Mail &Guardian reporter Zambian police assaulted and arrested an editor of The Post newspaper, Matsautso Phiri, last Saturday He was taking photographs of a police riot squad dispersing people at a rally in Kabwe organised by former president Kenneth Kaunda. The Post reported that police assaulted Phiri, seized his camera and ripped out his film […]
Robert Kirby: Loose cannon One of the first things they teach you at=20 the Newspaper Columnists School is how to=20 be two-faced. I remember one of our=20 lecturers – some frostbitten old geezer=20 calling himself Ken someone-or-other -=20 telling our class that, when it comes to=20 writing a regular newspaper column, there=20 is no greater […]
Peta Thornycroft The leading contender for the National Party crown, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, was a paid agent of military intelligence. His salary, as president of the Afrikaans student organisation Jeugkrag, was paid from covert funds of the South African Defence Force during the mid-Eighties. And Van Schalkwyk lied to his colleagues in Jeugkrag about the […]
Peta Thornycroft While Ma and Pa are out on the town=20 boogying on Friday nights, their sons and=20 heirs are making whoopee back at home. At least 70 000 pre-pubescent and teenage=20 boys, between the ages of seven and 15, are=20 watching M-Net’s soft porn slot, Love=20 Street. In an analysis of TV audiences=20 between […]
Hazel Friedman investigates what’s behind a=20 bitter battle in Gauteng’s arts council Members of the board at Pact (Performing=20 Arts Council of the Transvaal) are=20 embroiled in a bitter battle over=20 allegations of mismanagement. On one side=20 are Pact CEO Alan Joseph and Pact chairman=20 John Kani, with board members Meredie=20 Wixley and Arlette Franks […]
A black empowerment company has devised a=20 scheme to save millions lost to fraud,=20 writes Charlene Smith Government and some provinces are=20 investigating whether “food cheques”, a=20 coupon-based system, could save millions=20 lost to fraud and corruption in school=20 feeding schemes. Figures released by the Department of=20 Health this week showed that at least R4,3- […]
The World Bank sees economic policy reform=20 as its main pillar in an anti-corruption=20 strategy, writes Mark Tran in New York Corruption was a dirty word when James=20 Wolfensohn took over as World Bank=20 president over two years ago, and=20 studiously avoided in discussions with=20 government officials. Now the issue comes=20 up practically every time […]
FRIDAY, 11.00AM: LATEST economic data released on Thursday evening by the Reserve Bank are likely to be taken as good news by Bank governor Chris Stals. Despite an apparent rise in inflation in July, growth in the extension private domestic credit dropped sharply to 14,78% year-on-year, from 16,39% in June. M3 money supply growth rose […]
Mungo Soggot The government has snapped into action=20 over the potentially disastrous drought=20 effects on the economy of El Ni=A4o. Several government departments are=20 contributing to a Cabinet memorandum on the=20 climatic phenomenon in an initiative driven=20 by Constitutional Affairs Minister Valli=20 Moosa, who chairs a Cabinet committee to=20 handle disasters. According to the Director=20 […]
Stephen Gray: Unspoilt places Thomas Pynchon’s new novel about those=20 geologists, Mason and Dixon, reminds us:=20 lines conquer. And where they conquered=20 most was in the Cape. Compasses and=20 theodolites, as much as the force of arms,=20 subdue nature, demarcate control. Once the=20 horizon has shifted in from the glassy=20 yonder where springbok migrated, and […]
Peta Thornycroft Audiences have switched off from current=20 affairs programmes on SABC TV, while the=20 public broadcaster has also cut back on=20 time allocated to news behind the news. Data provided by the SABC shows that in=20 1995, before the channels were re- organised, 255 minutes a week were=20 dedicated to current affairs=20 (Agenda/Newsline) compared […]
Lawsuits threaten to stifle public debate=20 as the Greenpeace action shows, writes=20 George Monbiot Every month, the weapons mobilised in the=20 public relations battle over the future of=20 the planet become more sophisticated. A few=20 weeks ago, a leak from the PR company=20 Burson-Marsteller revealed that it has been=20 advising biotechnology companies to “stay=20 off […]
Andrew Muchineripi: Soccer By early next week the upgrading of Clive=20 Barker from part-time to fulltime national=20 coach will hopefully be finalised and the=20 first, vital steps on the road to France=20 and the 1998 World Cup finals can be=20 walked. It is never too soon to prepare and one=20 trusts that the South African […]
THURSDAY, 6.00PM: The worse-than-expected consumer inflation figures released on Tuesday saw all indices on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange fall on Thursday. At the close, the all gold index had slipped 5,8 points to 1 024,9, the industrial index had shed 28,7 points to 9 076,5, and the all share index ended 10,8 points down at […]
Janet Smith South African children watch very little=20 children’s TV, and one of the most=20 important reasons for this could be that=20 most South African children are not home=20 and free to watch television until after=20 supper. When superb productions like the specially- packaged import Open Sesame (now broadcast=20 in Zulu and Sesotho) and the […]
Mungo Soggot Alexkor, the state diamond producer, is=20 seeking a new head after the resignation of=20 its managing director amid severe tensions=20 over the struggling mine’s privatisation. A representative of the Ministry of Public=20 Enterprises, Wandile Zote, said this week=20 that JD Vermeulen, the managing director,=20 had resigned for health reasons. However,=20 it is understood […]
