Staff Reporter

Gustav Thiel The avalanche of sightseers and tourists wanting to visit Robben Island could result in permanent damage to the marine environment on the island. This warning comes from the island’s temporary administrator, Professor Andre Odendaal, and the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront’s harbour master Bill Shewell. Odendaal said he was working on a tight schedule […]

redundancies THE Education Ministry is struggling to determine whether its drive to reshape state schooling has achieved much more than lose South Africa thousands of experienced state teachers and unnerve those who remain. Pressure is growing on the ministry -even from its own officials – to rethink the programme, which is supposed to redeploy teachers […]

The land of the sinking yen is in economic crisis. Keith Harper in Tokyo asks what’s going wrong JAPAN’S emergence as an economic superpower, second only to the United States, had been – until the 1990s – one of this century’s most dramatic changes in the global pecking order. But as the yen soared to […]

The South African cricket authorities are to be congratulated for their achievements with regard both to the victories of Hansie Cronje’s men against India in the present series and the development of the game as a truly national sport. But if our cricketers are showing the way where both sporting prowess and racial integration are […]

Leon de Kock The Road Out by Dan Wylie (Snailpress, R34) Dan Wylie is one of those hopeless romantics whose CVs include, as a matter of necessity, extended detours into solitary, footloose travelling, shunting, ship- crewing and intermittent writing. Eventually these voyagers return to one of the points of departure, get a job teaching or […]

Stefaans BrUmmer investigates the suspects behind the Worcester and Rustenburg blasts The Boere Aanvalstroepe (Bat), which claimed responsibility for the Worcester and Rustenburg bomb attacks, appears to link directly to the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging. AWB leader Eugene Terre’Blanche this week told the Mail & Guardian in an interview that Bat consisted of members of his organisation, […]

Ann Eveleth Crime along Durban’s beachfront was at an all-time low this Christmas season, according to city officials. Fear of beachfront violence saw several businesses close on certain days and surround their premises with razor-wire in advance of the holiday season. While the local press shrieked “Bloody beachfront” headlines during the holiday period, SAPS director […]

The proposed special deal for KwaZulu-Natal is a serious threat to the rule of law, says deputy chair Alex Boraine. Ann Eveleth reports KwaZulu-Natal’s “special amnesty” proposal would undermine the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s current amnesty process, promote a culture of impunity and pose a serious threat to the rule of law, the commission’s deputy […]

National Parks Board CE Robbie Robinson has chosen to retire on a matter that could split the board, reports Anita Allen The imminent departure of Dr Robbie Robinson as chief executive means that the 17-member National Parks Board is going to be put to the test. Not only does it have to choose a successor […]

Robots are efficient workers who don’t get bored, don’t ask for a pay rise and don’t want your job. Or do they? Sue Nelson reports Does the future belong to humans or machines? Science fiction usually portrays robots as inheriting the Earth but, in contrast to these ominous forecasts, most scientists predict mutual and helpful […]

source Anthony Heard GEORGE heard covered Parliament for the Rand Daily Mail. He published a remarkably accurate account of the national Budget two days before it was delivered. I have never been able to find out from whom George got the information, although I have suspicions. The forecast was too accurate to have been totally […]

HAZEL FRIEDMAN finds out why the work of local art guru, the late Neil Goedhals, is hanging in Johannesburg finds out why t THE life and death of Johannesburg artist Neil Goedhals inspired as much myth-making as his work inspired emulation. Six years after his death, his memory and the legacy he bequeathed to a […]

Jimmy and Louise Warner, both 53, are about to start new careers. He will work from their Rondebosch home for Cape estate agents Steer & Co, and she will help with the typing. In Eldorado Park, Johannesurg, Anthony Swartz (50) is also starting afresh, going into a business which he doesn’t want to talk about […]

Two key media figures are at each other’s throats prior to the truth commission’s probe into the press, writes Jacquie Golding-Duffy The Freedom of Expression Institute and its chair, Raymond Louw, have come under fire for volunteering to assist the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in its investigation of the media. The Black Editors Forum […]

turbojav ATHLETICS: Julian Drew Africa has never won a medal at Olympic or world championship level in the throwing events. Some theorists – no doubt from the same school of thought which once asserted African physiology was not suited to running – have claimed that this is as a result of anatomical differences. The exploits […]

Tim Radford Genetics researchers have confirmed something which has been Holy Writ in Israel for 3 300 years. They have examined the Y chromosomes of Jewish priests and found they are, indeed, different from the rest of the Jewish people. According to Jewish tradition, priests – as distinct from rabbis –are descended from Aaron, brother […]

