Friday night Benjamin Adam and Marthali Brand Two hedonists arrive in Edenvale to dance the night away at that notorious old classic, The Doors. The Red Bull for the evening has already been consumed, and as they head for the dance floor with their usual enthusiasm, Kurt (rest his soul) croons the opening bars of […]
Ferial Haffajee A Second Look It is Charlene Smith’s pen that will ensure she is no victim. A rape survivor, her brave and searing account of this most personal and violent violation is a wake-up call. It takes many thousands of words to capture the smell of her fear, the fear of death and the […]
Phillip van Niekerk:FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK On Monday morning I arrived at work and received the following e-mail from Charlene Smith, one of our correspondents: “I was attacked in my home on Thursday night and raped. I am writing about it, not only because I think `victims’ should speak out, but because, except for the […]
Ian Clayton South Africa’s R23,7-million worth of agricultural products started changing complexion last year, with crops more conducive to small-scale farming showing growth and those which were heavily assisted in the past, such as maize, wheat and sorghum, all declining. The contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product dropped to 4,1% from 4,5% in […]
Nick Paul is in stitches as the NSA gallery becomes a catwalk for a unique collaboration between art and fashion Just when you think it’s time to entertain the possibility that we’ve run out of new ideas, along comes somebody and invents a backpack with only one strap. Ex fashion semper aliquid novi. Actually, those […]
AFRICAN leaders were to meet in Luanda on Wednesday to review widening wars in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angolan state radio said. The radio quoted senior officials as saying Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila, Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and President Sam Nujoma of […]
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela arrived in Bahrain on Thursday on the second leg of a mini-tour of the Gulf. Mandela is due to present his condolences to the Gulf island state’s new emir, Sheikh Hamad ibn Issa al-Khalifa, who succeeded to power last month following the death of his father. Mandela is accompanied by Foreign Minister […]
Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week `He’s never met a princess, only queens,” says openly gay film director James Whale when introducing his gardener to Princess Margaret in Gods and Monsters. It’s a gem of dialogue in a script that sparkles with witty one-liners and moments of tragedy. Writer/director Bill Condon deservedly won the Best […]
THE Oppenheimer family has purchased a Northern Cape nature reserve and lodge where they will continue a successful conservation project started by its previous owner, De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer said on Thursday. Tswalu Desert Reserve’s previous owner, Stephen Boler, in the space of three years introduced 6000 head of game, including the rare desert […]
Although he walked free in 1997, Bruce Grobbelaar cannot find an English club that will have him. Simon Kuper reports `Bloody mist, eh?” says Bruce Grobbelaar, jumping out of his car just in time for training. “You can’t see a golf ball on the fairways.” Behind him Table Mountain is indeed shrouded in the stuff, […]
The government’s new diamond valuer has challenged the big daddy of the diamond industry, writes Mungo Soggot A row which could involve millions of rands of tax revenue is brewing between De Beers and the South African government’s official diamond valuer. The valuer has rejected De Beers’s evaluation of a consignment of rough diamonds due […]
Kevin Mitchell Boxing Brendan Ingle says Naseem Hamed has been abandoned by his friends and will be finished as a top-flight fighter within two years. Given the turbulent nature of the business, it is not surprising that boxing generates such bitterness between old associates when they discover that their long-held trust is the sham they […]
A PARALYSING virus has killed nine children in Angola’s Luanda province where some 206 children have been hit by the unidentified ailment, the health ministry said Wednesday. Angolan specialists have said the illness, which mainly affects children under 11 years of age, was not polio. They have sent samples to South Africa for analysis. Results […]
Aaron Nicodemus A leading Y2K expert says South Africa’s public hospitals are woefully unprepared for the January 1 2000 computer glitches that may disrupt the flow of medical supplies and cause life-support systems to malfunction. Private hospitals are only doing slightly better, says Mohammed Madhi, CEO of Cyberknowledge Systems and a national expert on Y2K. […]
UGANDA’s central bank on Thursday took over the running of the troubled Uganda Commercial Bank to protect the interests of depositors and to remove from its management a Malaysian firm accused of illegal lending. The move follows a controversial attempt to privatise UCB, previously a state corporation, during which the Malaysian firm Westmont Land (Asia) […]
ISAAC MOFOKENG, the man who shot and wounded Johannesburg Zoo’s Max the gorilla while fleeing from police in July 1994, was sentenced to 40 years in jail in the Johannesburg Regional Court on Friday. Mofokeng, who was convicted on 10 counts including rape, robbery, housebreaking and malicious damage to property (for shooting the R2,5-million gorilla), […]
