Sydney Mathibe South Africa’s witch doctors have learned the power of advertising. A cursory look at the classified sections of newspapers reveals a kaleidoscope of attention- grabbing advertisements aimed at the superstitious and the millions of dedicated muti-users. The ads urge readers to send money, and promote dubious potions, herbal and chemical mixtures and powders […]
Douglas Rushkoff: ONLINE I signed on to a cause a few weeks ago: a crusade for rational thinking about technology and its role in human affairs. Oddly and amazingly, just that statement alone has proven controversial. For those who see me as a pro- technology Utopian, or who are devoutly pro-technology themselves, it sounds like […]
Ann Eveleth The apartheid-era homeland system and rural “betterment schemes” were the worst causes of land degradation, according to a rapid appraisal of land resources conducted in the run-up to World Desertification Day on Wednesday. The study forms part of South Africa’s National Action Programme to implement the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The […]
Lauren Shantall One of the main motivating factors behind this year’s Focus on Swedish and Scandinavian Cinema is the opportunity of celebrating the 80th birthday of the accomplished Ingmar Bergman on July 14 – an event that is to be celebrated across the cinematic world by the staging of Bergman retrospectives. It also coincides almost […]
Belinda Beresford Dazed and confused by the realisation of what another 2% on the bond rate means in actual money, the average South African could be forgiven for feeling that a new nightmare has arisen from the arcane murk of the economy. First life was tough because of the gold price, then inflation became prime […]
Michael White and Liz McGregor What should have been a triumphant valedictory tour for Nelson Mandela before he steps down as president of South Africa has been marred by European Union failure, under Tony Blair’s presidency, to deliver on open trade promises made when apartheid collapsed. Mandela joined the EU heads of government for lunch […]
Recent changes announced by the McCarthy Group, including the creation of McCarthy Bank, came as no surprise to industrial analysts and other market pundits. The company has been languishing in no-man’s land for 18 months and analysts have expressed concern about a lack of clear direction at the top of the company. Directors had punted […]
Rupert Neethling and eM&G reporters The time has come, the walrus said, to think of many things; of POPs and mailbox aliases, and the hassles a computer brings (with apologies to Lewis Carroll). There has been a dramatic surge of interest in the Internet in South Africa over the past few years. It is becoming […]
Dave Hill World Cup He may do the least running, but the man in the number one jersey has as critical a job as any of his (active) colleagues. While South Africa’s troubles may have been solved by the inclusion of Hans Vonk, the debate about what makes a good goalkeeper rages on. The English […]
Andy Capostagno Rugby Times have changed. In 1995 the newly crowned world champion Springboks played Wales at Ellis Park. You may remember the game. Gary Teichmann, unluckily overlooked for the World Cup, made his debut at eighth man and scored a try. Robbie Kempson, a young and promising prop forward from Natal, sat on the […]
Andy Capostagno Golf It’s called getting the monkey off your back. Ernie Els had been number one on the Sony World rankings for two months and he was about to defend the US Open title for the second time in four years. In April the gentle giant from Kempton Park handled a satellite link-up to […]
Barbara Ludman ROADKILL by Kinky Friedman (Faber & Faber, R69,99) There have been many books featuring the author as amiable detective, once the main man in a country and western band, now ensconced in a New York loft with a cat, a good supply of cigars and a singing espresso machine. The Kinky Friedman saga […]
Ferial Haffajee Even for a priest, it has been an extraordinary baptism – fiery, bitter and unlike the private ceremonies the Reverend Hawu Mbatha usually presides over. His recruitment as CEOof the SABC has occasioned a nasty public spat. If this quiet man had hoped for a quiet accession, it was quickly scotched. He has […]
THURSDAY, 4.00PM: ANGOLA’s Unita rebel movement has seized the small town of Piri on one of the main roads north-east of the capital, Luanda, raising the spectre of renewed civil war. The government reported on national radio that the Unita fighters took Piri on Tuesday, killing five people, following an initial assault on Sunday. The […]
WEDNESDAY, 4.00PM: THE investigation into the circumstances surrounding the air crash that killed Mozambican president Samora Machel 12 years ago took a new twist on Wednesday when a Mpumalanga scrapyard owner claimed that wreckage in the possesion of police did not come from Machel’s plane. African Eye News reports that Greg Duffey, of Duffey’s metal […]
MONDAY 6.30PM THE trial of former state president PW Botha, in the dock for refusing to respond to a subpoena from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, was adjourned until August 17. Judgment is expected on August 18. At the resumption of the trial on Monday after a few days’ ajournment, the state prosecutor, Bruce Morrison, […]
