With the relentless advance of the Zairean rebels, to negotiate or flee seem to be the only options open to the government. Chris McGreal reports AN air of doom has settled on Zaire’s beleaguered regime after the lightning rebel seizure of Kisangani and the insurgents’ threat to go all the way to the capital unless […]
The umpteenth round in the Finance Week versus Times Media wrangle has once again come to naught, writes Jacquie Golding- Duffy FINANCE WEEK made a cheeky attempt to nail Jim Jones, editor of its rival, Business Day, by placing an advertisement in the daily publication which attacked Jones and other Times Media Limited editors but […]
Donald W Nauss in Dearborn, Michigan THE Ford Motor Company this week unveiled an advanced mid-sized sedan that is 40% lighter than today’s comparable vehicles and gets up to 30km/l. Prototypes will be produced later this year. The company said the experimental vehicle, the P2000, would use a small, efficient diesel engine. Two versions would […]
Despite a ruling that found him guilty of non-politically motivated torture and murder, an ex-policeman still hopes to get amnesty, reports Jim Day SITTING in a conference room at the maximum-security Zonderwater Prison, east of Pretoria, Hennie Gerber looks more like a casually dressed insurance salesman than a convicted murderer. He seems a nice enough […]
SABC staff make do with veggie burgers as they debate the R450-million question: who is to blame? It’s either the fault of the new management or the old, reports Peta Thornycroft MARTINUS VAN SCHALKWYK pursed his lips and ticked off an exhausted SABC chief executive Zwelakhe Sisulu at a press conference last week. The National […]
THE public backing Minister of Justice Dullah Omar has given to Dr Allan Boesak in advance of his trial on criminal charges is a subject on which it is easy to pontificate. The issue at stake is within the grasp of a schoolchild. The minister of justice, who carries a responsibility for the impartiality of […]
Rehana Rossouw and Gustav Thiel FEARS are growing within the African National Congress that the National Party is planning a reshuffle to wipe out the ANC’s only representation in the Western Cape provincial Cabinet. Health and Welfare MEC Ebrahim Rasool and Economic Affairs MEC Chris Nissen’s positions have been tipped for change after the provincial […]
Gustav Thiel PEOPLE of colour do not listen to classical music. Right? Wrong. The biggest achievement by a regional community radio station must be that of Fine Music Radio (FMR) in Cape Town. The radio station bucked traditional perceptions of classical music as an “elitist and inaccessible” genre of music by successfully enticing black and […]
Angella Johnson THE police complaints investigation unit is probing the mysterious disappearance of a man who vanished soon after he was allegedly taken in for questioning by police. Judas Mangolele was allegedly arrested at his home in Protea North, Soweto, on the evening of September 9 last year, after two men – one of whom […]
HAZEL FRIEDMAN on artists who will be hitting the big time in 1997 SOUTH AFRICAN artists might be composing their own soulful soundtrack to the film To Forget Venice. But 1997 is far from being labelled “The Year of Being Grounded” for South African art. From the beginning of May, thanks to the efforts of […]
Mpumalanga Parks Board’s controversial boss has had his powers cut while the Dolphin deal is modified, reports Justin Arenstein THE Mpumalanga government has moved to clip the wings of its outspoken parks board boss Alan Gray over the controversial deal with the Dubai-based Dolphin Group. The deal would have given Dolphin exclusive commercial rights over […]
ALBANIA’S plunge into chaos has become Europe’s second great tragedy since the end of the Cold War. And, unlike Bosnia, it has not been unexpected. The risk is not just to life and safety for its people, but to its neighbours in the southern Balkans. This time there is no excuse for shoulder-shrugging on the […]
Wole Soyinka has been charged with treason by the Nigerian government. From his US exile, the Nobel laureate pours scorn on the accusations WHEN I wrote in my latest book, The Open Sore of the Continent, that “the judicial murder of the Ogoni nine and the continued decimation of Ogoni people was the first Nigerian […]
After her heroics at the Olympics Penny Heyns took a well-deserved break. Now she has gone back to America to `stroke’ her way back to fitness SWIMMING:Julian Drew AT last year’s South African swimming championships Penny Heyns gave notice to the world of what they could expect four months later in Atlanta. Her stunning world […]
In Constitution Week, Mungo Soggot asks lawyers and academics for a scorecard on the country’s highest court IN the two years that the Constitutional Court has sat in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, the streets of nearby Hillbrow have deteriorated into some of the nastiest stretches in the city. The court’s neighbour to the east, the Hillbrow morgue, […]
DANCE ON CD: Greg Bowes JUNGLE music, currently more fashionably known as drum’n’bass, a style born in the United Kingdom of the remnants of hardcore rave, dub reggae and jazz, has yet to achieve the mainstream success so eagerly predicted. This is particularly true in South Africa where support for its broken beats and booming […]
