Staff Reporter

Manning Rangers are suprisingly top of the=20 League’s mid-term progress report, but=20 Chiefs look the more probable winners SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi THE halfway stage in the Castle Premiership=20 arrives this weekend with unfashionable=20 Durban club Manning Rangers surprise one- point leaders from Kaizer Chiefs. Umtata outfit Bush Bucks are third,=20 progressive Supersport United fourth and=20 […]

Hazel Friedman DDAY has long passed for the release of=20 the final list of names for South Africa’s=20 National Arts Council (NAC), the=20 government-funded, independent arts council=20 established to serve as a statutory body=20 for the allocation of funds to deserving=20 cultural projects.=20 And while the art world waits with bated=20 breath for the names, […]

LIVE MUSIC: Malu van Leeuwen SOMEBODY’s got to say it: local music has a=20 dangerous anthropological fascination with=20 American music. It’s almost as if the=20 international patent has to wear off before=20 the influences can filter in and be locally=20 appropriated.=20 In its (white) rock incarnation this is the=20 curse that Cape Town band Shooting […]

Hazel Friedman IN a marriage brokered in the corridors of corporate-cultural heaven, South Africa’s business community has finally tied the knot with the arts. And the union has the official blessing of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki. On February 3, Business Arts South Africa (Basa) will be launched by Mbeki – who will serve as patron […]

Hazel Friedman=20 EUGENE RILEY told me that Chris Hani would=20 be assassinated a few days before the death=20 of this charismatic South African Communist=20 Party leader . “You mark my words”, he said. “There is a=20 hit-list of top African National Congress=20 officials who are seen as a threat to both=20 sides. There will be […]

fizz David Gow and Dominic Walsh PEPSICO has decided that it is time to act on the American catchphrase – “food to go”. Last week the company, maker of the world’s second most popular fizzy drink, announced that it planned to dump its poorly performing restaurant business, which includes the KFC and Taco Bell chains, […]

THE Algerian agony gets worse. It also=20 becomes an even more intractable conflict.=20 More than 200 people have died since the=20 start of Ramadan. Those murdered by=20 government militia or in reprisals on=20 civilians are not listed. It is, like all=20 internal conflicts, vicious on both sides. The regime’s security forces use napalm,=20 torture prisoners […]

An Aids breakthrough on the other side of=20 the world puts South Africa’s hopesin=20 perspective, writes Lesley Cowling=20 AS reports of a possible cure for Aids=20 broke in South Africa last week, at the=20 other end of the world about 2 300 HIV=20 research-ers were hearing news about=20 another potent new drug that could=20 eradicate […]

Eddie Koch The confession by a group of policemen=20 about their role in the killing of Steve=20 Biko and the grisly assassination of at=20 least nine other anti-apartheid activists=20 from the Eastern Cape has focussed renewed=20 local and international attention on the=20 main themes and controversies shaping the=20 work of the truth commission. The revelations […]

GLYNISO’HARA talks to Be Like Water’s front=20 man Leonel Bastos about gender, sex,=20 lyrics, life, love – and that massive new=20 record deal PRODUCER/songwriter/guitarist/ singer=20 Leonel Bastos arrives at the interview=20 looking like a tall Buddhist pixie, his=20 head shaved, sporting round silver=20 earrings, pyjama-like pants and a sky-blue=20 T-shirt littered with blue flowers. Bass […]

Glynis O’Hara A RECORD number of entries – over 600 – has=20 been received for the third annual FNB=20 South African Music Awards, an increase of=20 about 40% over last year. That’s because there’s been much more=20 recording activity this year, says Penny=20 Stein, PR for the awards. “It’s also=20 because there are two new […]

Angella Johnson TWO lithesome ladies in their Limousine=20 took part in a market joyride around some=20 of Soweto and Eldorado Park’s shebeens and=20 taverns to promote Gilbey’s VO brandy and=20 Radio Metro.=20 Most of the station’s top DJs took part in=20 the unusual promotion – to the delight of a=20 few locals who turned out […]

An Mpumalanga task team flies out to check=20 the credibility of would-be nature reserve=20 magnate amid claims of dubious deals=20 overseas. Justin Arenstein reports A MULTI-PARTY task team from the Mpumalanga=20 legislature is visiting Kenya and Dubai to=20 investigate allegations against the Dolphin=20 Group, the company that was handed control=20 over the province’s prime nature […]

Chris McGreal in Kigali ZAIRE’S ragged army has claimed the first=20 victory of its long-awaited counter- offensive against Rwandan-backed rebels,=20 saying it has taken a town it has never=20 admitted to losing in the first place. Within a few days of launching its “total=20 and devastating” attack last week against=20 the guerrilla Alliance of Democratic […]

THE CUTTING EDGE PROFILE Marion Edmunds WHAT keeps a phenomenally intelligent,=20 internationally acclaimed, charming, A- rated scientist working and living in Cape=20 Town? “That”, says 43-year-old Professor Daya=20 Reddy, gesturing upwards to the great hulk=20 of Table Mountain whose crags loom=20 possessively over the University of Cape=20 Town’s upper campus. Reddy, who has preferred to […]

Shaun de Waal MARILYN MANSON: Antichrist Superstar (BMG) MARILYN MANSON has been called the Alice=20 Cooper of the Nineties, and he and his band=20 certainly have the appropriate schlock- horror look and act. The SABC has even=20 bestowed additional credibility on them by=20 refusing to show their latest video. The=20 music, partly produced by Nine […]

