Staff Reporter

cuts Jim Day and Tangeni Amupadhi WHEN Wits University Vice-Chancellor Robert Charlton waggled a placard on Jan Smuts Avenue this week, he could count among his allies students who have spent much of this week disrupting campuses across the country. Charlton, a staunch opponent of such misbehaviour, struck the unlikely alliance to protest the belt-tightening […]

increases Afrikaans Newspapers The latest circulation figures indicate once again an increase in the Afrikaans press — both dailies and weeklies — with Die Burger showing the highest increases (5,2%). In light of the political divisions among Afrikaans readers, this increase in Die Burger’s readership is particularly significant and says much about the beleaguered National […]

Marion Edmunds MEMBERS of the Reconstruction and Development Portfolio Committee say their committee should be resurrected by Parliament to monitor the work of ministers, provincial MEC’s and local government councillors. The committee was created to oversee the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). The RDP offices were closed nearly a year ago and its programmes parceled […]

A murky new Bill of Rights There could be confusion in common law as the new Bill of Rights is not entirely clear on the relationships that exist between private persons THE coming into operation of the new Constitution on February 4 1997 has heralded a return of the dreaded “horizontality debate”. Horizontality became entrenched […]

Jose-Maria Olazabal once feared that he would end his life in a wheelchair but a stroke of luck and a brilliant doctor have brought him back to golf GOLF: David Davies JOSE-MARIA OLAZABAL is to play in the Dubai Desert Classic this week. After 18 months out of the game, it is dipping his toe […]

Jacquie Golding-Duffy reports on the far- ranging cuts a top US consultancy has suggested for the SABC THESABC has been advised to axe nearly 1 000 staff and to cut R200-million from the cost of its radio and support services. Two confidential reports by top United States company McKinsey Consultants detail cost-cutting measures ranging from […]

The Mortgage Indemnity Fund has admitted victimising a Sowetan community, reports Mungo Soggot THE key government player in getting bank loans for the masses has admitted to a group of Soweto residents that it collaborated with three major banks to blacklist a relatively comfortable area in Soweto even though residents meet their bond payments. Residents […]

A brutal case shows the truth commission has the ability to turn murderous men into decent human beings, reports Eddie Koch THE question of whether Captain Wouter Mentz should be given amnesty for the murders he committed as a policeman could well be recorded in the history of the truth commission as the “case of […]

Mark Tran in New York JAMES WOLFENSOHN, the most dynamic president at the World Bank since Robert McNamara, has unveiled his blueprint for reform of an institution struggling to stay relevant as poor countries increasingly turn to private capital. Wolfensohn’s “strategic compact” seeks to push the Washington-based bank further from McNamara’s culture of approval, where […]

Tim Radford Tough Choices: Facing The Challenge of Food Security (Earthscan, R75) Duke University in the United States has a rice diet house. People who tend to obesity check in and guinea pig-out on rice cooked without salt, and fruit, and lose weight and gain life expectancy. Most people in most countries of the world […]

John Arlidge in Edinburgh THE pioneering British scientist who created the first clone of an adult animal – a lamb named Dolly, created from a sheep – admitted this week that the technique could be applied to humans. Dr Ian Wilmut said a human embryo, produced using the same methods, could be used to treat […]

Between the volatile rand and the transformation process, Timothy Thahane has had a busy first year as deputy governor, he tells Madeleine Wackernagel From a personal point of view, Timothy Thahane is very happy to be back in South Africa. Work, on the other hand, has been a bit more hectic, he says with a […]

Die Jogger is Andre P Brink’s first play in 20 years. ADAM HAUPT saw it, and was suitably depressed Andre P Brink’s Die Jogger, takes us into the psyche of Colonel Killian (Chris van Niekerk), a security policeman. We meet the colonel in a mental hospital shortly after he dreams of torturing Vusi Manyin during […]

Multi-directorships are still a concern despite recent efforts to expand the field, reports Max Gebhardt Anglo American again leads the field with the largest number of multi-directorships, according to the latest information from McGregor’s Who Owns Whom for 1997. Michael King and Leslie Boyd from Anglo share top billing with 24 directorships each. Out of […]

Lynda Loxton The government has been urged to provide subsidised interest rates to carefully targeted small businesses and to allocate more funds to support this sector, which is seen as playing a vital role in easing South Africa’s high unemployment rate. The recommendation was made by the parliamentary trade and industry portfolio committee after a […]

