BOTSWANA’S tourism season is set for another bumper year amid growing resentment that the industry, set to replace the nation’s ailing mining sector, is still dominated by expatriates. The Deputy Commissioner of Labour, Moshe Stimela, says his department is extremely concerned that after so many years the industry has made little progress in training citizens. […]
The fundamental premise of the modern state is that the government must retain a monopoly on violence, and that once this monopoly is ceded the disintegration of the fabric that holds society together is inevitable. The breakdown of the criminal justice system in South Africa has brought with it an increasing tendency for people to […]
Mail & Guardian reporter Boys may be about to lose the battle of the sexes, even in cyberspace. Up to now, evidence has mounted that boys are slipping behind girls in basic literacy, but show a natural talent with computers. However, academics at the Open, Bournemouth and Hertfordshire universities, Britain, who studied the way 120 […]
Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week In a matter of a fortnight we have seen the release of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Bride of Chucky and now 8mm – all movies that revel in the art of salacious gore and sadistic voyeurism. A forerunner to all these was Peeping Tom, Michael Powell’s 1960 masterpiece […]
Howard Barrell Morale in Luanda, capital of war-torn Angola is at an all-time low, with food shortages now being experienced since the army started commandeering civilian supplies. Forces of the rebel Unita movement, led by Jonas Savimbi, are encamped to the south and east of the capital, within 100km range. This is causing growing fears […]
John Matshikiza To those of us stuck in the conservative groove of seeing politics in terms of the titanic struggle between the African National Congress and the National Party, the African Christian Democratic Party was one of those bizarre phenomena that crowded the ballot paper at the first representative election in 1994. Its success in […]
John Matshikiza:WITH THE LID OFF They say nostalgia isn’t what it used to be. But it’s worse than that. In most cases we can’t even remember what we used to be nostalgic about. It was that kind of feeling in the Church of Christ the King in Sophiatown last Sunday, May 9. The occasion was […]
Merle Colborne With “two front covers, several middles and no back” in a format that’s “vertical, horizontal and partly upside down” you can read Mamba, the vibrant new Durban-based culturezine, standing on your head. Thirty local writers, artists, photographers, designers and musicians (a few of whom slipped over the margins into the mainstream a good […]
Andy Capostagno Rugby Those who take comfort in the constricting cloak of provincialism have a fun weekend ahead. The Cats play the Stormers at Newlands with, if you believe the hype, the visitors determined to rain on the Super 12 log leaders’ parade and the home side looking forward to sending the Vaalies back home […]
UGANDA’S central bank has injected $10-million into the country’s forex market in a bid to increase the relative value of the weakening shilling, officials confirmed on Friday. Central bank spokesman Walugembe Musoke said the bank sold $10-million on Thursday through commercial banks in attempt to reduce the dollar rate, which currently stands at slightly more […]
When Sanlam listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange at the end of November, about 2,2- million policyholders became shareholders. Some of these sold their free shares immediately and are probably glad they did – Sanlam’s share performance has not been inspiring since, and getting cash near the listing price of R6 was not a bad […]
THE second of the three toll gates along the N4 highway between Witbank and Komatipoort in Mpumalanga will be opened next Tuesday. Motorists already paying R20 to pass through the Middelburg toll gate, can expect to pay an extra R30 to pass through the Machadodorp toll gate when it opens next week. This means a […]
FINANCIAL services group Nedcor Investment Bank announced in Cape Town on Friday it will invest over R650000 into the South African wine industry over the next three years. This builds on NIB’s existing investment of R265000 over the past three years. The company has agreed to cover the marketing costs of the Cape Independent Winemakers […]
TWO Anglogold miners were killed in an underground rockfall at the Mponeng mine near Carletonville on Thursday. The miners, whose names would not be released until their next-of-kin had been informed, were working almost 3km underground when a tremor measuring 1,8 on the Richter scale caused a rockfall.