Gustav Thiel EDUCATION Minister Sibusiso Bengu admitted=20 this week that his department’s offer of=20 voluntary severance packages to teachers=20 has caused enormous financial strain to the=20 already cash-strapped public school system. In an interview with the Mail & Guardian he=20 called for “a thorough rethink of the=20 structure, specifically of severance=20 packages”. The education department […]

Mungo Soggot THE Securities Regulation Panel (SRP) this week vowed to subpoena a Mail & Guardian journalist in the hope of furthering its insider trading probe at car manufacturer Automakers. The M&G reported last week that the SRP planned to investigate the cause of a 37% increase in the price of Automakers shares on the […]

The first inquiry into the diamond industry in 25 years could see a shake-up in the market, reports Max Gebhardt THE diamond industry will come under the microscope next month as the government- appointed Commission of Inquiry kicks into gear. South African diamond giant De Beers is bound to feel the intense scrutiny of the […]

Closing radio stations may be part of SABC’s contingency plan to solve its cash crisis, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy THE SABC has identified Radio SAfm and Radio Sonder Grense as two key operations it would consider closing should the corporation fail to resolve its cash crisis. These radio stations are only two of 11 loss-making stations […]

Pact dancers have spoken out against=20 abusive treatment, reports HAZEL FRIEDMAN `I WENT in with talent … and hope. I left=20 in extreme physical pain, emotionally=20 devastated … all my dreams destroyed …=20 Mr Joseph, I appeal to you with all my=20 heart, to make it possible for me to become=20 once again a fully […]

Jacquie Golding-Duffy SABC board member Allister Sparks is seeking business from the corporation for his Johannesburg-based Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ). Sparks this week confirmed that he has submitted a proposal to the SABC offering to train radio and television journalists at the IAJ’s plush Parktown offices. Sparks says there is no conflict […]

South Africa’s financial institutions come under fire for failing to bankroll technology ventures, writes Lynda Loxton SOUTH AFRICA’S financial institutions are facing increasing criticism because of their perceived timidity in funding non- traditional industries that could strengthen the country’s technological edge. Such is the frustration in some sectors that special initiatives are being planned to […]

The truth about assassinations is making=20 news through the Steyn Report and the truth=20 commission Mail & Guardian Reporter The Mail & Guardian has a summary of the=20 Steyn Report, a document considered so=20 explosive that President Nelson Mandela=20 chose not to make its details public after=20 he was briefed about its findings in case=20 […]

Wall St’ In an effort to pressureUS companies into hiring more blacks, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson is opening up office on Wall Street, reports Mark Tran in New York JESSE JACKSON, the civil rights leader, is taking on Wall Street and corporate United States after humbling oil group Texaco, which recently agreed to settle […]

After recovering from a head injury, it’s=20 downhill all the way for South Africa’s=20 one-man team at the world skiing champs SKIING:Julian Drew IT requires a certain amount of courage to=20 ski at 140km/h down a 52 degree slope when=20 the slightest misjudgment in the blinding=20 glare of the sun can prove extremely=20 hazardous. To […]

KwaZulu-Natal’s premier-in-waiting is a=20 cautious, sauve politician with an=20 impressive resum=E9, reports Ann Eveleth KWAZULU-NATAL’S premier-designate, Ben=20 Ngubane, has signalled he will do Inkatha=20 Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s=20 bidding, rather than risk the fate of his=20 colleagues.=20 In an interview with the Mail & Guardian=20 this week, Ngubane stressed that he would=20 not make […]

A trip to Xiamen reveals a thriving metropolis. Madeleine Wackernagel reports on China’s experiment with capitalism THE brand new, marble and chrome airport at Xiamen was the first surprise. The second, how busy the city was on a Sunday night. Street cleaners were out in force, McDonald’s was doing a roaring trade and everywhere there […]

Derek Hanekom said this week he was=20 piloting legislation to limit evictions of=20 rural families. But this may be too late=20 for one family, reports Rehana Rossouw=20 KATRINA WILLIAMS has lived on the farm “La=20 Verger” near Stellenbosch for 50 years,=20 working there as a domestic worker for its=20 owners for 45 years. Her loyalty […]

Mail & Guardian Reporter THE Johannesburg Bar enjoyed another round=20 of debate this week over its controversial=20 northern suburbs consultation rooms, with=20 increasing signs that those in favour of=20 the suburban set-up want full-time chambers=20 there. The rooms in Sandton are the headquarters=20 of the newly formed Arbitration Foundation=20 of Southern Africa. There are also=20 […]

GOLF:Jon Swift THERE has always been an intense feeling of=20 calm about the way Mark McNulty has gone=20 about his chosen profession. In many ways=20 he is the model every aspirant professional=20 golfer should strive to emulate. This unflappability probably first came to=20 the fore at a rain-soaked Bryanston Country=20 Club course fully two decades […]

Iden Wetherell reports on the political=20 crisis facing Zimbabwe’s tourism industry ZIMBABWE’S National Parks Department, due=20 to host a summit of the Convention on=20 International Trade in Endangered Species=20 (Cites) in Harare in June, is facing a=20 leadership crisis which has badly dented=20 its reputation as one of Africa’s most=20 effective wildlife managers. The department […]