So imagine waking up to discover on breakfast television that Jay Naidoo is off on a rally across the African continent with none other than Bobby Brown. Shucks, does this mean that doe-eyed Whitney Houston will be popping up to croon loving words of encouragement to her man at every pit stop between Tunis and […]
ELEMENTS of separatist rebels in Senegal’s Casamance region have begun disarming, 16 years after a bloody war of independence broke out, the Sud Quotidien newspaper reported in Dakar on Wednesday. The Democratic Movement of Casamance Forces (MFDC), led by Augustin Diamacoune, began disarming as part of a restructuring exercise, the paper said. Hopes for peace […]
In the hope of spoiling your meal or trip home, or of making still less pleasant your absorption of the evening news, here are two thoughts on war which some of us on the Mail & Guardian have recently been discussing. One is about war as Nato tries to wage it; the other is about […]
David Shapshak Product: NOKIA 9110 cellphone/personal digital assistant James Bond has one. The Saint has one, and now you can have one too. The Nokia 9110 is the latest must have for the mobile warrior. It looks like a cellphone, albeit a slightly bigger version than the current smaller-is-cooler vogue, but with a click it’s […]
Marianne Merten The mother of Renata Ismail, snatched on March 27 from a modest block of flats in Kuils River, Cape Town, spent the little girl’s fifth birthday on Easter Monday at her husband’s hospital bedside. Messages of support were stuck on her living room wall, and cars parked in the road in front displayed […]
Over the next two weeks 59 tons of African ivory will be sold to Japan. Leading elephant researchers argue this could open the door to wider elephant slaughter Three shipments of 59,1 tons of ivory will be auctioned and sold to Japanese traders in the next two weeks, in terms of a recent international decision […]
POP megastar Michael Jackson is close to signing an agreement to purchase a quarter share in Sun International, the company that operates Sun City, SABC TV news reports. The report said the North-West Development Corporation is keen to sell its Sun International shares to Jackson to raise funding for development projects. The report said an […]
TAPPE HENNING, referee for Saturday’s Super 12 match between the Stormers and the Sharks at Newlands, will attend the after-match press conference with his two touch judges, the Western Province Rugby Football Union said on Wednesday. With more and more referees joining the professional code, players, administrators and the media have asked for referees to […]
LAVA from the Mount Cameroon volcano is inching inexorably towards two villages, whose combined population of 1500 residents are preparing to evacuate, national radio said. Local authorities said they are “prepared at any time” to carry out the evacuation of Bakinguili and Batoke, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) west of Yaounde, adding that four army […]
A FIRE in the Drakenstein mountains in the Western Cape hit the Franschhoek valley on Wednesday, destroying workers’ cottages and forcing their evacuation. The air force said three helicopters from 22 Squadron are assisting nature conservation authorities for a second day. The fire, which has been burning for over two weeks now, forced the closure […]
THE South African Municipal Workers’ Union on Wednesday demanded the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council immediately stops its Igoli 2002 programme to revamp the Johannesburg central business district. Samwu said the plan has been hatched without any consultation with the city’s poor, and violates a national agreement on municipal restructuring concluded last year. The union threatened […]
THE Castle Premier League fixtures for the week were announced in Johannesburg on Wednesday. The fixtures are: Friday: 8pm, Supersport United v Seven Stars (Caledonian Stadium). Sunday: 3pm, Qwa Qwa Stars v Bush Bucks (Charles Mopeli Stadium); 2.30pm, Moroka Swallows v Dynamos (George Goch Stadium); 3pm, AmaZulu v Vaal Professionals (Kings Park). Wednesday (April 14): […]
AUSTRALIAN rugby union chief John O’Neill said Wednesday he will seek a fair selection process for referees at October’s World Cup during next week’s International Rugby Board meeting in Buenos Aires. ARU managing director O’Neill wants the IRB to establish standard worldwide interpretations of the tackle and advantage rules. There has been concern here that […]
THE Cats on Tuesday named 29 players for their Super 12 tour in Australia and New Zealand. Several top players will miss the Antipodean tour due to injury, including Springbok hooker James Dalton and former Bok lock Johan Ackermann. If Chester Williams passes a fitness test on Friday, one of the other 28 players will […]
AUTHORITIES in Malawi fear there will be a drastic drop in tobacco production this year, due to an increase in the price of inputs that forced many growers out of the industry, according to the Tobacco Association of Malawi. Tama chief classifier Gasper Banda said the organisation expects about 90-million kilograms of burley tobacco this […]
POLICE said on Wednesday that Western Cape United Democratic Movement provincial secretary Malizdo Diko survived an attack on his life on Monday night when several shots were fired at him near his Nyanga home. Police spokesman Captain Neville Malila on Wednesday said detectives are investigating a possible link between the attack on Diko and attacks […]