THURSDAY, 11.30AM: ERNIE ELS will have to contend not only with a persistent back problem in the US Open, but with what veteran Tom Watson describes as the worst, most difficult rough he has ever seen in the tournament. “It’s tight, it’s tough and you need a lot of patience,” says Els himself, who won […]
In some areas of Ethiopia, abducting and raping a woman is accepted as the customary way to find a wife, writes Nerma Jelacic Aberash Bekele was 14 when she was abducted by seven men in southern Ethiopia, taken to a remote hut and repeatedly beaten and raped by the gang’s leader. In rural Ethiopia this […]
Mail & Guardian reporters Kader Asmal (Education):Had remarkable success as minister of water affairs and forestry, despite the onset of enervating illness. Intelligent and hard working, he was a distinguished legal academic before returning from 27 years in exile. He was placed at number four on the African National Congress’s national election list, showing that […]
shock William Keegan According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS): “A general resurgence of inflation seems less likely than further disinflation or even deflation.” This may seem a dry, even unremarkable, assertion until you consider who made it. The BIS is one of the world’s most prestigious financial institutions, the “central bankers’ bank” based […]
DANISH brewing giant Heineken has increased its stake in Nigerian Breweries to almost 37% and could be considering a full take-over, company officials said on Wednesday. A spokesman for Nigerian Breweries said the Danish concern now owns 36,34% of the Nigerian firm after purchasing the holding previously owned by Unilever. Nigerian Breweries chairman Felix Ohiwerei […]
THURSDAY, 11.30AM: THE government is scheduled to meet synthetic fuel producer Sasol this week, where it is expected to propose cutting its tariff protection in the synthetic fuel industry. Current low fuel prices have pushed the cost of maintaining the subsidies up to an astronomical R3-million a day. In terms of a formula agreed to […]
Rob Nixon’s new book is a memoir with a soft spot for the ostriches of Oudtshoorn – and Arizona. He spoke to Jane Rosenthal `Hope is the thing with wings .” This quote from Emily Dickinson is how Rob Nixon begins his book, Dreambirds (Doubleday). It encapsulates perfectly the lightness, quirky humour and heart-stopping gravity […]
South Africa’s World Cup semi-final was being played at the same time the M&G was being printed, so Neil Manthorp looks at the tournament’s top three teams It doesn’t matter that pressure in sport is a luxury, something that you are paid very well to experience and something to which sportsmen should be drawn, not […]
Deon Potgieter in Copenhagen Boxing The South African National Boxing Commission has controversially snatched a world title fight away from former World Boxing Union welterweight world champion Gary “The Heat” Murray. The newly formed boxing bodyoriginally tried to hamstring Murray by saying a local fighter should win a national title before being eligible to contest […]
So you’re the average small unit trust investor, the type of person who has been putting away a few hundred rand a month, typically into a general equity unit trust, ever since you’ve been earning a decent salary. Until the stock market crashed early last year you were quite happy with your investment. The Johannesburg […]
Howard Barrell Over a Barrel One of the more remarkable pieces of reportage on the election just past was a Sunday newspaper story early in the campaign, written without a hint of irony, about Musibudi Mangena, president of the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo). Mangena was saying, again without a hint of irony, that whereas other […]
Mail & Guardian reporters First-time visitors to the Summit Club in Hillbrow are invariably taken aback by the sign at the entrance indicating the “gun un-loading point”. Several months ago a drunk patron took the sign rather too seriously, and left three bullet holes in the crumbling plaster. But venture beyond and up two flights […]
Charlene Smith President Thabo Mbeki is expected to provide an outline of his new government’s economic policy, and proposals for the implementation of an “African renaissance”, at next weekend’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Durban. The forum, according to briefing papers issued to delegates, is predicting a more flexible stance on inflation under Mbeki, more […]
Peter Bradshaw After the flop that was Johnny Mnemonic, the idea of casting Keanu Reeves in another virtual reality thriller must have taken a lot of nerve. Either that or they really wanted Ben Affleck but Ben wasn’t available. In any case, I must admit that if I had been offered a chance a year […]
Howard Barrell President Thabo Mbeki plumped for continuity and party loyalty over performance in the first big decision of his presidency: the choice of his Cabinet. He avoided any of the radical innovation urged on him by commentators, the business community and South Africa’s friends abroad, choosing by and large the old faces and mediocre […]
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni `That’s where my father’s house used to be,” says Michael Ngeno, pointing to a pile of rocks in the middle of an open field in Ventersdorp. “My parents built it in 1955, and it was a comfortable home for us. We had a school nearby, and a clinic. The soil was […]