Some call burning flesh a `rite of passage’. Others say it’s an ugly throwback to slavery. But it’s a hot fashion statement, writes Lonnae O’Neal Parker Imagine a carefully fashioned coat-hanger, slow-roasted over the blue-green flame of a Magic Chef range, heading for the fleshy expanse of your upper arm, your chest or the side […]
Adam Habib: CROSSFIRE There have been a number of innovative and controversial contributions in this column and other sections of the Mail & Guardian about our failure to develop a people- centered democratic transition. First we had John Pilger’s analysis indicting the African National Congress government for taking care of the “haves” and forgetting the […]
After Jackie Brown and Get Shorty he’s hot in Hollywood and hailed as a literary genius by writers like Amis and Bellow. But few realise that the king of crime fiction thinks most filmed versions of his novels have been junk. Lawrence Donegan reports In the Squad Seven room at 1300 Beaubein beats the dark […]
Phillip Kakaza Rock In black jeans and fuzzy T-shirts, four- piece band Metal Orizon could easily be mistaken for an Afro-pop band. Yet even before you see them perform, the name Metal Orizon gives you a clue as to what these funky Tswana dudes are up to. Unusually for black people, they are into heavy […]
Wonder Hlongwa The Ministry of Defence is facing a lawsuit after matric pupil Sibongiseni Zondi (19) died, allegedly as a result of being tortured by soldiers patrolling the conflict-ridden Dalton area in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Witnesses say Zondi was called by the soldiers to explain a hand gesture he made to a passing army Casspir. […]
Tangeni Amupadhi A high court decision to extend the bail of three Afrikaner youths found guilty last week of murdering and assaulting black people has increased racial tension in the divided Upington community. Blacks in the town have criticised the bail extension as further proof of the judiciary’s lenience towards whites. The court heard the […]
Andrew Worsdale Very infrequently does a movie stick to the top of my mouth. I’ve become inured to seeing mad-ass Hollywood rubbish, that our dear distributors launch on the stupefied public with as many as 37 prints, to satisfy movie mall “taste”. Happy Together is made by Hong Kong wunderkind Wong Kar-Wai and is released […]
Andy Duffy The charge of patronage politics resurfaced in the Western Cape this week amid claims that the National Party has spent more than R5-million of public money in a crude attempt to buy votes. The NP-led provincial government has doled out much of the cash – extra social services grants to homes for the […]
Renting or letting a property doesn’t have to be a trying experience, writes Wally Lambert You’d think we’d be sufficiently warned by the countless horror movies showing innocent-looking tenants turning nasty or happy landlords becoming heartless to think carefully when entering into a lease or rental agreement. But, whether landlord or tenant, the whole rental […]
Douglas Rushkoff: ONLINE No matter how much we might love to hate Bill Gates, we can’t help but have mixed feelings about the United States Justice Department and the two dozen or so states suing Microsoft for violating anti-trust laws. Fresh from their unsatisfying victory-with- no-spoils over the tobacco industry last season, US attorneys general […]
Lizeka Mda Luvundu Junior Secondary School looks very familiar. After about 8km of gravel road out of Willowvale, I drive around the bend and there are the two characterless cream- coloured blocks of classrooms, joined by a shorter one for the staff room and principal’s office to make a U-shape. A new block of five […]
David Shapshak Buying a cellphone is easy. Upgrading to a new phone when your contract expires, isn’t. You can either just go out and buy yourself the latest hot item to hit the shelves, or play the sophisticated marketing game which enticed you to buy your contract in the first place: sign up for another […]
Alex Sudheim On show in Durban As a storyteller, Alson Ntshangase is more of a Dostoevsky than a Wordsworth. His darkly glowing paintings betray the workings of a mind far more interested in the skull beneath than the skin above. “If I start painting a rose I feel I am wasting my paint because I […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) has warned there could be more disruptions in education if the ministry does not review some of its policies. This week, barely hours after the union claimed its most important victory since its inception eight years ago, Sadtu officials said there could be further strikes to […]
Derek Malcolm Not quite the movie of the week This year’s Venice festival kicked off with a new work by an old master. At least some would call Woody Allen that – rather more, as he keeps on saying, in Europe than in the United States. He was not in town for the premiere of […]
Craig Bishop Port Elizabeth business leaders, trade unionists and politicians are uncorking the champagne in anticipation of the go- ahead for development of Africa’s first deep-water port at Coega, about 7km outside the city. But a growing band of environmentalists and social critics are determined to take the fizz out of their celebrations. They are […]