Staff Reporter

Documents leaked to the M&G reveal that BopBC is bordering on insolvency. Jacquie Golding-Duffy reports on its status THE Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation (BopBC), which has for 18 months refused to integrate into the SABC, is begging the North West provincial legislature for funds, warning that it is bordering on insolvency. Documents leaked to the Mail […]

Helena Smith in Tirana THE road to Albania’s economic integration=20 in Europe is potholed. The furore over=20 pyramid investment schemes has exposed the=20 fragility of free enterprise in a country=20 emerging from one of the world’s most=20 centralised political systems. Their collapse highlights how criminality=20 has become a way of life. Five years into=20 democracy, […]

edge Suzy Bell THERE’S a new generation of journalists=20 emerging and they’re not simply bristling=20 with the cockiness of youth, but have a=20 reassuring sense of social realism, and=20 equally a sense of business sass charging=20 through their veins. A group of trainee student journalists=20 sensed an editorial niche in the market=20 place to produce […]

Molo Fish! is the most hyped SA TV drama of 1997. MARIAMcCLOY reports on the h ighs, lows and political breakthroughs of the production AT a time when some people are trying to bury South Africa’s murky past and op t for rainbow nation escapism, Molo Fish!, a 13-part series that debuted this week on […]

This week’s guest writer, Zakes Mda, speaks to skilled black professionals about why they’re planning to leave the country `I DON’T feel guilty at all,” says Wilson Mokgadi. “I feel angry instead. This is not a chicken run. This is a second exile.” We are in a restaurant at the Johannesburg International Airport. He is […]

Gwen Ansell NOSTALGIA and the recycling of old legends dominates the public face of South African jazz and audiences might be forgiven for fearing that’s all there is. But while we have, as yet, no coherent new jazz movement in this country, a ha ndful of players are striking out in fresh directions – there […]

Expenditure was up in the last financial=20 year, but so was revenue. The government’s=20 target deficit of 5,1% will still be met,=20 reports Lynda Loxton THE government has revised expenditure in=20 the 1996/97 Budget by R3,4-billion to=20 R176,5-billion and is confident that it=20 will still achieve a deficit of 5,1%,=20 Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said […]

Marion Edmunds KMMT BREY, a black Cape Town-based=20 accountancy firm, has won a R3,4-million=20 contract to market eight of South Africa’s=20 nine provinces abroad in a drive for direct=20 foreign investment. According to Rafiq Bagus, chief executive=20 officer of Investment South Africa, which=20 awarded the contract, KMMT Brey is working=20 with a United States-based consultancy, […]

action Tangeni Amupadhi JULIA BOPAPE was the mother of an alleged criminal. Last week a crowd of 4 000 in Mamelodi, Pretoria, stoned her to death for the deeds of her son, Handsome Bopape. She was killed at a meeting during which the community accused her of encouraging her son to commit crimes, and of […]

Julia Grey CHRISTA MEDERI has happy chickens. They have “a nice house”, where they come and go as they please, according to their own fowl habits. They are fed mainly on a diet of organically grown greens, freshly picked. These stress-free and healthy chickens produce eggs that have an extra yellow yolk and greater nutritional […]

“Speak not ill of the dead” is a maxim which has long been honoured more in the breach. Those who would attribute lack of respect for the dead to modern fashion — the cowardice of the tabloids (the threat of libel action having been consigned to the worms), or the trend towards “obitchery” — might […]

M&G reporter JUDITH EDSTROM, the World Bank’s resident=20 representative in South Africa, is keen to=20 dispel fears surrounding the operations of=20 the institution in this country. In a=20 recent briefing to the South African=20 Institute for International Affairs, she=20 emphasised the partnership aspects. “The relationship between the bank and=20 South Africa has in many respects […]

Structural adjustment policies are=20 interventionist and destructive, warns an=20 economist. Gwen Ansell reports AMID the soft-mouthed apologists for=20 structural adjustment policies – who=20 concede that its conditionalities may be=20 “too harsh” or its social safety nets “too=20 loose” – economist Michel Chossudowski is=20 refreshingly blunt.=20 The failures of structural adjustment, he=20 contends, have been masked […]

From carpets to computers, the public register reveals what gifts MPs have received – or in some cases what they haven’t received. Rehana Rossouw reports ALMOST all the visitors to room V121 in Parliament this week were journalists eager to peek at the assets of South Africa’s elected leaders. If they were hoping for evidence […]

Panos Eliades took on Don King and the boxing establishment to get Lennox Lewis another shot at the world title. Roy Collins reports HE calls himself the Greek godfather. A fitting enough moniker for a man who has made a fortune liquidating people and, by way of a hobby, sending round his boys to bash […]

Chris Mihill OVERWEIGHT women have less chance of surviving breast cancer than thinner colleagues, researchers announced in the United Kingdom this week. Scientists from the Cancer Research Campaign (CRC) say a woman past menopause in the early stages of breast cancer has a better chance of survival if she weighs less than 60kg. The study […]