Barbara Ellen Body Language According to Gail Sheehy’s new book, Passages in Men’s Lives, the key triggers of male mid-life crisis are: the death of a parent, relationship breakdown and career insecurity. Of the three, the last seems to be the most common. Certainly, when a friend of mine lost his job, he displayed all […]
THE recent outbreak of hemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now under control, World Health Organization experts confirmed on Friday. A news release from the WHO regional office for Africa in Harare quoted the experts as saying the last reported case was 23 April. Two cases of the 90 suspected cases were […]
Andrew Muchineripi Soccer Africa cannot hope to win the 2006 World Cup football tournament bid unless they present a single candidate against the formidable challenges of Brazil, England and Germany. The withdrawals of Egypt and Ghana last month were expected and Nigeria this week heeded the advice of Sepp Blatter, president of world governing body […]
SOUTH Africa’s Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin on Wednesday denied he was considering applying for the vacant position of director-general of the World Trade Organisation. The trade body’s 134 members are deadlocked over whether to appoint former New Zealand premier Mike Moore or Thailand deputy premier Supachai Panitchpakdi, the two remaining candidates in line […]
THE price of a litre of petrol and other fuels rose by almost 50% in Angola on Friday from 1,9 million to three million new kwanzas. The US dollar buys around 1,8 million new kwanzas. Angola produces 300000 barrels a day (b/d) of crude oil and hopes to increase output to a million b/d by […]
integrity and courage in the political debate `If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken/Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools.” – From If by Rudyard Kipling. I am reminded of these words by that archetypal Victorian, Rudyard Kipling, when confronted with the criticism centred on Tony Leon and the Democratic […]
Makhosini Nkosi There are fears that a bloody confrontation could arise between Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress supporters in Nongoma when the ANC begins putting up election posters in the northern KwaZulu- Natal town. Local IFP leader and MP Albert Mncwango warned he could not guarantee that the people of Nongoma would […]
Richard Lee in Addis Ababa One hundred and thirty-one years after a British military force ransacked Maqdala, the mountain capital of the Ethiopian emperor Tewodros II, a campaign has been launched to convince Britain to return hundreds of artefacts stolen during the expedition. The 32 000-strong force was sent to rescue missionaries held captive by […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Wellington | Thursday 2.00pm. TWO of the Otago Highlanders’ injured big guns will return to the fray as the All Black-laden team seeks to regain top spot from the Stormers in the Super 12 in the competition’s final qualifying round this weekend. The Highlanders led the Super 12 table for much of the […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 4.00pm. GIVEN their respective places on the Super 12 log, Saturday’s match between the Stormers and the Cats shouldn’t be a big deal. Additionally, the Stormers are virtually unbeatable at home and the match is at Newlands. And yet the game has attracted massive attention. Cats coach Andre Markgraaff […]
Howard Barrell The row over the Financial Mail’s endorsement last week of the United Democratic Movement in the forthcoming election has brought into sharp relief the relationship between editorial independence and media ownership in South Africa. This week’s Financial Mail carries a lengthy rebuttal of the endorsement by one of the publication’s co-owners, former African […]
THURSDAY, 1.15PM: DEVELOPING nations are expected to ask the World Trade Organisation for technical assistance in meeting their trade obligations, at the 50th anniversary of the organisation next week. President Nelson Mandela is joining United States President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, European Commission head Jacques Santer, and Switzerland’s Flavio Cotti, to celebrate […]
Michael Metelits Financial institutions have become highly complex and diversified creatures. The good old days when a bank, a stockbroker and a lawyer were the only requirements of upper- middle class and corporate financial security are long gone. Replacing the old holy trinity are tax analysts, insurance consultants, corporate and personal finance advisers, bankers of […]
BRYAN PEARSON, Thokoza | Thursday 8.20pm INKATHA Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Thursday launched a blistering attack on the ruling African National Congress, fuelling already-simmering tension following the unearthing of a massive IFP arms cache. Buthelezi, addressing an election rally in Thokoza east of Johannesburg — once an arena of bloody conflict between the […]
MAJOR diversified industrial group Barlows said in Johannesburg on Friday that the Spanish Stock Market National Committee has approved a public offer of 2350 pesetas (R93,76) a share for the delisting of its subsidiary Finanzauto from the Spanish bourse. With minorities owning 1,2-million shares, representing 5,7% of the issued share capital, the offer is worth […]
A BOMB blast at the Tribal Authority building in Manthe village in the North-West province brought the issuing of identity documents by Home Affairs officials to a standstill on Wednesday. The provincial government said on Thursday that the 11 explosive devices damaged the building, shattering a window and ripping pieces of plaster off the back […]
Howard Barrell Over a Barrel Could we be headed for an exceptionally high voter turnout in the elections in three weeks time? Until recently, there seems to have been a fairly general assumption that there would be a moderate to low turnout. Observers were suggesting that only about seven out of 10 of those of […]
Chris McGreal It is a surprisingly well-kept secret for Nigeria. Only a few army officers know for certain what is in the country’s new Constitution. Once passed into law, it will, in theory, end 15 years of rule by military decree. Even Nigeria’s president-elect, Olusegun Obasanjo, who takes office this month, has not been told […]