE majority of Australian gold producer Acacia Resources’ shareholders have accepted AngloGold’s offer of 3,5 AngloGold shares for every 100 Acacia shares following the SA company’s friendly takeover bid on October 12. By the close of business on Tuesday 58,2% of Acacia shareholders had accepted the offer.

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Wednesday 5.50pm. NIGERIA’s two top football officials will be sacked if the country does not get to the semi-finals of next month’s African Nations Cup, Sports Minister Damishi Sango warned Wednesday. “It would be a disaster if the Eagles don’t get as far as the semi-finals of the championship,” being co-hosted […]

THE Nigerian stock exchange has approved the sale of government shares in two major groups under the first stage of a privatisation programme, exchange officials said on Tuesday. The shares are in the West African Portland Cement Company (Wapco), the largest cement company in the country and the fourth largest group on the exchange, and […]

OPPOSITION presidential candidate Afonso Dhlakama and his Renamo party had won five of Mozambique’s 11 provinces by Wednesday to four for incumbent President Joaquim Chissano and his ruling Frelimo party. Results being announced over state radio as counting continues from the elections held earlier this month show voters repeating the pattern of the Mozambique’s first […]