Staff Reporter

Bill When Eddie Mhlanga said he was a born-again Christian, a gynaecologist and pro-choice, it caused a walkout at a parliamentary hearing. Gaye Davis reports ONE of the most forceful advocates for the Termination of Pregnancy Bill during three days of public hearings in Parliament this week was Dr Eddie Mhlanga, director of maternal health […]

Angella Johnson SOON after the young couple moved into 75 Reitz Street with their three children, Daphne Kolesky knew these were no ordinary neighbours. Within days teenage boys, some still in their school uniforms, started arriving in groups of three or four at the house in the quiet Potchefstroom suburb near the university, where FW […]

National museums fear the axe following a financial survey by government consultants, writes Marion Edmunds GOVERNMENT consultants have proposed closing down a number of national museums, including the War Museum of the Boer Republics, the Afrikaanse Taalmuseum in Paarl, and the William Fehr Collection in the Castle in Cape Town, to make way for two […]

Rehana Rossouw THEY’VE been labelled reactionaries, racists and gravy-train wannabes, but the group of former United Democratic Front activists, church leaders, youth leaders and unionists behind the “December 1 Movement” believes the political salvation of coloureds lies in their hands. They are gathering in Cape Town this weekend to fine-tune plans for their launch, the […]

The complacency of the Japanese TV industry has been shattered by the arrival of American media mogul Rupert Murdoch, writes John Watts in Tokyo IN the aftermath of Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of a big stake in a Japanese terrestrial television station, the country’s media establishment is trying to come to terms with the presence of […]

Firms in the West want to stop it, but will consumers pay a premium to end Third World exploitation, asks Roger Cowe CHILDREN paid a pittance to pick jasmine for French perfume houses before dawn in the mud of the Nile delta have a potential new ally – the British shopper. Consumers are now in […]

Rehana Roussouw BANISHMENT to the Clanwilliam Magistrate’s Court kitchen has not dissuaded prosecutor Jonas White from mobilising his community against crime. Since mid-August, White has been stripped of his office and his duties and forced to spend every working day in the kitchen. The University of the Western Cape-trained lawyer, who has been a prosecutor […]

Mail & Guardian Reporter KLAUS VON LIERES UND WILKAU has apparently discovered the Durban air to be a miracle cure. With the legal spotlight on former defence minister Magnus Malan’s acquittal in Durban, little attention was paid this week to the defence team’s most famous member. The former attorney general of the Witwatersrand emerged fighting […]

Jacquie Golding-Duffy A GROUND-BREAKING unity meeting is to be held this weekend in Cape Town between the Black Editors’ Forum and the Conference of Editors. A culmination of many months of discussion between the two bodies, the meeting is aimed at establishing a single body for editors, senior journalists and other media players in both […]

Race scientists say intelligence is built into our genes – should we believe them? Gary Younge reports from London CHRISTOPHER BRAND is proud to be a racist. Not a mad, bad racist who sticks lit fireworks through Asian people’s letterboxes, or a violent nutter who attacks black people on the streets with broken bottles. Brand […]

The planned World Bank loan does not signal a departure from government policy, the trade minister tells Madeleine Wackernagel TRADE and Industry Minister Alec Erwin this week dismissed suggestions that the proposed $70-million World Bank loan signalled a deviation from stated government policy. “This is not a new borrowing initiative. We have set borrowing limits […]

Lynda Loxton LAWYER Penuell Maduna is coming under pressure from all sides as he gets to grips with his new post as Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs. In a frank discussion with the parliamentary mineral and energy affairs committees this week, Maduna admitted that, after four months in the job, he was still on […]

Madeleine Wackernagel THE appointment of Khaya Ngqula, managing director of Norwich Unit Trusts, as chief executive officer of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has raised eyebrows among the labour constituency, which is due to present its report on restructuring the IDC this week. Says an insider close to the investigation: “The timing of this announcement, […]

There is widespread support for Bantu Holomisa to become leader of the MDM, but for now he’s still trying to stay an ANC member. Gaye Davis and Joshua Amupadhi report DISAFFECTED African National Congress members want Bantu Holomisa to lead the so- called Mass Democratic Movement (MDM), under whose banner he has been speaking at […]

Absa may have jeopardised its case against Bob Aldworth, following the disclosure that the bank’s counsel helped frame the charge sheet, report Mungo Soggot and Andy Duffy THE Amalgamated Bank of South Africa’s (Absa) legal battle with Bob Aldworth has taken a startling twist, with the disclosure that counsel acting for the bank helped frame […]

A SERIES of speeches in the past week has encapsulated the debate over the role of the media in this country’s transformation. The Reverend Frank Chikane, addressing a forum of 60 editors from around the Commonwealth, was quick to say he was not speaking on behalf of the deputy president’s office, where he is a […]

