Justin Pearce JOHN ASPINALL, right-wing zookeeper, multimillionaire gambler and friend of Mangosuthu Buthelezi, is eyeing KwaZulu-Natal as the site for his next casino. This was confirmed by Lazelle Krog, the province’s director of policy and legislative development in gaming and betting. Aspinall’s casino empire is based in London, with operations in France and New Zealand. […]
Justin Pearce The State Archives has allowed the Mail & Guardian access to cabinet memoranda, which were for years kept locked away in terms of the Archives Act. But a search through the papers revealed nothing that would have caused the collapse of the South African state — though some very telling documents do stand […]
Justin Pearce Telkom has taken to barring certain phone lines to international calls, in an attempt to “protect” its clients from fraudsters. A Johannesburg Telkom official admitted this to the Mail & Guardian after the newspaper was approached by a telephone user who found certain international numbers were blocked to her after hours — even […]
Advice and inspiration from two previous Olympic champions helped Hezekial Sepeng to a stunning silver medal in the 800m in Atlanta ATHLETICS: Julian Drew HEZEKIAL SEPENG’S success in Atlanta and the rave reviews he is now receiving provide a stark contrast to the response his performances drew last year and serve to underline just how […]
Why does photographer Ian van Coller cut off the heads of his subjects? SUZY BELL finds out IN the beginning, the gods gave all the seeds and plants to the animals of the world to grow. Mabuyu was given to the hyena, who unfortunately was very last in line, and he was so upset he […]
TELEVISION: Charl Blignaut AS the public broadcaster of a developing nation, the SABC was given all its Olympic footage for free. But, not the type to pass up an opportunity to prove its commentators “can match the world’s best”, the corporation decided to make up for all the money it had saved by sending no […]
The Tembisa tragedy has highlighted South Africa’s disastrous public transport system. Stuart Hess, Joshua Amupadhi and Justin Pearce report Wednesday’s disaster at Tembisa station on the East Rand, which left 15 dead and at least 50 in hospital, was a bloody reminder of a deep crisis in South Africa’s public transport system. “Some stations are […]
Controversy over the government’s banning of the gay rights group Galz is jeopardising the future of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, reports Iden Wetherell IT would be difficult to imagine a more tranquil scene: the Harare Gardens in early August; the first hint of summer as temperatures climb; the scent of jasmine and the tinkle […]
Stefaans BrUmmer A WEEK after Major Pierre Buyoya seized power in Burundi, South Africa is still wondering what to do about it. While Buyoya has been told his government will not be recognised, there is no clear path for South Africa’s policy-makers. Western powers have put considerable pressure on President Nelson Mandela — most recently […]
If Bantu Holomisa had heeded President Mandela’s appeal that he apologise, his sacking could have been avoided, writes Gaye Davis PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela tried to persuade axed deputy minister of environmental affairs and tourism Bantu Holomisa to apologise for remarks he made about Public Enterprises Minister Stella Sigcau before the truth commission, saying this would […]
communications adviser, in The Mark Gevisser Profile Is he a man or a moustache? `DO you know Leni Riefenstal?” Craig Kotze asks me. “I think I sometimes feel a bit like her. She did something for the art of communication, of strategy, and got caught up in the political situation.” Riefenstal, of course, was the […]
In art-world terms, he’s not even out of diapers — but everyone wants a piece of Moshekwa Langa. HAZEL FRIEDMAN finds out why MOI? Artist Moshekwa Langa doesn’t exactly respond “But why me?” to my request for a meeting, and certainly not in French. But everything about his reaction — from the almost hysterical giggle […]
SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi IT may sound Irish to disclose that the South African soccer season begins this weekend, five months after the first matches were played. It also happens to be true. At the beginning of the year it was decided to introduce a Premier League, run along the lines of the remarkably successful English […]
THERE is much wailing in the ranks of the medical profession at plans to extend the qualification period for doctors by two years. While there are grounds for protest at the way the issue is being handled, it is difficult to understand what is wrong with the principle. Unfortunately the proposal is surrounded by a […]
Apart from six palaces — one for each wife — Swazi King Mswati III earlier this year bought a hotel, it has been discovered SWAZI King Mswati III has bought an R8-million hotel in Mbabane at a time when the homes of many of his subjects are being repossessed by Swaziland’s banks. Both the price […]
Phalaborwa, a mining town on the edge of the Kruger Park with a previously racist image, has successfully embraced the new South Africa, writes Mungo Soggot The huge trucks which ferry copper-rich rubble out of the Palabora Mining Company’s (PMC) pit around the clock stopped hauling for a few hours last Sunday morning and the […]
