THE Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers recommended on Friday that parliamentarians re-elected to their seats after the June 2 general election should receive 10% salary increases. However, the proposal only applies to those who are re-elected — those elected to Parliament for the first time this year should be paid at […]
Michael Finch If there is an unwritten law in world athletics, it is that a Kenyan will always win the 3 000m steeplechase on the track and always take the gold medal at the World Cross-Country Championships. That’s the way it has been since the events were invented and that’s the way it will stay. […]
Tangeni Amupadhi Namibia’s political stage was shaken this week by the formation of a new political organisation which threathens to cut into the power base of the ruling party. Ben Ulenga, respected veteran of the governing South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo), broke ranks to form the Congress of Democrats and prepare for the general […]
Howard Barrell:OVER A BARREL As President Nelson Mandela prepared his farewell to Parliament this week, I could not help feeling that the grand old man was not the only person deserving of applause. Every MP could also justifiably take a bow. So, too, could each South African. For Mandela’s farewell on Friday March 26, the […]
AFRICAN club championship fixtures this weekend (first-leg score in brackets): Champions League: Preliminary round, second leg Kaloum, Guinea v Real Banjul, Gambia (2-0) First round, second leg Al-Ahly, Egypt v Maji Maji, Tanzania (3-0); AFC Leopards, Kenya v Rayon Sport, Rwanda (1-2); Raja Casablanca, Morocco v Ndiambour, Senegal (0-1); Cotonsport Garoua, Cameroon v Djoliba, Mali […]
The latest chapter in her continuing fascination with pathology, psychosis, sick humour and sleazy soap opera is Shireen James’s new play Viagra Falls. James is the writer/director of When Suicides Meet, a meditation upon the inner torment of Sylvia Plath, and Alice Threw The Looking Glass, a harrowing and gruesomely comic portrayal of a young […]
Tara Turkington Northern Cape MEC for Safety and Security and Public Works Eunice Komane has scorned the high life, choosing to live in the servants’ quarters of a house in one of Kimberley’s downmarket suburbs, rather than in a palatial home she could easily afford. When asked about her home, Komane, who generally avoids publicity, […]
ENGLAND rugby union star Jeremy Guscott has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm after an incident in Bath, police said on Friday. Guscott (33), a centre noted on the field for his bursts of speed and his sidestep, was released on bail late on Thursday to appear before the Bath Magistrate’s Court on April […]
Shaun de Waal Finding Peter Mayle’s book about France, Toujours Provence, in the contemporary fiction section of a bookshop recently, I pedantically pointed out that it wasn’t fiction and should perhaps be in the travel section. “But it’s travel fiction,” said one of the assistants, clearly not swayed by my arguments. I was reminded of […]
Michael Brooks A new Dude could do away with city slickers. Instead of expensive consultants to interpret the terrifyingly complex modelling programs used by many businesses, the job may be done by software being developed at Leeds University, United Kingdom. Dude (decision-support user documentation environment) gives other applications a user- friendly interface and produces “active” […]
AMANDA COETZER is out of the Lipton Championships in Florida, after American Serena Williams beat the ninth seeded South African 6-4 6-0 on Wednesday. Williams now faces Martina Hingis in the event’s semifinals, after the Swiss top seed crushed Austria’s Barbara Schett 6-1 6-1 in 42 minutes. The 18-year-old Hingis has not dropped a set […]
A few years ago, I attended a lecture by a Canadian constitutional lawyer, David Beatty. Briefly, his thesis was that the most important task for a judge in a constitutional state was to balance the rights guaranteed in the Constitution with the provision that such rights may be limited by government action. In short, the […]
The Mail & Guardian’s holding company, M&G Media Limited, has announced the appointment of Govin Reddy as its new CEO. A media executive with national and international experience, Reddy most recently served as the deputy CEO of the SABC. He steps into the shoes of Mike Martin, the M&G’s first CEO. Said Reddy: “There are […]
Oupa Bodibe One of apartheid’s many enduring legacies is the culture of secrecy that pervades public and private sector institutions. Our Constitution recognises a right of access to information, and Parliament has to enact legislation by February 2000 to give full effect to this right. This week, the portfolio committee on justice held hearings on […]
Poverty and short-sighted planning are hindering effective and permanent service delivery to rural communities, writes Charlene Smith In the rush to deliver, government departments are ignoring the fact that many rural communities are unable to pay for the services provided, which is leading to the collapse of projects around the country. Poverty and planning that […]
music day With top-class gigs happening across the country for an entire 24 hours, South African Music Day is set to take local is lekker to new heights. Michelle Constant takes the microphone The key to the very first South African Music Day (March 27) is not to find all the answers but to feel […]
