Staff Reporter

Contenders for Gauteng’s only medium wave licence are eagerly awaiting the IBA’s decision, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy THE Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) faces a tough decision as the time draws near for it to award the single medium wave (MW) licence up for grabs in Gauteng. According to an IBA representative, the licence for Gauteng will […]

We have a lift-off – of a multitude of satellites and enormous profits. Adam Sweeting looks at the amazing growth of the space business THE Apollo programme is history now, and Neil Armstrong’s “giant leap for mankind” seems about as newsworthy as the Gettysburg Address, but there is still a mystique about Cape Canaveral, like […]

KwaZulu-Natal farmers who have resorted to radical private security measures “are fuelling racial tensions, reports Ann Eveleth EX-KOEVOET soldiers are patrolling the rugged terrain of Weenen after a spate of farm murders in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, say prominent farmers and police in this frontier town. The Weenen Farmers’ Association hired the guards after the son […]

Glynis O’Hara THE disastrous Melville 100th birthday party in Johannesburg two weeks ago has run into money troubles. A meeting between creditors and the Melville Organising Committee was held at a lawyer’s office last week but no one from the committee would talk to the press. This week creditors were told the Melville Organising Committee […]

Lara Marlow in Algiers IN the manner of Michael Collins, invisible to British security as he rode his bicycle through Dublin, Abu Mohammed blended into the hotel, passing under the noses of dozens of armed plainclothes men in the lobby. In his twenties, cleanshaven and in stylish clothes, he looked more like a member of […]

revamp Andy Duffy THE Gauteng provincial government is to revamp its maternity services – a move which could lead to the closure of poorly supported units in Soweto. The plans, to kick in next year, include attaching new maternity facilities to overloaded hospitals and, according to department sources, closing some of the 20 existing outlying […]

Pat Schwartz LAPALEBOMBO: An African Paradise by Gill Bosonetto (Puffin, R59,99) THE concept is great. All the sentiments are in the right place. Ulla Blake’s illustrations are charming. What a pity the author feels the need to anthropomorphise her animal characters in a particularly twee way! Imagine, if you will, a giraffe called Camilla, a […]

Advertising has invaded the quiet confines of a local art gallery. Hazel Friedman notes the reactions to this transgression RADIO 702 always says it best with sound, right. Er not quite. These days it also says it with sight (and site). In a first for South Africa, it has placed one of its advertising billboards […]

Julian Drew THE chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Evaluation Commission, Dr Thomas Bach, refused to sing the praises of Cape Town’s bid to host the 2004 Olympic Games before his departure on Tuesday. But the absence of an Ode to Joy from Bach should not set any alarm bells ringing. Bach and the […]

THEATRE: Sifiso Maseko AT its best Booksy, Cooksy, Doopsy at the Windybrow Theatre in Johannesburg is an elaborate orgy of uncomfortable orgasms. Few plays can claim to revolt our sense of dignity and ideals, yet find our sympathy. The comedy that recently won the Windybrow’s annual community arts festival, it is set somewhere within the […]

The nature of SA art awards is changing to fit new realities. HAZEL FRIEDMAN reports THE FNB Vita Art Now Award exhibition will soon be a thing of the past due to “the closure of many art galleries in South Africa”, says Vita director Phillip Stein. But there is no need as yet to write […]

BANNING the bomb has become an orthodox goal among those who know best what nuclear war would mean. The global coalition of ex- generals and admirals who called last week for a determined drive to rid the world of nuclear weapons is talking on the basis of the most intimate hands-on experience. This initiative follows […]

Tim Radford THE Mars Pathfinder lander – the second United States probe to be launched last month – is due to float down by parachute and bounce gently to rest on airbags on the surface of the Red Planet on July 4 1997. It will be the first visit for 21 years, since the Viking […]

Chris Dunton THESE THINGS HAPPEN by Shaun de Waal (Ad Donker, R59,95) AT over 200 pages, this is a generous collection a dozen stories, one of them, “Dave”, a wonderfully sustained piece, taking up a quarter of the book. All but four of the stories are on gay life, one way or another even so, […]

Ann Eveleth THOKOZILE BASI described how she and another 200 labour tenants were evicted last week after the owner of the farm on which they were living near Weenen sold his property. “Our sons and daughters were working for the farmer and one day he told them to stay at home. Then another farmer came […]

The Constitution was signed this week at Sharpeville. Guest writer Pippa Green takes a look behind the scenes THERE is a moment in the making of the Constitution when Sheila Camerer of the National Party asks, “What are universally accepted fundamental rights? Perhaps we need a workshop to discuss them?” It is a moment way […]