Design of the week: Swapna Prabhakaran Dedicated dancers at ESP, Doornfontein’s=20 roofless rave venue, have been waiting for=20 a month to see what’s behind the heavy=20 material curtains. Big signs have warned:=20 “Don’t look behind here!” But all was revealed at the Garden of Eden=20 party last Sunday. Despite a badly-timed=20 raid by the police, […]
chance. Steve Morris: Rugby There can be little doubt in anyone’s minds=20 that the crushing 61-22 Springbok victory=20 in front of the baying Loftus Versfeld=20 crowd last weekend gave some joyous relief=20 to what has been a season markedly short of=20 the taste of triumph. It is also well within the bounds of South=20 African […]
Madeleine Wackernagel Hard on the heels of the successful Ikageng public share offer by Johnnic comes one from African Harvest, which is listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on October 1. Says African Harvest chair Mashudu Ramano: “This issue doesn’t compare in size, or price, but through our alliance with the National Empowerment Corporation [NE […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi Leaders of the Congress of South African=20 Trade Unions (Cosatu) rejected last-minute=20 compromises by the government to meet some=20 of its demands on the Basic Conditions of=20 Employment Bill and pave the way for=20 possible consensus before the end of this=20 parliamentary session. Proposals tabled by the African National=20 Congress in an alliance […]
FRIDAY, 11.00AM: The urgent high court application by callback operators to overturn a ban on their operations by the SA Telecommunication Regulatory Authority was postponed on Thursday when attorneys representing the SA Callback Association failed to appear in court after getting stuck in a lift in the high court building. Satra agreed to a postponement […]
`alarming’ Mungo Soggot Human rights observers are alarmed by the suggestion of an African National Congress MP that the National Assembly should not have the power to veto a declaration of a state of emergency. If the State of Emergency Bill now before Parliament includes this week’s suggestion by Willie Hofmeyr, an influential member of […]
A mega-project to transform the city Will winning the bid transform or destroy=20 Cape Town? That is the burning question as=20 the city awaits the announcement on=20 September 5 John Young Supporters of Cape Town’s Olympic Bid say=20 the city will be unrecognisable in 2004 if=20 it hosts the games. They insist there will=20 be […]
Andy Duffy Government’s drive to transform education is going off the rails in the provinces. Provincial audit reports show many provinces don’t know many teachers they employ, and lack the money, the will or the expertise to implement new education policies. The report represents a further blow to Education Minister Sibusiso Bengu’s transformation initiatives. Not […]
Next week’s summit will have to negotiate=20 several tricky issues, writes Lynda Loxton National sensitivities continue to dog the=20 delicate negotiations in the Southern=20 African Development Community (SADC) as it=20 moves towards a free trade area and tries=20 to update its institutions and programmes=20 of action. Top of the list is the accusation by other=20 […]
Janet Smith The debate raging over the V-chip (violence=20 chip) in the United States has resulted in=20 compelling academic and social research=20 into American children’s viewing habits -=20 and a powerful condemnation of many of=20 their favourite shows. The V-chip – introduced in the=20 Telecommunications Act of 1996 – allows=20 American parents to block TV […]
TV or no TV? Or restricted, V-chipped,=20 sanitised TV? Our reporters channel-hop=20 through the good-vs-evil debate Janet Smith Ready D of Prophets of Da City has a five- year-old son whose favourite TV show is=20 Rescue 911. He’s one of nearly 800 000=20 South African children who find America’s=20 international hit about near-death=20 experiences rather […]
Beeld journalists are strongly in favour of=20 testifying before the truth commission, but=20 management does not want to know, writes=20 Hazel Friedman With only 17 days to go before the media=20 are called before the truth commission,=20 journalists at Beeld – South Africa’s=20 largest Afrikaans-speaking daily newspaper=20 – have urged editor Johan de Wet to […]
FRIDAY, 2.30PM MARTHINUS VAN SCHALKWYK, the leading contender to replace outgoing National Party leader FW de Klerk, was a paid agent of military intelligence during his student years at Rand Afrikaans University in the 1980s. Van Schalkwyk was president of Afrikaans student organisation Jeugkrag (Youth Power), where his salary was paid from covert SA Defence […]
Andrew Worsdale South African film-makers got northern=20 exposure over the past week at the 51st=20 Edinburgh Film Festival, the oldest=20 continuous film-fest in the world.=20 (Remember, movies turned a century-old only=20 last year.) Top of the line-up was the official United=20 Kingdom premiere of Les Blair’s=20 naturalistic massage of Jo’burg’s=20 underbelly, Jump The Gun. One […]
Andrew Worsdale Like most South African parents, I didn’t=20 watch television as a kid. The first movie=20 I saw was Swiss Family Robinson, at the=20 Johannesburg drive-in. I slept through most=20 of it but remember to this day waking up,=20 seeing a huge, slithery anaconda, bursting=20 into tears and deciding it was safer to=20 fall […]
The article “A trip around the bizarre=20 world of apartheid’s mad scientists” by=20 Mungo Soggot and Eddie Koch (June 27 to=20 July 3) made interesting, if lurid,=20 reading. It emphasises the fact that South=20 African scientific capacity was used as a=20 resource to support the immoral objectives=20 of apartheid. In this sense, it was no […]