An edited version of Mark Behr’s speech, made at a writers’ conference entitle d ‘Fault Lines — Inquiries Around Truth and Reconciliation’ It is with the profoundest regret that I acknowledge that as a student I worke d as an agent of the South African security establishment. From the end of 198 6 to 1990 […]
Business attacks labour clauses The prospect of renegotiating the constitution gives the ANC the jitters, repo rts Marion Edmunds The African National Congress’s constitution-makers are increasingly jittery t hat opposition parties will want to unravel large chunks of the constitution, should it fail certification, and be thrown back at the Constitutional Assembl y (CA) by […]
BOXING: Gavin Evans in London THE morning after the fight before, Thulane Malinga was on the blower to his promotional boss, looking for a way to recuperate the R3-million he had just squandered. “When can you get me my return? Have you got a date yet?” he pleaded to Rodney Berman. And though it wasn’t […]
Lynda Loxton The grand-scale fudging of issues to protect sacred cows in the oil industry continued apace this week with the release of the long-awaited Lambrechts report on deregulation. The report advises the government to retain the status quo for at least three to five years, while the already over-researched industry is again studied and […]
Jacquie Golding-Duffy Mduduzi ka Harvey (31), a local government reporter at Business Day and former Mail & Guardian trainee died on Tuesday from respiratory failure in the inten sive-care unit of Hoogland Medical Clinic in Bethelem. Ka Harvey suffered head and chest injuries in a car accident near Harrismith o n June 21. Ka Harvey […]
President Mandela is in Britain seeking more investment in South Africa. Marti n Woollacott gives the view from London IT is only 12 years since the apartheid regime began tentatively conferring wi th the imprisoned Nelson Mandela. It is only 10, to show how much times have c hanged, since the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group […]
Novelist Mark Behr knew he couldn’t keep his spy activities secret forever, re ports Justin Pearce Threat of exposure at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and in the media was hanging over the head of author Mark Behr when he confessed to having spi ed for the South African Police at Stellenbosch University in the […]
Alan Wright, chief executive of Gold Fields, talked to Bronwen Jones about the future of the mining house ALAN Wright is an optimistic man. While one mugging is enough to set most people packing for Perth, Wright’s reaction to serious injury was to protect his home and get on with his life. His reaction to […]
THERE’S a lot to be said for slouching over a barstool, alcohol seeping through every crack and recording otherwise unrepeatable gems of wit and wisdom (yours and anyone else’s within slurring distance). That’s how Chris McEvoy has put together his material for Hollow, a searingly funny stand-up comic routine on the relationship between life and […]
Rehana Rossouw THE Ministry of Health is still refusing point blank to lift the veil of secre cy shrouding the name of the donor who is bailing out its beleaguered Aids pla y Sarafina II. “There’s nothing sinister about it; anonymous people make contributions to cha rity organisations for the benefit of the public all […]
CINEMA: Derek Malcolm JEAN-PAUL Rappeneau’s bustling Cyrano de Bergerac was thought a considerable risk to make, but turned out to be one of the most successful European films of recent years. That, however, is nothing compared with the risk taken with his latest film, The Horseman on the Roof, probably the most expensive French film […]
I WISH to bring to your attention certain inaccuracies in two articles in the M&G of June 28 to July 4 1996. In the first article on the sale of six SABC regional radio stations, it was stated that the Cabinet had approved the amendment of the Independent Broadcasting Authority Act to expedite the sale […]
Jacquie Golding-Duffy The threatened strike in the clothing industry over wage increases will be disastrous for the already crippled sector, says labour analyst Gavin Brown. The industry is on its knees, having suffered from massive closures, resulting in about 20 000 job losses in the past five years, he says. With the industry in the […]
Prize-winning author Mark Behr’s confession that he was a police spy is an aud acious attempt at seduction, argues Nic Borain PEOPLE who worked secretly or otherwise to undermine the movement against apar theid should be given every encouragement to to say what they did and why. I a m all for listening to them […]
The Charlie Chaplin of Hong Kong action, Jackie Chan, has crossed over to the West. ANDREW WORSDALE reports WITH Rumble in the Bronx, Jackie Chan has taken the peculiar brand of “slapstick kung-fu” which has made him the undisputed king of Asian cinema and finally smashed his way into the American box-office. His first major […]
Although we cannot help but regret the delays in its formulation, the governme nt is to be congratulated on its approach to the abortion issue manifest in th e Termination of Pregnancy Bill which is to be put to Parliament before the en d of this year. The Bill is in line with the philosophical […]
