Staff Reporter

body Mail & Guardian reporter SEVERAL senior military men, including former Civilian Co-operation Bureau (CCB) operatives, will receive subpoenas in the next three weeks ordering them to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. While most former policemen implicated in “dirty tricks” operations are busy preparing submissions in pursuit of indemnity from prosecution, few members […]

Applause for Chief Justice Michael Corbett may be uneven, but he put in place a progessive approach to public employees’ rights NOW that the tenure of Chief Justice Michael Corbett is drawing to a close, the retrospectives and potted reviews of his incumbency will doubtless come thick and fast in the press. Of course, it […]

THEATRE: Andrew Wilson NEED relief from mind-dulling television? Take a dose of Death-Defying Acts on at Johannesburg’s Civic Theatre until December 21 – three brilliant, hilarious and incisive one-act playlets by David Mamet, Woody Allen and Elaine May. They are thematically interwoven glimpses of urban America, all employing sparkling dialogue to parody and penetrate the […]

Marion Edmunds and Andy Duffy WHILE Minister of Health Nkosazana Zuma is inviting Cuban and German doctors to South Africa to heal the nation, the Department of Home Affairs is refusing to give foreign doctors already in the country permanent residence status. And while Zuma welcomes Cuban doctors with open arms and cigars, other foreign […]

The investigation into playboy Paul Ekon’s alleged gold scam deepens. He is also said to have offered the ANC `tiny little guns’, reports Stefaans Brmmer NEW details have emerged of gold syndicate suspect Paul Ekon’s association with African National Congress leaders – including his alleged loan of a handgun to Thabo Mbeki – but ANC […]

Former Sunday Times editor Ken Owen disputes Kathy O’Dowd’s version of her trip to the top of Everest CATHY O’DOWD’S account of what happened on the sorry expedition to Everest, insofar as it deals with matters within my knowledge, is untrue. She would have done much good for her reputation as a journalist, and a […]

The threatening mood at the latest Pagad press conference held in Cape Town was captured by Rehana Rossouw THE latest onslaught on the media by People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) has been condemned by Minister of Post, Telecommunications and Broadcasting Jay Naidoo as worse than the threats against the media at the height of […]

Allegations of political horse-trading have tainted the selection of the new SABC board, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy THE new South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board members await President Nelson Mandela’s approval before they can take up their seats at the end of the month. But this round of nominees, selected by a parliamentary committee, has raised […]

Madeleine Wackernagel BRITISH AEROSPACE (BAe), a front runner in the bidding to replace the ageing Impala trainers, is taking a 20% stake in Advanced Technologies & Engineering (ATE), which supplies the integrated avionics systems for the South African Air Force’s Pilatus “Astra” trainer and the Rooivalk attack helicopter. The value of the shareholding was not […]

Huge pressure has been put on ousted Free State premier Patrick Lekota to abandon the provincial leadership battle, angering ANC members. Rehana Rossouw reports from the turbulent province PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela this week offered Patrick “Terror” Lekota a Cabinet post if, for the sake of party unity, he agreed to withdraw from the contest for […]

John de St Jorre in London AN oil painting which has been missing for 400 years and is attributed to the Italian old master, Caravaggio, could fetch up to 10-million at an auction in London next month. The picture is the property of a private owner. The auctioneers, Phillips, originally attributed the picture in their […]

Judith Edstrom I WOULD like to address some of the perceptions and misconceptions about the World Bank in South Africa that have surfaced recently, at times with a degree of emotional fervour. First, what is the World Bank and what are we doing in South Africa? The World Bank is a co-operative bank owned by […]

Plans to restructure many of Gauteng’s hospitals have been delayed following much criticism, reports Andy Duffy THE Gauteng government’s plans to close or downgrade nearly a third of its hospitals have been put on hold, pending further investigation. The provincial health department, which has faced a barrage of criticism, says it is “sympathetic” to calls […]

Nat Zeno `IT’S a buyers market” is the more frequent reply to any question regarding the First Annual Southern African International Film and Television Market, but are there going to be any buyers present? By the time you read this all these and more questions will have been answered. >From November 13 to 17 Longkloof […]

Andy Duffy Transnet has uncovered fraud and theft thought to have been costing subsidiary South African Airways’s (SAA) duty-free operation at least R5-million a year – more than 10% of the operation’s annual sales. The group’s internal audit team paid Johannesburg-based private investigators R470 000 to undertake the six-month investigation into the operation. Its report […]

Ann Eveleth KWAZULU-NATAL attorney general Tim McNally has again come under fire from the Investigation Task Unit (ITU)probing hit- squads in the province after he declined to prosecute the third hit squad-related case brought before him since the October acquittal of former defence minister Magnus Malan and 19 others. The ITU’s civilian board convenor Howard […]