Cameron Duodu Letter from the North I am extremely proud to inform you that the only reason I was able to watch President Thabo Mbeki’s inaugural speech live was because your brothers and sisters in the north have begun to pull up their socks. I was watching the ceremony on BBC World. Just as Mbeki […]
Barbara Ellen Body Language One of my strangest assignments was being asked to review an example of “erotic fiction for women”. If I remember rightly, it was called something like The Silken Flesh or Sigh Of Desire. Oddly, for a mucky book, none of the female characters appeared to have vaginas, clitorises, or any of […]
THURSDAY, 1.00PM: A FURORE has broken out over transport parastatal Transnet’s award of lucrative public relations contracts to Simeka TWS Communications, because Transnet MD Saki Macozoma sits on Simeka’s board. National Party MP Daryl Swanepoel has accused Transnet of a “gross conflict of interest”, and claims that Simeka was awarded Transnet contracts irregularly. Swanepoel claimed […]
Marianne Merten `I have no more tears left,” says Keith Mentor, whose three-year-old granddaughter, Chantine Veldsman, was shot in the head at point-blank range last Saturday in Mitchells Plain. The little girl clung to life at Cape Town’s Red Cross Children’s Hospital for two days. On Monday Chantine was declared brain dead and the life […]
Once upon a time, women in tennis meant short skirts and visible knickers. Now it’s all serious muscles and attitudes. But, Jim White asks, are women doing themselves a disservice? Four hundred and fifty-five thousand pounds: not bad for a fortnight’s work. That’s how much Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski will be straining (and, being […]
David le Page Lately, cellular phone users have discovered that the identities of not only cell users, but also Telkom users, are popping up automatically when they receive calls. This development follows the introduction by Telkom earlier this year of its Identicall system – where a special plug-in unit can be rented for a nominal […]
FORMER Mpumalanga environment MEC Luckson Mathebula appeared with two co-accused in Bushbuckridge’s Mhala Regional Court on Friday, following his arrest for allegedly masterminding the murder of his estranged wife. Mathebula appeared with his girlfriend and a 34-year-old man. Police say they will oppose any bail application by the accused. Mathebula’s wife Aletta Rose Mnisi was […]
Jonathan Ancer talks to some of the `seditious’ students who were blamed for the 1976 Soweto riots Twenty-three years after the June 16 Soweto uprising, the “seditious” students convicted of inciting the rebellion are influential members of the new South Africa they helped to create. There’s an MP, a Department of Foreign Affairs official, a […]
Universal human rights was humanity’s greatest advance during the past thousand years, writes Wole Soyinka With the blood-soaked banner of religious fanaticism billowing across the skies as one prominent legacy of this millennium, Martin Luther King’s famous theses against religious absolutism struck me early as a strong candidate for the best idea of the past […]
Old and new, black and white, they all marched to Pretoria to witness the new chief ascending his throne. John Matshikiza was also there Thank goodness the African National Congress, since the Oliver Tambo days, has elevated (or demoted) everyone to the level of “chief”. “Howzit, chief?” “Fine thanks, chief.” “Chief, what time are we […]
CDs of the week Riaan Wolmarans The happening dance and rave scene is also sustaining a huge CD industry, prolifically pumping out stacks of dance albums. Mercifully we’ve left the Cover Plus days of hyped-up pop hits far behind: these days you can happily groove along to quality dance music from all the various dance […]
In India, dams have displaced at least 33- million people from their homes. Arundhati Roy on the secret history of delusion and disillusion and, now, the fightback I stood on a hill and laughed out loud. I had crossed the Narmada by boat from Jalsindhi and climbed the headland on the opposite bank from where […]
Shaun de Waal Not quite movie of the week British director Stephen Frears has often taken a notable interest in the particularities and peculiarities of human relationships, and his best films explore them from a number of angles and in different milieux. His 1986 feature My Beautiful Laundrette posited a gay love affair between a […]
Loose cannon Robert Kirby And so, he slowly ponces off into the sunset, his great mane of carefully sculptured hair bouncing to his wearied gait, his spicy ManTang bodyspray wafting around him, his cute little beard still flippantly jutting in defeat. These last few days I have been sorely tempted to write a column entitled […]
Adam Mars-Jones AN EQUAL MUSIC by Vikram Seth (Phoenix House) It was famously observed of Henry James that he sometimes bit off less than he could chew, but the accusation is an unexpected one to be directed at Vikram Seth. His first novel, after all, the monumental A Suitable Boy, was a feat of absorption […]
STEVEN NHLANE, DAN LANGEVELDT, Blantyre | Friday 10.30pm BAKILI MULUZI has been re-elected president of Malawi, an election official said on Friday. Assani Fahad confirmed a state radio report that Muluzi had beaten his main challenger, Gwanda Chakuamba, in polls held in this impoverished southern African state Tuesday. Opposition parties have sworn to contest the […]