Philippa Garson A small-time bus company owner claims he has been ruined by transport giant Pu tco for daring to compete with it. Sam Joga, owner of Jika Bus Services, has the police and Putco after his blood and a team of mineworkers and criminal lawyer Lawley Shein on his side. Joga claims he has […]
A Constitutional Court decision is a boon for debt collectors, writes Mungo So ggot DEBT collectors are cashing in on the legal havoc caused by a Constitutional C ourt judgment last year which effectively robbed the courts of the power to ja il debtors. Several attorneys claim debt collectors — both registered debt collection a […]
Eddie Koch Revelations that South Africa continues to import hazardous chemical material — even though the Cabinet has assured the public it will ban such consignme nts — appears to have thrown government policy on the international toxic w aste trade into confusion. Green Party politicians in the European Parliament this week informed local en […]
THERE’S a rumour doing the rounds here that the Grahamstown Festival will be renamed the Grahamstown Dance Umbrella next year. But before you uncork the champagne, don your gumboots and organise a tickertape parade in celebration of a discipline that has finally come of age, it should be mentioned that dance wins the “flavour of […]
Antonio Ole deserves the prize for the best one- person “production” in Grahamstown. Less an installation than a poignant piece of theatre, his mixed-media opus, Breaking Boundaries, spans virtually the entire spectrum of colonial history, and simultaneously engages in the most pertinent discourses of contemporary art, without sacrificing the specifics of time, place or personal […]
Philippa Garson PROFESSOR Njabulo Ndebele appears to be out of the race for one of the country ‘s top academic jobs — the post of Wits University vice-chancellor. Ndebele, a keen favourite among a broad spectrum of academics and students, ha s neither applied for the job nor accepted any nomination. If Ndebele remains out […]
SOCCER: Michael Walker THE flow of money and talent into English football continued at bank-bursting speed this week with Middlesbrough’s breathtaking announcement that they had signed Fabrizio Ravanelli from Juventus for 7- million. It made the 27-year-old Italian international striker, who has signed a four-year contract for a reported 1,3-million per year, the fourth most […]
Philippa Garson THE sudden death of professor Etienne Mureinik was a tragic loss to the countr y, friends and colleagues said this week. Mureinik, dean of the law faculty at Wits University, took his life by jumping from the 23rd floor of a hotel in Braamfontein on Wednesday morning, accordin g to police, after a […]
SA musicians performed for President Mandela and the Queen of England at a concert in London this week. KAREN DAVIS attended a rehearsal WHILE President Mandela was busy persuading the British to invest in South Africa and that all would be fine back home in Thabo Mbeki’s 1999, some of the country’s top musicians were […]
With several scorching performances leading up to Atlanta, Frankie Fredericks has dashed into the lead for the Olympic sprint titles ATHLETICS: Julian Drew ALREADY the greatest sprinter Africa has ever produced, Namibia’s Frankie Fredericks stands on the threshold of immortality. When the eight fastest men in the world settle into the starting blocks for the […]
Governments and consumers must learn a new lesson: price rises are no longer automatic, thanks to technological advances and global integration. Roger Bootle discusses his theory with Madeleine Wackernagel Inflation is dead, RIP. At least in the industrialised world. South Africans may not be immediately convinced, but if Roger Bootle’s thesis is valid, we may […]
Despite a weak signal, Radio Today claims to have a substantial following and is looking forward to an even better future, writes Sia Sanneh Buried deep beneath the static of the airwaves and pushed right to the edge of one’s tuner is a radio station which is a blast from the past, catering for the […]
Rehana Rossouw WHILE the rest of South Africa shivered in sympathy with Kwazulu-Natal as it l ay buried in snow, most farmers there were revelling in the icy weather. The province’s agricultural union was surprisingly upbeat on Wednesday. “It’s been a long time since we had good winter rains, and it will definitely have g […]
IT is axiomatic that editorial charters designed to preserve the independence of newspapers are “a good thing”. But we cannot help but feel uneasy about the draft charter published by Times Media Limited this week. The main problem with the charter is its timing. The fact that it is being cha mpioned by white editors […]
Johnnic’s stake in Toyota SA may go to a multinational, not the National Empowerment Consortium, if ongoing negotiations succeed, writes Tebello Radebe A major multinational company has been urged to buy Johnnic’s stake in Toyota South Africa, worth more than R230-million, for fear that a successful bid by the National Empowerment Consortium (NEC) could jeopardise […]
d like a king Ruaridh Nicoll THE gumboot slappers were getting kind of frisky as they emerged from a heavin g sea of leopard and lion skin, root-dyed cotton and bangle jewellery. They we re dressed in white shirts, blue trousers and wellie boots carefully daubed in the rainbow colours of South Africa. A shimmy […]