Staff Reporter

The Russian National Ballet brought Little Red Riding Hood to Springs. Kit Peel went to check her out ‘I heard about it at the hairdressers,” the lady in the next seat explained. “When the ballet came to Springs last year, my hairdresser told me that it was disgusting. A load of queers leaping about the […]

Midi TV this week applied to the IBA to amend its licence conditions. Jubie Matlou attended the hearing Senior counsel Malcolm Wallis led a predominantly white male team that presented Midi TV’s licence amendment application before the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) this week. Kuresh Patel, legal adviser to Midi TV CEO Marcel Golding, sat quietly […]

Marianne Merten A Khayelitsha shebeen owner says he has no option but to run an illegal operation because apartheid legislation forced drinking in townships underground. The shebeen owner has applied to the Cape High Court for the return of his liquor worth R130 000. Last month police from Khayelitsha and Operation Good Hope seized alcohol […]

Jennifer Ferguson’s show Untimely is at present running at the Barney Simon Theatre in the Market Theatre complex until November 20. The performance coincides with the CD release of her 1989 album of the same name, to which a dynamic cover version of the Dave Marks song Master Jack has been added. During December she […]

Ebrahim Harvey CROSSFIRE Let us say that the African renaissance is not a grand diversion from the serious post-apartheid problems that the African National Congress-led government faces, as some argue, and that it is a genuine attempt to resolve the deepening crisis in Africa. Because of this crisis – of which we are a part […]

South African second-hand traders are cleaning up their act, writes Rowan Callahan There are many similarities between the current second-hand goods market and the used-car market of old. A few years ago there were thousands of small used-car dealers all over the place offering “low mileage, one-owner bargains” out of dingy premises. What people got […]

Khadija Magardie BODY LANGUAGE One of the funniest “girlie” scenes in a modern movie was in the 1992 hit comedy My Cousin Vinny. The movie revolves around mechanic-turned-lawyer who has to defend a relative accused of murder. In the now legendary scene, Marisa Tomei’s character, Mona Lisa Vito, is complaining to her boyfriend, Vinny (Joe […]

Ivor Powell and Howard Barrell New light could be thrown on the assassination of Zambian opposition politician Major Wezi Kaunda if foreign diplomats accede to the dramatic courtroom request of one of two men arrested in connection with the murder. On Wednesday the suspects, speaking from the dock in preliminary hearings, called on embassy officials […]

Bill Gates’s embattled Microsoft was highly praised on Thursday by none other than former president Nelson Mandela.

EGYPTIAN President Hosni Mubarak has been given a clean bill of health after undergoing a series of medical tests on his ear at a Paris military hospital, an Egyptian newspaper reported Thursday. “The tests confirmed he is fine,” the pro-government Al-Ahram newspaper said. Mubarak, who is due back in Cairo later Thursday, held talks with […]

Andy Capostagno Rugby World Cup A week has come and gone and the assessments of the fourth Rugby World Cup are still at wide variance. There are the familiar voices of the traditionalists maintaining that all the games (bar England versus Tonga when the bus was late) started on time, a total of 1,75- million […]

Mail & Guardian reporters The three SABC executives named in a report alleging commissioning irregularities are: the SABC’s head of television, Molefe Mokgatle; the head of corporate communications, Thaninga Shope; and the control account finance manager, Prince Phaweni. The report, compiled by the auditing company KPMG, has recommended that the three executives be suspended pending […]

A group of Swedish artists are set to tour the country from November 20, reports Riaan Wolmarans The Swedes are coming, and no, this is not another illegal alien story. From November 20 to 28, the Sweden South Africa Partnership will take place throughout South Africa. This initiative, endorsed by the governments of the two […]

Movies of the week Political corruption lies behind the events in both Divorcing Jack and An Ideal Husband, the two most impressive movies to open this week, and both are from the British Isles. Apart from that, they couldn’t be more different. Divorcing Jack is David Caffrey’s feature debut, and it’s a lunatically fine one. […]

A CONTINGENT of 10 Malawian soldiersleft for the Zambian capital of Lusaka on Wednesday to begintraining forpeace-keeping duties inKinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Astatement fromthe Malawian army headquarters in Lilongwe said the Malawian contingent was part of an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) peace-keeping initiative. Army spokesmen stressed thatthe Malawian soldiers were merely […]

Mail & Guardian reporter What is an Internet company worth? The spiralling values of Net stocks now make it a quasi-scientific question. And two Salomon Smith Barney analysts are just the latest to attempt an answer. London-based Gerard van Hamel Platerink and Morten Andersen have recently completed a detailed note on the subject which provides […]