THEATRE: Andrew Wilson IN Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, currently on at the Market Theatre, the main character cries “Use your head! You’re on earth! There’s no cure for that!” No cure for language either, because as relentlessly as Beckett sought to strip life down to its most minimal, sub-atomic essence, he challenged the rigid parameters and […]

staff Rehana Rossouw IN an attempt to build a case against two outspoken soldiers in his command, a colonel in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) made use of a classified Military Intelligence (MI) document, a court-martial in the Western Cape has revealed. Staff Sergeant Herman Pheiffer and Corporal Dawid Booysen, both based at […]

Madeleine Wackernagel Jilted your partner recently? Upset your neighbour? And not declared your earnings? Be warned, the taxman cometh. With the amnesty out of the way on February 28, the Receiver of Revenue can now follow up on tip-offs from ex-wives, vengeful lovers and angry associates. Until now, the Receiver has been powerless to act […]

IT smacks of a cheap jibe to describe Zimbabwe this week as a “banana republic”. But, however feeble a pun it might be on the name of Canaan Banana, the scandal which broke around the head of the former president further justifies that characterisation of our northern neighbour. The story of the rape of Inspector […]

The submission to the truth commission by Independent Newspapers is a litany of failure, argues Anton Harber INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS has conceded that the company has much to be embarrassed about in its history. In its report to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, written by ex- editor John Patten, the country’s largest newspaper group writes that […]

Charl Blignaut THE Greater Johannesburg Central Library is about to spread its wings and enter the technological era in a big way. In a breakthrough for the city’s educational resources, this weekend sees the launch of a spanking new Multimedia Library that will steadily be building up audiovisual material until such time as organisations and […]

Prophets of doom have been predicting Australian dominance in the Test series, but South Africa can boast a combination of experienced campaigners and exciting new talent CRICKET: Jon Swift IT is astounding that the gloom and doom merchants are already predicting an Australian dominance of the Test series which gets under way at the Wanderers […]

Jacquie Golding-Duffy SEVERAL members of the government’s communications task group, Comtask, have accused the Cabinet of endorsing a “stage- managed operation” to ensure the survival of the old-guard South African Communications Service (Sacs). Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, who established Comtask last year to investigate the government’s relationship with the media, last week rejected its recommendation […]

He was the target of the boo brigade when he played in the under-23 team, now George Koumantarakis is the top scorer in the Premiership SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi THERE was more than a touch of irony surrounding the fact that Milpark Stadium was the setting last weekend for one of the finest goals scored by […]

The two sides of Zaire’s civil war have agreed tentatively to talk for the first time, reports Chris McGreal ZAIRE’S rebel leader, Laurent Kabila, says direct negotiations with the government could soon be possible following his meeting with President Nelson Mandela this week. But Kabila ruled out an early ceasefire in the five-month civil war […]

Peta Thornycroft RADIO station SAfm’s embattled manager Charlene Smith has been told by SABC radio head Govin Reddy to resign on grounds of ill health. Reddy told Smith on February 13 that he would pay her to the end of the month if she resigned “gracefully but immediately”. Smith, hired by SAfm only five months […]

SOUTH AFRICA’S second annual Adult Learner’s Week will be celebrated from March 3 to 9, run by the National Literacy Co-operation (NLC). The NLC views Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) as a fundamental right of all our citizens, though only 1% of the country’s R32-billion education budget is spent on ABET. On February 20, […]

an early start Mail & Guardian Reporters MANY people were surprised when Carel du Plessis was appointed the new Springbok coach this week. With little previous coaching experience and the British Lions tour looming, Du Plessis has been thrown in at the deep end after the sudden departure of the disgraced Andre Markgraaf. The new […]

Initially banned, the movie Kids finally opens in South Africa this Friday. Our critics offer their views on the film’s bold director and its young star Charl Blignaut SUNDAY night and Sandton Cinema 8 is packed. The tall, thin film-maker stands up front, having been called up to introduce his movie, apparently uneasy in front […]

Jim Day AIDS activists say Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma betrayed them with her ill- considered and premature support for the so-called wonder drug Virodene. Reacting to the report this week by the University of Pretoria and Gauteng Health Department, they say the minister’s failure to fully investigate Virodene before giving it her full public support […]

In cutting university subsidies in the current manner, the ANC is reneging on its election promises, argues University of Natal philosophy professor Daniel Herwitz As an American academic recently arrived from California, I wish to speak out decisively against the funding formula put in place by the Ministry of Education this year. In the name […]

Caitlin Davies in Maun IN what appears to be an effort by the Botswana government to create more rangeland for cattle in northern Botswana, thousands of buffalo are being herded south into the Okavango Delta to make way for a massive cattle stocking exercise, following last year’s slaughter by the government of 250 000 cattle […]