The welfare minister insists new, leaner grants for poor children must be made for the sake of equality. But critics say she is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Marion Edmunds reports THE Cabinet may ram the government’s controversial child grant system through Parliament by proclamation, if there is not enough time to get a Bill […]
Glynis O’Hara on Tsepo Tshola, Best Male Vocalist nominee HIS music may have captured the imagination enough for his legions of fans to dub him the Village Pope, but gravelly singer/composer Tsepo Tshola has never yet been nominated for or won a music award. And, surprisingly, neither did his former group, Sankomota, win anything. Which […]
Gwen Ansell on Sipho Gumede, Best Producer nominee `IT’S funny,” says bassman Sipho Gumede on the phone line from Durban, “the industry is only checking me as a producer now, when I’ve been a professional musician for 26 years.” Gumede is commenting on his nomination at this year’s Sama awards for Best Producer for his […]
Fifties jazz stars, The Manhattan Brothers, are being reclaimed in a new documentary. GLYNISO’HARA recalls the days of King Kong and kwela MEETING and listening to musicians active before the rock’n’roll era is a pleasure rarely savoured in this country. Peter Rezant, the leader of the Merry Blackbirds, formed in 1929, and active into the […]
Despite being scorned as a member of the regime by the Zairean rebels, Etienne Tshisekedi has strong support from the people, reports Chris McGreal AS Zaire’s rebels brace for their assault on Kinshasa and final victory, they must also resolve whether to draw Mobutu Sese Seko’s long-standing political rivals into the revolution or shove them […]
The South African government cannot be seen to take sides, but it must still protect domestic business interests, reports Stefaans Brmmer SOUTH AFRICA faces a dilemma in its role as peace mediator in Zaire: as “honest broker” the government cannot be seen to take sides, yet South African companies – chiefly mining interests -stand to […]
TV personality Saira Essa’s R1-million wedding has been slammed as a publicity stunt, reports SUZY BELL in this week’s Cultural Sushi column A WICKED quote doing the rounds in Durban: “Following Saira Essa around India is like being trapped in a cupboard with a postcard of the Taj Mahal.” The words come from a television […]
The SA Law Commission has recommended the legalisation of euthanasia in South Africa, a move that could end the suffering of terminal or chronically ill patients Euthanasia could have saved her mother from terrible suffering, writes Ellen Bartlett TEN years ago, on April 10 my mother killed herself. On a sunny morning early in the […]
It was Cool Eddie for a change during the Argentine Grand Prix, but the hot passions his nationality arouses made him ask for a neutral flag MOTOR RACING: Maurice Hamilton WHEN Jacques Villeneuve goes to Imola for the San Marino Grand Prix this weekend, he may feel like taking time out to thank the Italian […]
An internal police inquiry has found a John Vorster Square captain guilty of harassing three colleagues. Ferial Haffajee reports FOR 27-year-old Christine Appelgrein, working for the South African Police Service (SAPS) guaranteed neither safety nor security. Instead, for more than a year, Appelgrein was sexually harassed by a police captain who also abused two other […]
Stuart Hess MMABATHO THIBEDI (29) is astonished to learn that the government pays child maintenance to some single mothers. “They [the government] didn’t introduce that policy [child maintenance] in this community,” she says. “If the government offers us the grant, it will make us much happier, the children can get a better education and I’ll […]
FINE ART: Shaun de Waal ANDREW VERSTER has been busy. One of South Africa’s best-known and most successful artists, it was his exhibition that opened the new Natal Society of Arts Gallery in Durban in May last year. Then he spent a few weeks at the 1996 Grahamstown festival, as artist in residence, in a […]
In an historic moment last weekend the wheelchairs and cameras rolled in unison as the first fully sponsored and televised sports event for the disabled got under way, writes Julian Drew THERE was an extra edge to the tension among the players as they warmed up for the first round of the SuperSport Wheelchair Basketball […]
South Africa is battling to contain a criminal economy whose roots lie in the covert war and cross-border struggles of the past, reports Stephen Elli SOUTH AFRICA has become a democracy, but the country is now witness to a level of crime which causes deep concern to its citizens and its government. The notion that […]
Durban playwright and author Ronnie Govender got the best first book award in this year’s Commonwealth Writers Prize. He spoke to SUZY BELL RONNIE GOVENDER, director of Durban’s Playhouse Company, recently won first place in the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in the category for best first book for his collection At the Edge and other Cato […]
South Africa can influence human rights abusers by maintaining contact, writes Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad IN an article under the heading “SA open to business with anyone who pays” (April 4 to 10), the Mail & Guardian presupposes that South Africa has a one-dimensional approach to developing relations with certain countries where human rights […]