The bizarre life of the man who bombed ANC headquarters in London, and who was crushed to death last week, is recounted by Phillip van Niekerk WHEN a spy dies, one is left guessing what knowledge he has taken to the grave with him. Peter Casselton, London spymaster of the apartheid government, resident of Vlakplaas, […]

`revenge’ Stuart Hess MORE than a week after rioting to protest=20 high taxes, residents of Johannesburg’s=20 coloured areas remain defiant of the=20 government, saying that an old oppressor=20 has merely been replaced with a new one. The rates row which sparked the rioting -=20 in which police have confirmed two people=20 died – is only […]

action Tangeni Amupadhi JULIA BOPAPE was the mother of an alleged=20 criminal. Last week a crowd of 4 000 in=20 Mamelodi, Pretoria, stoned her to death for=20 the deeds of her son, Handsome Bopape. She was killed at a meeting during which=20 the community accused her of encouraging=20 her son to commit crimes, and of […]

A flurry of injuries, a James Small row, a huge fixture list and the singing Blue Bulls – it’s the start of a long, gruelling rugby season RUGBY:Jon Swift THERE is the distinct feeling that the rugby season has come upon us all too quickly. More so when a quick glance at the calendar shows […]

The ‘spy’ alleged to have known about Chris Hani’s assassination spoke to the M&G this week, reports Stefaans Brmmer MOHAMMED AMIN LAHER, whom the Mail & Guardian identified as the mystery “double agent” who had advance knowledge of Chris Hani’s assassination, this week claimed the death plot had been “a conspiracy on both sides of […]

Smoke a mountain-fresh rush HOW does menthol get into menthol cigarettes? – Charlene, Benoni THOSE of you who have suffered head colds or sore throats will be familiar with the mountain-fresh rush of menthol that brings instant relief. In fact, the menthol that is used by the food and pharmaceutical industry is the same as […]

Rehana Rossouw A STELLENBOSCH family facing eviction from the labourers’ cottage they occupied for 50 years won a costly three-month reprieve last weekend when Land Affairs Minister Derek Hanekom stepped in to help them. Hanekom – who is attempting to limit the evictions of rural farmers through new legislation – managed to persuade the farm […]

Charl Blignaut THE Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Lionel Mtshali, this= we ek finally announced the list of who will be serving on the most powerful a= rts body yet established in post-apartheid South Africa, the National Arts Cou= nci l (NAC). But, while general reaction to the list has been favourable, there= […]

What is reconciliation? Who does it benefit?Antjie Krog probes differing views on the concept THERE was Tom and there was John. Tom lived opposite John. One day, Tom stole John’s bicycle and every day John saw Tom cycling to school on his bicycle. A year later, Tom walked up to John. He stretched out his […]

Caitlin Davies in Maun GOOD rains in Namibia recently have delayed plans to pipe water from the Okavango River down to Windhoek – siphoning it off before it ever reaches the unique Okavango Delta in northern Botswana – but as far as Botswana is concerned, the controversy is not over yet. Though everyone agrees the […]

We cannot afford to react to the market clamour by lifting exchange controls too quickly, writes Madeleine Wackernagel WITH the recent strengthening of the rand, the issue of lifting exchange controls is once again on the table. Every time the market rumours gain volume, the Reserve Bank rapidly quashes them; this time was no different. […]

Madeleine Wackernagel AFTER the sharp deterioration in October/November, the business confidence ind ex for December/January showed a recovery of one percentage point. The reason, says the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob), which compiles the index, is partly a turnaround in sentiment, thanks to the stronger rand, the prospect of a cut in interest rates, […]

An NGO which has been involved in drafting a code of ethics for the sector is in the spotlight for other reasons, reports Rehana Rossouw A PRIME mover behind the creation of a code of ethics for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is involved in a bitter dispute with a former employee, which has dragged his organisation […]

Mungo Soggot CRAIG WILLIAMSON, the spy turned media celebrity, was “contemptuous” in his attitude toward the justice system and the truth commission, the Pretoria Supreme Court heard this week. Williamson was appearing in the first round of a case that could become a landmark clash between the truth commission and the justice system. He is […]

Dennis Mair FOR the next two weeks, Gallery Mau Mau in Cape Town shifts focus from the = ost entation of the art world to the thrill of B-schlock, exploitation filmogra= phy and pure horror. Amid projections and popcorn, administrators David L Dei = and Craig E Parker describe the ensemble as “a terrorism of […]

Claudia Braude ‘MANAGING the package” is how truth commissioner Hugh Lewin describes selecting 12 statements from 150 submitted for public hearings in one community. “Which is the story to choose, the story we say you should hear?” he asks. He’s upfront about the process, difficulties and discomfort involved in narrating the role of the Truth […]