Mungo Soggot The privatisation of Sun Air is galloping ahead, with the Transport Department set to interview on Friday advisers who will start work on Monday. The shortlist of three possible advisers for the R200-million airline sale comprises banking group Investec, a partnership between investment bank BoE NatWest and Johannesburg law firm Moseneke & Partners, […]

A senior South African journalist tells the story of how, as a young reporter in the apartheid era, he was delegated to act as a guide to Eartha Kitt, showing her around Cape Town. The reporter (white) was sitting in the back seat of a chauffeur-driven car with the great singer, lecturing her on the […]

Andrew Meldrum in Matandele, Zimbabwe SURROUNDED by government ministers and tribal chiefs, Sinqobile Mabhena appears a model of female subservience as she bows her head and modestly lowers her eyes. But this demure 23-year-old has rocked Zimbabwe’s traditional culture by becoming one of the first women to take on the powerful mantle of tribal chief. […]

DROR EYAL saw in the new year at the annual Oppikoppi music festival THE South African music explosion is a bit like God. Journalists resurrect it yearly, Barney Simon preaches it daily, but mankind never gets to see it. The Oppikoppi Moerit Boetie festival, which is held near Sun City, is set to change that. […]

Our critics look at movies to be produced in South Africa this year, and the most hyped of the international releases Andrew Worsdale THIS year promises to be the brightest in years for South Africa’s film industry, with loads of movies in development and several sure to see their first day of shooting some time […]

DESIGN: Hazel Friedman THE undisputed winner of the Mail & Guardian’s Not the Pirelli Calendar Prize for 1997 is the calendar put out by the women’s support group, Powa (People Opposing Women Abuse). A collaborative project between the organisation and the Fine Arts Department at the University of the Witwatersrand, the calendarconsists of provocative images […]

Gustav Thiel A leading British bookmaker, William Hill, is betting on Cape Town as the site for the 2004 Olympic at the very generous odds of 6 to 4, followed by Rome with 2 to 1. However, the international magazine Sports Business puts Cape Town in third place, behind Rome and Stockholm. The International Olympic […]

the poor Ros Coward in London Madagascar, former colony and popular tourist destination, is close to an epidemic of the Black Death – 187 cases have been diagnosed in one city, after the collapse of organised rubbish collection was followed by a plague of rats. In the 1960s, Madagascar was a confident country with a […]

Marion Edmunds Angola’s peace process needs to be extended by two to three months to give Uniaco Nacional para a (Unita) and Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola (MPLA) leaders more time to negotiate Jonas Savimbi’s role in the Angolan government, said Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen, after a meeting with Savimbi mid- week. […]

The Dolphin Group has put together a deal that not only includes Mpumalanga’s prime resorts, but could also be at public expense, reports Justin Arenstein The Mpumalanga government has handed over its main natural assets to an unknown foreign company and has promised not to talk about the deal for 50 years. The contract which […]

Benoni boy Philip Holiday has hit boxing’s big time with his recent win over Ivan Robinson BOXING: Gavin Evans Quiet Benoni boy Philip Holiday has suddenly emerged as one of the heavy hitters – financially speaking – among the lightweights of world boxing. He raised the stakes in his division with his emphatic points win […]

The culture in the newly integrated army is still white, causing widespread racial problems. Rehana Rossouw reports AT least four soldiers in the South African National Defence Force are currently being court-martialed on charges of alleging that their commanding officer was racist. The prosecutions appear to reflect widespread race problems in the newly integrated SA […]

Joseph Hanlon PEACE has not brought prosperity to Mozambique. Four years after the end of the civil war, the poorest country in the world is growing poorer. The reason is that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has ruled that annual inflation must be brought below 15%t before there can be significant post-war reconstruction. This policy […]

Despite the gold price hitting a three-year low, Anglogold chair Bobby Godsell tells Max Gebhardt that he is upbeat about the mining industry At a time when negative sentiment is ruling the market, there is a strange, yet welcome sense of optimism at Anglo American’s gold and uranium division in its Main Street headquarters in […]

circles Marion Edmunds Tension is rising between the intelligence services and their parliamentary watchdog, the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, over the government’s bungling of the appointment of the country’s first inspector general, Louis Skweyiya. As government officials and parliamentarians cast around to find a scapegoat for Skweyiya’s premature resignation – before he had even […]

Rupert Murdoch is way ahead of his media competition. Henry Porter wonders if anybody realises his power IN Full Disclosure, Andrew Neil’s telling account of his life as a Murdoch editor, he reveals that Rupert Murdoch’s presence is so strong in News International that he appears to his executives in their dreams. It’s a pity […]