Gustav Thiel YOU can get away with smoking dope in Cape Town – if you do it at the Rainbow Temple. The temple, in a house in the upmarket suburb of Oranjezicht, is dedicated to “the holy weed”, otherwise known as cannabis or dagga. Although the illegality of cannabis is common fact, it is also […]
Bestselling author Kathy Lette recently visited South Africa. MADELEINE WACKERNAGEL met her ONE morning spent eavesdropping in Sandton Square was enough to convince Kathy Lette that her next book had to have a South African element. “What great material! I actually overheard someone saying `Ja well, no fine’!” She describes her discovery of that great […]
have entered their second year – with the same vigorous criticism from the new school as last year. Our journalists look at several of the categories and profile some of their favourites Who does he think he is? Maria McCloy on Joe Nina, Best Township Pop nominee `I DON’T want to give people Ding Dong […]
RUGBY:Steve Morris THE one surprising aspect of the positive dope tests on several top players is that anyone should be surprised by them having turned up. Northern Transvaal’s Springbok lock Johan Ackermann and the Gauteng Lions pair Bennie Nortje and Stefan Bronkhorst tested positive earlier in the season and now a specimen from Northerns prop […]
Andrew Meldrum in Harare ZIMBABWEAN Cabinet members are accused of looting a huge fund meant to compensate independence war veterans, a scandal that has come to a head just as the country marks its 17th anniversary of independence. Many Cabinet ministers, MPs and others closely connected to President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party, have claimed […]
Stuart Hess MURIEL JACOBS has received R565 in child maintenance from the government since April last year to look after her two children. The grant, she says is not enough: “I can’t cope with R565, things are getting more expensive. Where must I get money from for everything I need at home?” Jacobs has two […]
Despite the regular births of Siamese twins in South Africa, medical experts still can’t explain the syndrome, writes Rowan Callaghan THE birth of Siamese twins Monde and Nomonde last week seems yet another in a long list since Mpho and Mphonyane Mathibela first stole South African hearts some eight years ago. Reports of Siamese twins […]
Third World debt resulting from bad lending policies of developed nations should be written off, says Desmond Tutu DEBT repayment has become an important mechanism for transferring wealth from developing countries to the financial giants of the northern hemisphere. According to the United Nations, developing countries paid US$1,662-trillion in debt that was due between the […]
Sol Kerzner’s foray into the USgambling arena is set to proceed apace now that South African charges have been dropped, report Stefaans Brmmer and Ferial Haffajee SUN king Sol Kerzner was cleared of his decade-old Transkei bribery charges by default. Umtata Attorney General Christo Nel appears to have been swayed by a lack of evidence, […]
A leaked memo shows that there are serious disagreements at the SABC over the termination of the broadcaster’s news service. Richard Siskind reports AFTER three weeks without Sapa’s news service, a split erupted this week at the SABC when a leaked internal memo from TV executive producer Jeremy Thorpe was reported to have said the […]
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has overcome some of the biggest obstacles facing the progression of the Internet in China. Victor Keegan reports from London RUPERT MURDOCH’S launch this year of an Internet service in China in partnership with the People’s Daily is the latest in a series of breathtaking media manoeuvres that already make Citizen […]
Privatisation is not a panacea for all economic problems, particularly in Africa, where it is frequently part of structural adjustment programmes, writes Asghar Adelzadeh of the NIEP in the fourth of a series on economic policy PRIVATISATION has become increasingly prominent worldwide in the past 15 years and has now become extremely important in policy […]
New black-owned agency Azaguys is a breed apart, pioneering the `imbizo’ concept to assist with their advertising campaigns. Ferial Haffajee reports BAKER MASEKO and Sipho Luthuli fly into the room in a whoosh of co-ordinated ties and shoes so shiny you can see your reflection in them. They’re all energy and pace; eyes darting everywhere […]
Pauline Springett in London THE number of people across the world worth more than $1-million has tripled in 10 years and now tops six million, according to a report published this week. This not-so-elite pool of people each with more than $1-million to his or her name has $17 000-billion at its disposal, a figure […]
Roger Boka’s recent move into the tobacco industry signals an attempt to break up the white-dominated cartel, writes Jan Raath ROGER BOKA’S way of hating is unnerving. What he has said and written is crude, full of bad grammar, unreason and errors of fact. You think it has boiled up from brimstone in the pit […]
A frenzy of activity around the Lubombo development in KwaZulu-Natal signals a drive to boost employment ahead of the 1999 elections. Jim Day reports THE need to show progress on one of the largest development proposals in Southern Africa has Cabinet ministers, the premier of KwaZulu-Natal and the MEC for economic affairs and tourism, all […]