Staff Reporter

In his last state-of-the-nation address at the opening of Parliament, President Nelson Mandela understandably spoke of the achievements of the first democratically elected government. Within this context, it is worthwhile examining the record of our new Constitution, particularly the Bill of Rights, over the same period. After all, it was the rights contained in the […]

Do annual government budgets really matter? A great fuss invariably accompanies them and they attract a degree of examination which seems quite disproportionate for what they usually turn out to be. In fact, the annual budget is really little more than a household accounting of how much money will be needed to pay for the […]

Emeka Nwandiko Black employees at Gauteng’s Department of Finance have rallied around a white colleague who was dismissed for making a racist remark, saying her sacking was “apartheid in reverse”. Bets Enslin was dismissed last Friday after she was brought before a disciplinary tribunal for an incident last December. It is alleged that Enslin jokingly […]

Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s budget has been labelled `boring’, but it augurs well for the future. Belinda Beresford and Donna Block report The government may be keen to flirt with voters before the election, but the latest budget showed an administration also keen to display a well-turned piece of economic discipline to international investors […]

Dawie Roodt South Africa has certain serious economic shortcomings, such as a lack of sufficient savings, investments, job creation and economic growth in general. It is widely accepted that governments should provide a social safety net and redistribute income. However, the extent of this redistribution in South Africa is so large that it may affect […]

EIGHT people including a Briton, an Australian and a Lebanese were arrested in Liberia on Wednesday for “collaborating” with Sierra Leonean rebels. The arrests occurred at the offices of a local company, Red Deer International, in the capital, Monrovia. The company’s general manager, Richard Ratcliffe, a British national, was among those arrested. Military uniforms, communication […]

Eliminating unfair discrimination and making class distinctions a punishable offence is the aim of new legislation. Charlene Smith reports Capitalism will stand in the dock if new equality legislation to be presented to Minister of Justice Dullah Omar becomes law. In terms of the Prevention and Prohibition of Unfair Discrimination Bill, the “market economy” which […]

Once Britain’s champion writer, Martin Amis has been given a hammering by the British press. The memoir he’s writing could settle a few scores – and express his growing empathy with his father. He spoke to Stephen Moss Martin Amis is a clich. Pouting bad boy, famous dad, huge advances, ridiculously expensive teeth, taste for […]

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a syndrome that affects the entire South African society. Aaron Nicodemus investigates After being raped by a gang of four police officers 10 years ago, Thandi Shezi (26) could not even look at a man without shaking. She jumped at loud noises and the smell of a man’s sweat made her […]

SHOPRITE, one of the largest retail chains in southern Africa, will invest an initial $25-million in Zimbabwe this year as part of a regional expansion plan that will see the supermarket giant using this country as a base to supply goods to other African countries, Shoprite official Toby Wieser said this week. Wieser said the […]

Mail & Guardian reporter Cheating and Australia. The two words are snug partners if we are talking cricket. But what about Australian university students cheating to get their degrees? On the Internet? Too right, mate. Most academics in Australia have had to deal with it to some degree, says Jenna Mead, senior lecturer in the […]

OFFICIALS in a leading Nigerian party are seeking to postpone the West African country’s February 27 presidential elections to give the party more time to campaign, Nigerian newspapers reported on Thursday. Ayo Fasanmi, vice-chairman of the Alliance for Democracy was quoted in Lagos dailies asking Nigeria’s electoral commission that the presidential vote be pushed back […]

Deon Potgieter Boxing The soft-spoken Naas Scheepers will be laying it all on the line when he climbs into the ring against national welterweight champion Peter Malinga at the Carousel next Thursday night. Malinga, a former World Boxing Union welterweight world champion, is moving up the ranks after his sensational first-round dismissal of former world […]

Just 10 years ago, this week’s Desert Classic could not have taken place. David Davies on the miracle of golf in Dubai Every evening at the Emirates Golf Club, the tables are dressed for dinner. Severely starched tablecloths lie underneath the silver service, with the wine glasses stretching away in serried ranks towards the centrepiece, […]

THERE is a link between the El Nio weather phenomenon and deadly horse epidemics in South Africa, British scientists said this week. In an article published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, researchers from the Institute of Animal Health said that climate changes resulting from El Nio caused a population explosion of the biting midge, […]

Martin Jacques EAST AND WEST by Chris Patten (Macmillan) This is a book in at least three parts. In fact, it often feels more like a collection of essays than a coherent ensemble. But a common polemical thread runs through the book: it might have been entitled Patten’s Revenge. During his spell in Hong Kong, […]