Marion Edmunds NEWLY elected Stellenbosch student leaders have held talks with Minister of Education Sibusiso Bengu to discuss the university’s future, and whether Afrikaans should be its sole language of instruction. The meeting comes in the wake of a row between African National Congress MP Jannie Momberg and members of the university council over the […]

An archaeological find that takes us back to our roots 3,5-million years ago is disappearing. But a Cape Town engineer has used a unique method to capture it for the future, writes Lesley Cowling MORE than 3,5-million years ago, three of our ancestors wandered north across the Tanzanian grasslands, following traditional game trails. Like the […]

Equipment that reveals if people have received electric shocks has forced the police to fork out or face the courts, reports Angella Johnson HUNDREDS of thousands of rands have been paid out to victims of police torture in cases settled out of court in Gauteng over the past year, following new forensic initiatives by the […]

NEWS that three of the world’s largest oil companies are discussing a merger of their refining and marketing operations in the United States signals a huge shake-up of the industry. The talks, which could lead to a merger of operations by Shell Oil, Texaco and Star Enterprises – a joint venture of Texaco and the […]

An operation code-named Skrik vir Niks was a lost opportunity which could have saved the country four years of bloodshed, political unrest and economic damage, reports Marion Edmunds A SECRET document which throws new light on the origins of the reform process and undermines the reputations of key reformists in the National Party has been […]

A healthy dose of chutzpah could transform the civic organisation into a leading empowerment company, writes Mungo Soggot THE South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) has stopped throwing stones and is going into business. The radical anti-apartheid civic organisation is poised to move into the heart of capitalism when it branches out into direct insurance, […]

Maurice Hamilton charts the line of succession of Sunday’s rivals for the Formula One world championship as they prepare to dice wheel to wheel in a make-or- break charge for glory in Japan GRAHAM HILL and Gilles Villeneuve did not race in the same era, never mind being team- mates and fighting for the world […]

THIS year, the Mail &Guardian is in agreement with the Boeke Prize verdict. The promotional “award” is given to one of six books selected by Exclusive Books, based on the votes of critics around the country. Last year the M&Gchose Robertson Davies’s last novel The Cunning Man, but in the end the prize went to […]

Protests are already being planned against a proposed World Bank loan to South Africa, writes Gaye Davis FINANCE Minister Trevor Manuel will face tough questions when he returns on Saturday from the joint International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank annual meeting in Washington. MPs from his own party want information about a loan South Africa – […]

THE new Russian threat is no longer the massive weight of the Red Army but its pitiful weakness, while the enfeeblement of the Russian leadership is no less alarming. There is a sense of governing by mirrors as President Boris Yeltsin reassures the nation from his hospital bed. To be really heartened by the message, […]

IT seems that a good place to find South African literature these days is on the radio. Especially for those who aren’t able to read the latest and best locally produced works, SAfm’s various programmes featuring South African fiction must be a boon. Presently being read in over the air in the 10pmslot, Mondays to […]

Mungo Soggot THE puzzle surrounding possible South African involvment in a United States satellite phone system took another twist this week when it emerged the system might not be geared to work above South Africa. A report compiled by the University of Colorado indicates the Ellipso satellite phone system will not function south of 20 […]

FILM: Andrew Worsdale THE Japanese Film Festival, now in it’s third year, opened last night at the Rosebank Mall in Johannesburg, the place where third secretary of political affairs Yasushi Nato says, “the cinema gourmet stays”. The programme is a little dour, featuring classics from the past. They may be masterpieces of cinema, but there […]

Africa Investments Ltd, in THE MARK GEVISSER PROFILE Rhodes, Rupert, Ramaphosa WHEN Nthatho Motlana ann-ounced that Cyril Ramaphosa was to join his New Africa Investments Ltd (Nail) and lead the bid to acquire Johnnic from Anglo American, the Sowetan – wholly owned by Nail – put out a 40-page souvenir edition to commemorate the fact. […]

Medicine Prize TWO scientists were awarded the Nobel Medicine Prize this week for a discovery 23 years ago in Australia. Australian Peter Doherty (55) and Swiss Rolf Zinkernagel (52) received the award for joint work at the John Curtin School of Medical Research in Canberra, between 1973 and 1975. The pair discovered how the immune […]

The author of bestseller Waiting to Exhale recently visited South Africa to promote her new novel. Terry McMillan spoke to MARIANNE BRACE AIR JAMAICA ought to be paying Terry McMillan commission. The heroine of her new novel, How Stella Got Her Groove Back (Viking), goes to the West Indies for a little rest and relaxation, […]