OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kisangani | Sunday 9.00pm. THE rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo have announced that they have entered the strategic town of Kindu, the forward headquarters for troops supporting Presdient Laurent Kabila, after launching an attack on Sunday. A rebel spokesperson said: “Our forces have been fighting inside the town since 11.00am and […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Sunday 10.00pm. RIVAL Lesotho political parties were are preparing for a fierce debate on Monday on whether or not Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s government should continue to rule the kingdom until new elections in 15 to 18 months’ time. The debate will take place at continuing Southern African Development Community-led talks […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 7.45pm. ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe has shocked the coutry by awarding himself and his cabinet of 55 a 20% pay hike. The pay increases come at a time when Zimbabwe is strapped for cash, and coping with economic difficulties. A month ago Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa announced that the government […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Gauteng | Sunday 9.00pm. SOMEBODY is stalking Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the Sunday Times has reported. Madikizela-Mandela, president of the African National Congress Women’s League, said intruders broke into her home in Orlando West, Soweto, on Thursday night and, for the third time, rifled through her bedroom, but took nothing. They sneaked over the wall […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, | Friday 4.00pm. THE Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration has not brought about a reduction in labour disputes, nor is it operating at optimum efficiency, CCMA senior commissioner Sarah Christie said on Friday. Christie told a South African Labour Law Society conference in Stellenbosch that the CCMA’s success is frequently measured by […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Hoedspruit | Sunday 11.00pm. A STUDY of bovine tuberculosis has begun in the Kruger National Park, KNP director David Mabunda announced on Sunday. The survey aims to find out more about the disease, its geographic spread through the park and the risk to animals. Buffalo are the carriers of BTB and other animals […]
MIKE METELITS, Johannesburg | Friday 6.00pm. WITH the Dow losing its early momentum to lose 74 points, the FTSE-100 down 100 and the DAX off 260 points, pressures on SA markets remained high Friday. A few Asian markets were closed due to China’s National Day and the Nikkei managed a small gain of 26 points […]
Lesotho rebel soldiers this week invited reporter Sechaba ka’Nkosi to view their secret camps Rebel soldiers of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), who ignored this week’s ultimatum to report back to their bases, claim a large quantity of arms are in their hands at safe houses around the capital Maseru and in surrounding villages. The […]
Angella Johnson: VIEW FROM A BROAD I had always considered exercise to be way overrated. Not for me the panting ache of pushing my body to the maximum, or the orgasmic high of an endorphin rush. At least that was before I bought into South Africans’ fitness obsession and started working out like a lunatic. […]
Remember Pop Shop: “Put your feet on the ground and reach for the stars”? What some poor monkeys like myself didn’t realise while flailing our arms at the heavens was that the Pop Shop galaxy was a ridiculously limited one. Beyond stars like Duran Duran and the Pet Shop Boys was a multitude of other […]
Cheryl Carolus looked set for a high post in the ANC government; instead she opted to be South Africa’s first female high commissioner in London, writes Liz McGregor Cheryl Carolus is not your average diplomat. She travels by tube, wears mini-skirts and parties into the small hours. She has strong opinions about her host country […]
Phillip Kakaza Diva shouts, harmonic sounds and thunderous rhythms swept through the remote village of Taung during the North West Cultural Calabash Festival last week. The high-pitched voices of the undisputed queen of gospel Rebecca Malope and her backing group Pure Magic resonated from the Mmabana (mother of the children ) Cultural Centre where the […]
Several investigations are under way into NIA operatives allegedly involved in money laundering schemes, writes Justin Arenstein Police are preparing to arrest at least two members of a shadowy National Intelligence Agency (NIA) unit next week after they allegedly tried to cash stolen share certificates worth more than R180- million. The operatives have also been […]
handouts Jacqui Boulle Since 1994 there has been much talk about developmental social welfare and the need to move away from grants and handouts to more sustainable programmes. While this approach – which underpins the Department of Welfare’s campaign during welfare month – has had some success, its impact is limited: nearly half the poor […]
Chris Barrie The transformation of the television set from humble programme provider to multi- purpose information hub has continued with the announcement that the box will soon be able to make and receive your telephone calls. As if 200 channels of programming combined with interactive services such as shopping and gambling were not enough, development […]
Roger Southall Right to Reply It is precisely because of the deep respect which is widely accorded to the Mail & Guardian’s reportage that one simply has to object in the strongest possible terms to the criminally ignorant and politically irresponsible coverage of the Lesotho election by your reporter William Boot. His constant, uncritical repetition […]