There are plenty of surprises at the top of the Premier League table with only Kaizer Chiefs representing the big names SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi WHEN the Castle Premiership kicked off last August, traditional giants Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Sundowns were expected to lead the chase for a record R500 000 first prize. As the […]

ANDREW WORSDALE reports on Ties of Blood, a new TV documentary NIGHT after night television viewers are subjected to a barrage of material about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. So why make a 40-minute documentary about the guilt and violence of the past? Ties of Blood, which flights on SABC3 at 8.15pm on December 16 […]

Mungo Soggot THE lawyer representing Bernadette Gibson – the woman who suffered vaginal acid burns – has petitioned the Appellate Division for a higher damages award, claiming she is mentally unstable. Gibson, bankrupted after pursuing an ambitious multi-million-rand claim in the supreme court, said this week she did not know lawyer Peter Soller had filed […]

Ecologically fragile land in the Drakensberg is to be planted with pines, reports Eddie Koch WATER and Forestry Affairs Minister Kader Asmal is under fire in KwaZulu-Natal from organisations across the political spectrum over his ministry’s decision to allow some 3 000ha of ecologically fragile land on the Drakensberg escarpment to be planted with commercial […]

Rehana Rossouw ATTEMPTS by Pan Africanist Congress members to ease the departure of its president, Clarence Makwetu, have been stymied by his insistence on contesting his position at the organisation’s congress this weekend. While Makwetu has not been blamed entirely for weaknesses in the PAC, senior members believe his deficient leadership has contributed to the […]

Joshua Amupadhi and Jacquie Golding-Duffy UNIVERSITIES and technikons discovered this week just how harshly the government has slashed their funding for 1997, with a string of institutions facing severe and damaging cutbacks. Universities including Wits, Pretoria, Natal, Transkei, Rhodes and the Orange Free State complained their government funding has been cut to “even much lower […]

Stefaans Brmmer STRICT vegetarians beware – fish ingredients, although filtered out, may well be used in the brewing of your favourite beer. The “war” between South African Breweries (SAB), the largest player in the South African beer market, and the Windhoek-based Namibia Breweries, probably SAB’s most serious contender, escalated this week with SAB conceding that […]

Angella Johnson THOUSANDS of people in Mpumalanga and the Western Cape have lost millions of rands following the collapse this week of a Cape Town pyramid investment scheme which targeted born-again Christians. Liquidators are to be appointed to deal with the Two H Group: they estimate that more than R100-million is involved. A police docket […]

Marion Edmunds NATIONAL Public Service Commissioners are hoping to claim hundreds of thousands of rands of financial compensation for early retirement next year, even if they continue to work in the public service. Forty-four public service commissioners – appointed after 1994 in terms of the interim Constitution – will have to retire early from their […]

THE shortcomings of the media have been much commented upon by President Nelson Mandela this year, most memorably when he criticised our fraternity for failing to solve the country’s political crimes. Last weekend he further compounded our sense of collective inadequacy by denouncing the press for failing to use “scientific analysis” – a shortcoming which […]

Angella Johnson IT was a Friday evening when “Joseph” and “Sinah” settled their two youngest children into bed and retired to their room. As was their custom, they made tea with a herbal concoction bought from the local sangoma. This time, unknown to them, it had been spiked with a deadly poison. On drinking the […]

Mail & Guardian Reporter PX, Transnet’s loss-making container shipment and consignment distribution unit, is on the road to recovery after the unions endorsed a restructuring plan, says Thabang Motsohi, deputy chief executive. The strategy, which involves closing 34 mini-depots, will see the company break even in the1998 financial year – after making a loss of […]

Mail & Guardian Reporters FRANOIS PIENAAR’S agent, Zimbabwean businessman John Bredenkamp, has dismissed as “lies” the allegations that he was a top arms dealer. Bredenkamp said the Mail & Guardian in its article last week had repeated “lies” aired by Britain’s Channel 4, which broadcast a programme two years ago claiming he had conducted a […]

The evictions taking place in Thokoza have resulted in the IFP threatening to destabilise Gauteng. Stuart Hess reports EVICTIONS in the East Rand township of Thokoza are being hampered as people evicted earlier this week are returning to the houses. No action has yet been taken against them, but there is a discernible tension in […]

Commentators believe Cosatu’s latest document is out of step with the ANC and worldwide economic trends, writes Madeleine Wackernagel THE latest submission to the economic debate by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) – A Draft Programme for the Alliance – has been largely ignored by the business community, but not for very […]

POP & ROCK CDs: Shaun de Waal CHRISTMAS looms, and thus it is the time of the greatest hits compilation. There are various straightforward collections — Simply Red, Fine Young Cannibals, Van Halen, Queen, Roy Orbison, even Boney M — and then there are variations on the theme. Rod Stewart, for instance, has followed the […]