OPERA: Andrew Clements in Amsterdam WITH David Pountney’s staging of Shostakovich’s The Nose for The Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam, his already fertile imagination as well as his budget ran riot. There can’t be many opera houses in the world that could have bankrolled something as extravagant as this. Lasting under 100 minutes, it’s a virtuoso […]

Chris McGreal reports from Goma on the looting of the hated president’s lakeside holiday home, a monument to extravagance in a land of poverty MOBUTU SESE SEKO has paid only one visit to his palatial holiday home on Lake Kivu. That was six years ago and he will not be going back. As Zaire’s president […]

In Cape Town NAT ZENO reports on a much- hyped project to film South Africa’s ravers as drug-free, eco-friendly Generation X-ers THERE are two sides to any story and it is easy to criticise, but when sitting in film producer Chris Roland’s office listening to him wax eloquent about “the project”; you are drawn by […]

Corruption and incompetence at Eskom’s Soweto division have led to a management shake-up, reports Andy Duffy ESKOM is quietly replacing top staff at one of its largest divisions after an independent investigation uncovered rampant corruption and incompetence among senior management. The parastatal declines to detail the shake- up at the Soweto division, saying its plans […]

Mungo Soggot THE series of transactions that have massively boosted black ownership of pay TV channel M-Net will inevitably prompt more black representation on its board, says chief executive Gerrie de Villiers. M-Net will soon represent one of the largest black empowerment transactions to date. The revolution in the company, which started life as a […]

Paul Webster in Paris INTERNATIONAL efforts to get a reluctant Mobutu Sese Seko to return to Zaire from his Riviera villa increased this week when he was asked to co-operate with French plans for a multi-national force to protect refugees in eastern Zaire. President Jacques Chirac is trying to persuade Zaire’s president, convalescing after surgery […]

Ster Moribo has turned one year old. BAFANA KHUMALO looks at the mission to Africanise the movie-going experience THE shutters hide the glory of the venue’s past. The venue is the Eyethu cinema in Mofolo central, Soweto, and the death of the cinema represents the end of a movie-going era. This is the cinema where […]

Lynda Loxton LINKING up with Malaysian group Petronas and listing exploration arm Energy Africa have speeded up Engen’s drive into Africa. Chief executive Rob Angel told a recent media briefing that Petronas’s 30% stake in Engen gave the South African company the financial muscle at a time of squeezed margins to venture into downstream operations […]

government’s heels Gaye Davis THE Democratic Party’s decision to reposition itself does not mean the terrier will stop snapping at the heels of government. But instead of just levelling criticism, it will also be offering solutions to problems facing the country, DP leader Tony Leon said this week. Its first offering – a strategy to […]

AT stake in this week’s court battle over the Independent Broadcasting Authority’s (IBA) recent licencing process is more than the question of the rightful buyer of Radio Jacaranda. Hanging in the balance is the authority and credibility of the IBA, already damaged by the admission that they were inquorate when they made crucial privatisation decisions. […]

Glynis O’Hara `MUSIC never made violence or a vandal,” says Lord Yehudi Menuhin, visiting South Africa to perform as part of a world tour celebrating his 80th birthday. The violinist and musical ambassador handed over 200 child-size violins for the South African Music Education Trust (Samet) training programmes to President Nelson Mandela (right) at a […]

to Minister of Land Affairs Derek Hanekom went to KwaZulu-Natal to give away land, but it turned out to be no easy task, as this week’s guest writer Pippa Green discovered WE are shooting north up the mountain pass to the dusty outpost of Jozini, which overlooks the shimmering plains of the Makathini Flats stretching […]

Following an anti-smoking editorial in The Star, R&R Tobacco have withdrawn their advertising, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy THE Rembrandt International group’s tobacco arm, R&R Tobacco has decided to pull more than one-million-rand’s worth of advertising from The Star newspaper following an editorial written by editor Peter Sullivan. Gauteng Newspapers managing director Deon du Plessis said one […]

Rehana Rossouw THE campaign against gangsterism and drugs will intensify in the next few weeks and Cape Town’s Waterfront could see more protests, People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) said this week. Last weekend, Achmat Najjaar, the brother of a prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Thafier Najjaar, was shot and killed during a clash with the […]

Reserve Bank Governor Chris Stals talks to Max Gebhardt about the challenges he faces amid continued currency turmoil COMPARED to last week’s freefall, the rand enjoyed something approaching a settled week. The currency’s downfall, while uppermost in the minds of the public, is one of several fundamental concerns over the economy. Reserve Bank governor Chris […]

Minister of Defence Joe Modise takes a tough line on the `arrogant mindset of the old SADF AT the time of our first ever democratic election, the thought in everyone’s mind was whether the defence force would support change. The result thus far has been encouraging, bearing in mind that in defence, more than in […]