Ann Eveleth The Investigation Task Unit (ITU) probing hit-squads in KwaZulu-Natal is to lose another key member: state prosecutor Carl Koenig will leave his post next week. Koenig will follow supercop Frank Dutton to take up a post with the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. His departure will be a blow […]
The problem with the West’s response, argues Martin Woollacott in London, is not that it does not care, but that it cares in bursts WHEN the killing re-sumes in some part of Africa, Western countries slip into a familiar oscillation. They swing between blaming themselves and blaming Africans, between urging and opposing military intervention. The […]
William Bratton, who licked crime in the Big Apple, is due here next week. He describes the business principles behind his success. WHEN I was appointed police commissioner by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1994, the department was in disarray and the city’s high crime rate showed few signs of coming down. I […]
The row over extended doctors’ training is bringing pressure for other students to do community service. Philippa Garson and Joshua Amupadhi report Extending community service for postgraduates of all disciplines, including the medical profession, could help alleviate the funding crisis in tertiary education. A furious debate developed this week around plans by the Interim National […]
Ann Eveleth The leader of a right-wing plot to destabilise KwaZulu-Natal, Gerrit Anderson, launched a hunger strike this week in protest against an eight-year prison sentence he began last week. Anderson (41) skipped bail in May after being convicted of illegal possession of 10 home-made pipe-guns in connection with an Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) plot to […]
There is a temptation to dismiss Robert Mugabe as a figure of fun. But the time has come — following his government’s attempt to ban the participation of gays in the Zimbabwe book fair — to get serious with the man and let him know that we regard his continued displays of homophobia as a […]
Philippa Garson WHETHER doctors should get more training and give some service to society at the same time is less in dispute than whether the country — and the students — are ready for it. The Interim National Medical and Dental Council has been criticised for implementing radical changes to the profession before the legwork […]
Gaye Davis PETER MOKABA’S elevation to deputy minister has brought a sigh of relief by members of the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Environment Affairs and Tourism. They hope that as deputy minister he will make the portfolio more of a priority than he did when he was chair of the committee. Intended to function […]
Forget city-centre clubs. An innovative label is taking jazz back to the townships, reports GWEN ANSELL LAUNCHING new music into South Africa’s notoriously conservative market isn’t easy. So, you ask youself, is the B&W label entirely sane to mix new music with an equally innovative marketing strategy? Very much so, according to the label’s South […]
Angella Johnson and Stuart Hess Crime fighting in South Africa is being hampered by a 22 479-person staff shortage in the South African Police Service, according to a study carried out by the SAPS. Research conducted by the police human resources division found that the ideal national headcount for the SAPS to function effectively should […]
French producer Anatole Dauman, in SA for a festival of his films, is one of a kind: an entrepreneur with artistic vision. He spoke to ANDREW WORSDALE ANATOLE DAUMAN, one of the leading figures in European auteur cinema, wastes no time on pleasantries. No sooner were we introduced than this legendary French producer burst into […]
Tentacles of the fraud octopus will `be chopped off with a sharp machete’, reports Justin Arenstein THE former head of one of Mpumalanga’s regional councils, Gerhard Smith, went down in history as the main tentacle of a “muddy and smelly octopus” this week after he was fingered for milking at least R3,24-million from the province. […]
White strategists were the main beneficiaries at the IFP’s national conference, reports Ann Eveleth The Inkatha Freedom Party stood on the brink of the 20th century last weekend, but its leadership took one look into the future and scurried back to the 18th-century domain of kings Shaka and Cetshwayo. Joining forces with conservative British advisers […]
Angella Johnson This is the man who believes he can do for South Africa what he is credited with having done to New York’s crime — slashed it by 27% over two years. Bill Bratton (48) rides into town on Wednesday bringing with him a style of policing which he plans to sell around the […]
Mail & Guardian Reporter Provincial attorneys general plotting any maverick action had better hurry up: Justice Minister Dullah Omar says his department is preparing legislation to create a national director of public prosecutions. Whoever occupies the post will be able to bring oddball attorneys general — to be rechristened directors of public prosecutions — to […]
A court-ordered swoop uncovered evidence that torture is still taking place at a notorious Johannesburg police station, reports Mungo Soggot A surprise raid on Johannesburg’s Brixton Police Station has thrown up a towel and a plastic bag that match the descriptions given by a 17-year-old girl, who claims a policeman tortured her with the articles […]