THE ANGELLA JOHNSON INTERVIEW I HAD been waiting more than 30 minutes for Cheryl Carolus, idling my time away listening to her secretary gossip over the phone. The African National Congress’s acting secretary general was late. I was growing more furious with each passing second, having rushed like a lunatic to get to ANC headquarters […]
Hang on to that tatty old pair of jeans lying around – one day Levi Strauss may just pay a fortune for them, writes Mark Tran in New York IT may seem excessive to pay $25 000 for a tatty pair of jeans, but the pair in question are no ordinary Levi’s. They date back […]
Marion Edmunds THE Home Affairs Department has raked in more than R14-million since its decision last July to begin charging foreigners for their entry documents. The department introduced the fees for applications for permanent residents, work, study, holiday and business permits and transit visas last year, arguing that it needed to cover processing costs and […]
THEATRE: Andrew Wilson GRIET Skryf ‘n Sprokie, currently on at the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg, is a stage adaptation of Marita van der Vyver’s much awarded 1992 novel, which traces the mental journey of an Afrikaner woman of the Nineties as she grapples with life, her sexuality and her writing. Tackling a cultural holy cow […]
Deputy President Thabo Mbeki prepares his office for the presidency with a crack economic and strategic team, reports Marion Edmonds DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki is poised to tighten his grip further on the presidency, setting up a crack squad in his office to oversee every influential government function. The Mail & Guardian established this week […]
Hazel Friedman A COMMUNICATION breakdown between artists and the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology has resulted in South African artists losing a place at one of the world’s most prestigious art exhibitions. Organisers for the Venice Biennale said this week they were still waiting for the department to indicate how many South African […]
Jacquie Golding-Duffy GLOOM and doom is the prevailing mood among staffers drifting along the corridors of the SABC headquarters in Auckland Park. “The only glimmer of good cheer is the presence of the Hare Krishnas who, aside from American consultants McKinsey, are the only group to be coining it,” chuckled one staffer. Within days of […]
Facing 21 counts of theft and fraud, Dr Allan Boesak can count on the support of the ANCdespite opposition party outrage, reports Rehana Rossouw PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA has offered to testify as a character witness for Dr Allan Boesak, close friends of the former African National Congress Western Cape chair said this week. Boesak – […]
Martin Woollacott WHEN little Paul Dombey asks: “Papa! What is money?” his father mentions guineas, shillings and halfpence. “I don’t mean that, Papa, I mean what’s money after all?” “What is money after all!” Dickens has Mr Dombey reply, backing his chair a little, “that he might better gaze in sheer amazement at the presumptuous […]
ONE of South Africa’s leading political commentators, Phillip van Niekerk, has been appointed editor of the Mail & Guardian. Van Niekerk (40) has been South Africa correspondent of some of the world’s most famous newspapers including The Observer, The Boston Globe, the Toronto Globe and Mail and Volkskrant. A graduate of Stellenbosch University, he was […]
Like Rome in decline, McDonald’s conquests abroad have left it heading for a fall on the home front. Ed Vulliamy in New York and Cal McCrystal report OVER an Oklahoma ridge they rumble in perpetual motion, tens of millions of churning feet destined to sustain an empire and satisfy a growing imperial hunger. Below the […]
Anthony Kunda in Lusaka IN an embarrassingly theatrical turn of events, Zambian President Frederick Chiluba has admitted that his government is corrupt. The head-turning admission came about during a recent inspection tour of the nightmarishly potholed roads of Lusaka. At one point, the visibly perturbed Chiluba, gesticulating angrily, said: “There is something fishy here. Every […]
With the competition of such high quality, the right tactics will be vital if South Africa’s teams are to do well at the cross- country championships ATHLETICS: Julian Drew IT seems like only yesterday that South Africa’s finest middle-distance athletes first put their reputations on the line in what is widely regarded as the toughest […]
WORLD MUSIC:Gwen Ansell ASK Madam and (without Eve to prompt her) she may just have heard of Masekela, or foxtrotted to the African Jazz Pioneers at a banquet. But ask the kids in any Jo’burg suburb and – if they’ve listened to jazz at all – a name they’re likely to come up with is […]
As expected, the Budget held few surprises. But one thing is sure, this has to be the year of delivery, writes Madeleine Wackernagel TREVOR MANUEL is not the only optimist on the state of South Africa’s economy: the latest edition of The Economist magazine states: “A real turnaround seems to be under way.” And Manuel’s […]
HEADLINES in some South African newspapers this week – “Madiba back from Asia with billions” – reflect the obsession South Africa has with the quick fix. Faced with massive social problems the country longs for a magic formula, or simply a magician, to conjure up instant solutions. The Sultan of Brunei is the richest man […]