The failure of the law to address the problem of rape was highlighted by the Italian Court of Appeal last week. It overturned the conviction of a 45-year-old driving instructor found guilty of raping an 18-year- old pupil on the grounds that she could not have been raped as she was wearing jeans. The defendant […]

Bruce Murray Crossfire Last week’s article, “D’Oliviera affair’s shameful secrets”, got only half the story, as it took no account of the new documents now available in South Africa. These include Cabinet minutes unearthed for the truth commission. Two questions had remained unanswered: would the government have accepted Basil d’Oliviera as part of the Marylebone […]

The millennium budget has proved to be a pleasant surprise for foreign and local investors alike, reports Donna Block Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel should stand up and take a bow. His end of the millennium budget has been a crowd-pleaser in international money circles and foreign analysts are “pleased as punch”. They were somewhat […]

After holding the number one spot on the World Music Charts for two months solid, Busi Mhlongo launches her long-awaited second album, UrbanZulu, at home. Bongani Madondo gets to the source of her sound Despite the sea breeze caressing my extra melanin-ebonied skin in a way no massage parlour can, on this particular Friday Durban’s […]

FIVE builders from Britain who volunteered to build a school in the remote Kenyan village of Watamu, were rewarded by being made tribal elders, the British press reported on Friday.The men, who worked 15-hour shifts for two weeks without pay, were appointed elders of the million-strong Girimia tribe at a ceremony attended by 5000 people. […]

Marianne Merten More than 200 people have heeded a Western Cape African National Congress call for members of the public to join the police reservists. Bright yellow posters calling for volunteers went up throughout Cape Town recently after the party pledged to National Commissioner George Fivaz that it would recruit 500 new volunteers by April […]

Neil Manthorp in Christchurch Cricket Gary Kirsten’s contribution to South Africa’s seven-wicket win over New Zealand on Wednesday night would have been seen as routine two years ago but this time his 81 not out might prove to be a watershed. It just doesn’t matter how much you have played, and how much experience you […]

Bryan Rostron:A SECOND LOOK Once upon a time, in the bad old days, when I was a rookie reporter in Cape Town, a regular assignment was to greet the Union Castle as it docked, in order to ask some fading English celebrity or ageing actor on the last leg of a declining career, before he […]

A SHORTLIST of companies which applied to purchase Connex Travel, the state-owned travel agency, is now finalised, Public Enterprises Minister Stella Sigcau said on Thursday. Sigcau expressed satisfaction with the applications, stating that there had been equal interest from both black empowerment groups and key companies in the industry. The selected companies are Magic Travel/Masane […]

Globetrotting for his new book Eat the Rich, America’s favourite rightwing iconoclast found laughter in squalor and corruption everywhere. PJO’Rourke speaks to the Mail & Guardian Eat the Rich contrasts different economic systems around the world. What gave you the idea? I wanted to find out why some countries are so rich and others are […]

got Beukes? Five arrested Pagad members have laid charges of torture against their interrogators, writes Tangeni Amupadhi Superintendent Henry Beukes, one of South Africa’s old-style policemen with a well- documented history of killing crime suspects, is in the spotlight once again. Five People against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) members arrested in the Karoo recently have […]

ANGLOGOLD and Iamgold announced an initial estimate of 1,9-million ounces of gold for the Yatela deposit, located 25km north of the Sadiola Gold Mine in Mali, West Africa. Yatela is owned by the 50:50 Anglogold/Iamgold joint venture, Sadex. The estimate was based on 455 boreholes totalling 21381 samples. “The resource estimates will continue to be […]

Ferial Haffajee:TAKING STOCK `Sjoe! I gave it to him,” says Nocwaka Lamani in an interview at her parliamentary office. The man she gave it to was former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok, whose forces had arrested Lamani’s son, Tango. “I told him, `I am demanding my son back by May 11 1989 because I […]

`agreement’ Ann Eveleth A high-level government meeting set for March 1 is expected to lay down the law on the use of Zimbabwean farm labour – now widespread in areas of high unemployment along the Northern Province border – by South African farmers. Department of Labour representative Sello Mosai said the deputy directors general of […]

buffalo Fiona Macleod All the buffalo sold at the prestigious annual KwaZulu-Natal Conservation Service game auction last year were diseased, and the service is now facing huge claims for damages from the buyers. Last year was the first time the KwaZulu- Natal conservation authority sold buffalo at the annual auction, which has become a celebrity […]

Ever since Richard Nixon looked into the cameras and said, “Your president is not a crook!” even as he was breaking every law in the book trying to cover up the Watergate break-in, I had learned to cross out the “not” from politicians’ statements. And what confirmation have I not had? George Bush said, “Read […]