Keep South Africa Beautiful closed its files this week after its funds dried up, writes Wonder Hlongwa South Africa’s biggest waste management and environmental awareness organisation has closed shop because of corruption, mismanagement and lack of funds and direction. The closure of Keep South Africa Beautiful comes at a time when government departments are struggling […]
British trip-hop band Massive Attack arrive in South Africa on Sunday. Charles Leonard did a telephonic interview with Robert `3-D’ Del Naja from his hotel room in Detroit `We’re on a 17-date tour of North America. We’ve been here a couple of times before. They must like us because they’ve invited us back, but we […]
Andrew Muchineripi Soccer It is exactly 100 days since Shaun Bartlett converted a late penalty kick to earn Bafana Bafana a 2-2 draw with Saudi Arabia before departing the World Cup stage. The wind of Marseille, the heat of Toulouse and the tranquillity of Bordeaux are rapidly fading memories along with controversial French coach Philippe […]
West Coast Ann Eveleth looks at plans to make economic well-being more than a brief tourist boom Most Septembers a sea of wild flowers drowns the rugged protrusions of the Cedarberg mountains that separate the quaint mission villages of Wupperthal from the Atlantic seaboard. In that lucky month, the narrow roads lead bands of tourists […]
Ferial Haffajee The chiefs in fatigues from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) jetted into Luanda this week to talk war. They could send soldiers to provide military assistance in Angola as the SADC did in the Democratic Republic of Congo last month and in Lesotho last week. The SADC’s new role is a triumph […]
Peter Dickson Battered by bureaucratic bungling, the Eastern Cape government discovered this week that its expenditure has been technically illegal for the past six months. Owing to an “oversight” by Premier Makhenkesi Stofile, its 1998/99 provincial budget remains unpublished in the provincial Government Gazette, which is in contravention of the Constitution, In reply to a […]
Richard Nelsson Spending It During the Eighties a bulging Filofax was the symbol of the successful and upwardly mobile; for the Nineties the “must have” is an electronic organiser. But these “personal digital assistants” (PDAs) are much more than just hi-tech versions of their leather-bound antecedents. The latest models have not only the capacity to […]
CD of the week Adam Sweeting The idea that Brian Wilson could ever again approximate his own back- catalogue masterpieces has grown increasingly laughable. There was the critically-feted Orange Crate Art in 1995, but that was really a Van Dyke Parks project cunningly disguised as a Brian Wilson album. While it’s true that Wilson has […]
Maureen Barnes Down the tube It’s probably age, but I got competely confused last week between the shots of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) invasion of Bophuthatswana and those of the South African National Defence Force marching into Lesotho. Scenes of the AWB fiasco were screened on TV in the wake of the truth commission hearing […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 7.45pm. A SPOKESMAN for Angolan separatists said on Friday that government troops supported by attack helicopters are advancing on an unknown number of Front for the Liberation Of Cabinda (FLEC) separatists in the country’s oil-rich enclave of Cabinda. Carlos Puna said that a battalion of 400 Angolan soldiers began an […]
Alexander Chancellor REMIND ME WHO I AM, AGAIN by Linda Grant (Granta) It is told in this book how Frankie Vaughan, the handsome crooner once thought to be England’s answer to Frank Sinatra, came to acquire his surname. His real name was Francis Abelson, and he lived as a child with his sister, his mother […]
Stuart Hess Patient care in Gauteng could be curtailed as state hospitals run out of funds because of overspending of this year’s budgets. Government health officials said no additional financial assistance will be made available until the start of the next financial year in April 1999. However, major institutions such as Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital […]
Tim Radford European scientists are to build an antimatter factory at Cern, the European nuclear research laboratory in Geneva. But even though antimatter would be the perfect fuel – 200 times more efficient than thermonuclear fusion – it may be some time before they have made enough to boldly go with Captain Kirk and Dr […]
October is welfare month, with activities planned around the country. But do we need it, asks Black Sash pension campaigner Rosemary Smith When the Roman authorities wanted to appease the populace, they laid on bread and circuses. The Department of Welfare’s planned activities for welfare month in October smack of circuses. Is it the right […]
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni and Swapna Prabhakaran The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) this week faced the difficult task of finding the families of nine South African soldiers killed in action in Lesotho. The SANDF statement on the deaths listed the names, ages and home towns of the soldiers and included a brief message […]
Serious questions are being asked about the state of South Africa’s defence forces following the Lesotho intervention, writes Howard Barrell The public, defence and security analysts and African National Congress and opposition politicians have expressed concern over the past 10 days about the coherence of the young South African National Defence Force (SANDF) after it […]