If any proof were needed that the SABC’s management and governing board has failed in its duty to the South African public, that was forthcoming during interviews for a new board in Cape Town this week. Reluctantly, both outgoing board chair Professor Paulus Zulu and finance subcommittee members Paul Davis and Litha Nyonyha finally admitted […]

Shaun Harris TAKING STOCK Small investors’ nerves are getting frayed, it seems, as we approach the end of the year. That was the clear message to come out of the last unit trust quarterly results, which showed a strong move out of equity funds into low-risk money market funds, or out of the unit trust […]

Iden Wetherell As Commonwealth leaders meet in Durban this weekend, relations between Harare and London, which have been plummeting since the election of Tony Blair’s Labour government in 1997, are at a new low. Calls for Zimbabwe to be expelled from the association of former British colonies for human rights abuses are mounting. The two […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 6.30pm THE Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled that the Liquor Bill, passed by Parliament in November 1998, is unconstitutional. This comes after then president Nelson Mandela referred the Bill to the Concourt with questions over its constitutionality. Mandela said he had reservations about the constitutionality of the Bill as […]

Justin Pearce ‘It was eight months ago the police took him away,” Maryam recalls. “First they take the husband to starve the wife.” Maryam (47) and her husband are Eritreans who had spent all of their adult lives in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. They were part of a community of thousands who, during the […]

Though fairly new to South Africa, the eco-village concept has been around for about 70 years, reports Jacqui Pile James Shepard is a man with a plan. As an ecologist working at Wilgespruit Fellowship Centre in Roodepoort, he has dreams of turning most of the centre’s 18ha of land into a working example of how […]

The English cricket team lack the talent necessary to win on their tour of South Africa, writes Neil Manthorp England seem determined to ensure that attitudes, approaches, appearances and results on their tour of South Africa stay the same as on all their other tours this decade. Based on performances so far, it will take […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The Minister of Education, Kader Asmal, is likely to oust vice- chancellors at two prominent universities and appoint administrators to run the institutions in line with recommendations contained in a new Bill soon to be finalised by Parliament. According to reliable sources close to Asmal, the universities of the North and […]

AN outbreak of Lassa fever in eastern Sierra Leone has killed at least 80 people, while about 100 more are in an extremely serious condition in Segbwema Town, a doctor said. Dr Ibrahim Turay said: “The outbreak has been prevalent for some 10 months now since we took over Segbwema,” 255km east of Freetown. He […]

Barry Streek South Africa’s 739 unelected traditional leaders are being paid nearly R600- million a year in salaries – at an average of R65 071,84 a month or R780 853,68 a year. This was revealed by Minister for Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi in reply to a question tabled in the National Assembly by […]

posters Paul Kirk During the June election Amichand Rajbansi’s Minority Front unleashed a secret weapon on Durban: a king-size poster. Now Rajbansi has to pay the price. Durban has strict by-laws relating to the placement of election posters. No posters can be placed on traffic signs, no more than one poster can be erected on […]

Justin Pearce travelled to the Ethiopian province of Tigray, a hot spot in the country’s border conflict with Eritrea The colonel sits in a cabin lined with plastic grain sacks (“net contents 100kg”) and decorated with paintings of the Ethiopian kings who kept the Italians at bay in the 19th century. “The moment our sovereignity […]

Charged with an earnest desire for peace and reconciliation, the communities of Dundee, in KwaZulu-Natal, and its surrounding districts rallied to commemorate the Anglo-Boer South African War Centenary (1999-2002) in true Rainbow Nation spirit. Last Saturday’s programme began with the re-enactment of the Battle of Talana (October 20 1899). A fine performance from volunteer men, […]

THE public service commission has warned government to end its system of allowing public servants to accumulate leave over years after public servants accrued vacation leave payment of R11,6-billion in the 1998/99 year. They were paid nearly R1-billion for over-time work during the 1997/98 financial year, Business Day reports that the commission warned that costs […]

AVID hikers can explore six new hiking trails that will be opened to celebrate the festive season in the Kruger National Park. Called the Millenium Trails, the six routes will operate only over Christmas, from December 23 to 26, and over New Year, from December 30 to January 2. Head of the Kruger Park Trails […]

A CONTINGENT of 10 Malawian soldiers left for the Zambian capital of Lusaka on Wednesday to begin training for peace-keeping duties in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Malawian contingent is part of an Organisation of African Unity peace-keeping initiative. Army spokesmen stressed that the Malawian soldiers are merely monitors and will not […]