THE body of missing Ventersdorp mayor Philip Mashe was found on Thursday afternoon in a sunflower field 2km from the town, according to police spokesperson Captain Louis Jacobs. Mashe disappeared on Saturday after having withdrawn R4000 from his bank account in the company of one Bota Johannes Monatle (35), who was arrested near Lichtenburg on […]
… They thrill, move and amaze us, and they get bigger every year. Victoria Coren says it’s time we gave Oscars to the Oscars The Oscar show gets bigger every year. This time around it was a marathon five hours between the start of coverage and the closing credits. At the Oscar-watching party in my […]
The Medical Schemes Act was amended last month to spread medical risks and costs. Kathryn Strachan reports Medical aid schemes are gearing up for a complete overhaul of their operations, with newly introduced legislation opening up new avenues and ending discrimination against the patient. Up to now medical aids have shared risk with the patient, […]
THE Breitling Orbiter III balloon, which made aviation history with the first non-stop flight around the world, was plucked out of Egypt’s remote Western desert by helicopter on Thursday. Two Egyptian army choppers took part in the salvage operation, lifting the vast balloon and putting it on trucks heading to Alexandria, ready for a sea […]
Hands up those who know what is happening to the qualifying competition for the 2000 African Nations Cup. Okay, both of you can put your hands down now and take a bow. Zimbabwe, awarded the right to host the first showcase of African football in the new millennium, has lost the tournament because it did […]
John Higgins It’s embarrassing to introduce an academic superstar to a small audience in a large hall. “There may be just my theory of literature class here,” I murmured, as we hurried towards the lecture, adding silently, “all 10 of them!” Could the unfashionable topic, “Marxism at the Millennium”, draw in the crowds on this […]
At first glance, wars in Southern Africa and Yugoslavia have little in common. Barely a decade ago American and Soviet strategists might have linked them to their global rivalry and to the risk of nuclear war. Today such conflicts are isolated, with external involvement responding to a new diplomatic drumbeat of regional solutions for regional […]
NIGERIA has yet to launch an official campaign for their 2006 World Cup bid and a bidding committee is not even in place. Sports Minister Emeka Omeruah said earlier this month: “It will soon be constituted,” but time is fast running out with only a year to go before Fifa decides on the 2006 host. […]
THE Southern African Development Community Task Force is poised to establish a command structure to effectively rebuff a rebel onslaught in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “We felt that such a unified command structure will co-ordinate our forces and strategically combat fierce fighting in the east of the country,” Brigadier-General Denga […]
Peter Dickson Within a day of being spirited away overnight, Port Elizabeth’s stolen Sophakama High School turned up all over the place after a wild donkey chase in the city’s Kwazakhele township. Port Elizabeth community policing board chair Vuyisile Njikelana was on his way to work in Motherwell last Wednesday when he spotted a donkey […]
Neil Manthorp in Napier Cricket Hansie Cronje has an awful lot on his mind going into the last three one- day internationals of this New Zealand tour. All three games must be won for the series to be tucked away alongside the Test series victory and then, of course, there is the World Cup. The […]
n Women have two X chromosomes. Each X holds about 5 000 genes. A man has one X chromosome and one Y chromosome which only holds about 30 genes. n The male equivalent of nymphomania is satyriasis. n The vagina has a pH of 3,8 to 4,5. That’s more acidic than black coffee (pH 5), […]
The pilot radioed Luanda repeatedly: “Permission to climb; permission to climb higher.” It was the first clear indication of war in the provinces. The small Beechcraft plane, heavily laden, was struggling to its maximum air height to avoid possible Unita missiles as it flew over the city of Malange. Luanda had been subdued, but calm […]
divider Zimbabwe was once seen as one of the success stories of Africa after colonialism. But there are pictures which still tell a tale of division. In 1999, the issues are black and white, but also about class, writes Andrew Meldrum The Harare Club’s teak-panelled walls speak of years of tradition, privilege and exclusivity, dating […]
Andy Colquhoun Rugby There is a rhythm to the rugby season by which we followers of the game can measure out the advance of each year. The pungent scent of braaing meat hanging in the air of the Pretoria suburb of Sunnyside can only mean that the Blue Bulls are once more on the rampage […]
With most of the productions developed by community theatre groups, the FNB Vita Drama Festival is at the right place – the Windybrow Centre for the Arts, writes Bafana Khumalo The house is perched on a hill – a hill that a group of joggers use as a kind of masochistic obstacle course, running backwards […]