Everyone pitched in to make the Klein Karoo’s outreach project a success. But was it? BAFANA KHUMALO was there MIDDELPLAAS looks like the kind of place where the arrival of a train makes the front page of the local newspaper (if there is a local rag). Desolate, it lies in a valley 20km from Oudtshoorn. […]
The conference on the Constitution has been a ‘win-win’ situation for all involved, says Cyril Ramaphosa. Marion Edmunds reports Enough progress has been made at the constitutional bosberaad in Arniston for technical advisers to start drawing up the final draft of the constitution, in anticipation of meeting the May 8 deadline. Both African National Congress […]
Opinions about the appropriateness of the sentences passed on the AWB bombers run the gamut of the political spectrum, writes Stefaans Brummer XOLISWA Falati stood at the bottom of the steps outside the Rand Supreme Court on Wednesday, holding aloft a poster denouncing the death penalty. She need hardly have bothered — that form of […]
Hazel Friedman Secret liaisons with the Soweto Committee of Ten. Dangerous midnight manoeuvres through townships to meet banned activist Albertina Sisulu during the height of South Africa’s State of Emergency. This is what it took to maintain one of the best-kept secrets of the anti-apartheid struggle: a clandestine Israeli-ANC initiative — the Israeli and South […]
The firing of Pallo Jordan from his Cabinet post had more to do with clashes with the president than his performance on the job, writes Gaye Davis Pallo Jordan was fired from Cabinet as a result of sharp differences with President Nelson Mandela and other senior African National Congress members — including a stand he […]
By drafting all the top players into their teams, Australia and New Zealand are using the Super 12 competition as national trials RUGBY: Jon Swift TO the average New Zealander, defeat for the All Blacks in a Test series assumes the same sort of hysteria that the ovine form of mad cow disease would engender […]
different views Simon Ndebele ‘That’s where the school used to be”, says Simon Ndebele, pointing to a piece of veld dotted with fragments of rubble. “My parents helped build it in 1946, and it became a wonderful place of learning for the Tswana aristocracy. By 1956, with the help of the missionaries, we had a […]
reshuffle Gaye Davis GOVERNMENT plans to radically revise the Reconstruction and Development Programme could face a backlash — not so much against what has been decided, but because of the lack of consultation which preceded it. Deputy President Thabo Mbeki is to appoint a task force to oversee the re-allocation of the RDP’s projects, programmes […]
Ann Eveleth King Goodwill Zwelithini wants South African taxpayers to finance an extensive new royal bureaucracy to help him woo KwaZulu-Natal’s traditional leaders out of the political quagmire he led them into during decades of submission to Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi. A royal budget proposal handed to former Provincial and Constitutional Affairs Minister […]
Arts and Culture Minister Ben Ngubane responds to allegations in last week’s M&G that he knew about a secret ‘slush fund’ Hazel Friedman’s article, “How much did Ngubane know about secret funds?” (M&G March 29 to April 3) raises two issues of concern regarding my relations with Pact (Performing Arts Council of Transvaal). The first […]
ROAD RUNNING: Julian Drew THE make of beer that the sponsor has chosen to adorn this year’s Two Oceans Marathon may have changed from Ohlsson to Castle Lite but there is certainly nothing lightweight about the field assembled for Saturday’s race. Last year’s top five — Simon Malindi, Poland’s Jaroslaw Janicki, Elphas Ginindza and Sipho […]
A few white farmers in North West province want a big chunk of the land compensation budget — for farms which were dirt-cheap in the first place, reports Hazel Friedman FIFTEEN white farmers in North West province are threatening to hijack the government’s land reform programme unless they are awarded millions of rands in compensation […]
Labour’s controversial proposals have pitted it against business, write Jacquie Golding- Duffy and Madeleine Wackernagel Labour and business were in direct conflict this week with the release of labour’s proposals on growth, development and job creation. The document says “hard choices” have to be made by the economic elite if social equity is to be […]
A partnership between government and private sector has been formed to tackle development backlogs, writes Lynda Loxton Government and the private sector are investigating innovative financing packages to foot the estimated R170-billion to R230- billion bill to tackle infrastructure backlogs throughout the country. They met behind closed doors in Cape Town last week to examine […]
This week the Mail & Guardian suffered the indignity of a conviction in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on charges of crimen injuria for attempting to place under electronic surveillance a meeting attended by the former Civil Co-operation Bureau commander Staal Burger in 1992. The magistrate fined us R3 000 and the editor an additional R1 […]
Lucienne Fild in Windhoek FOLLOWING weeks of acrimonious debate, the controversial book about Swapo’s abuse of detainees, German clergyman Siegfried Groth’s Namibia: The Wall of Silence, was released at the weekend. The book’s revelations have threatened Namibia’s reconciliation process and calls have been made for a South African- style truth commission. Members of the public […]
Rehana Rossouw President Nelson Mandela spent a windy, hot hour at the annual choir competition at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town at the weekend, promising coloured voters a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow nation. It was the second time this year he has taken time out of his hectic schedule […]
Ann Eveleth The air force flights of former defence minister Magnus Malan and his co-accused in the Durban Supreme Court murder trial are saving the state about R7 000 each weekend, according to a South African Airways (SAA) estimate. South African National Defence Force (SANDF) spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Margie Neethling confirmed the fuel and maintenance costs […]
Archery isn’t a big sport in South Africa, but members of the Olympic team are out to show that they can shoot with the best in Atlanta ARCHERY: Julian Drew COUNTRIES like Korea and Japan count their competitive archers in the tens of thousands and most of them compete in the recurve (Olympic) bow category. […]
BALLET: Stanley Peskin ‘Fairy lands are fearsome too.” This line by Salman Rushdie seems to me to summarise the especial attraction that Swan Lake continues to exert after more than a hundred years in the ballet repertoire. In this great work, classical purity of line is transfigured into a means of passionate inventiveness and expression. […]
A survey of corporate headhunters reveals that salaries of highly paid officials in parastatals are commensurate with those in the private sector, reports Philippa Garson SALARY packages for highly paid officials in parastatals like the South African Broadcasting Corporation and Independent Broadcasting Authority are justified, say remuneration experts. Recent allegations of squandering of government resources […]
A proposal for a government news agency has fuelled the debate on the control of the media. Jacquie Golding-Duffy reports The South African Communication Service (Sacs) has thrown itself into the debate on the ownership and control of the media and has drawn strong criticism from some major newspaper groups. Sacs head Solly Kotane proposes […]
The play: Much Ado About Nonsense Cast: Makgoba, Van Onselen, Davis, Pityana, et al Verdict: New cast, old script. A political farce in two instances Critic: Frederik van Zyl Slabbert It is necessary to put this two-act political farce into the proper perspective. It was performed at smaller, lesser-known venues (I know that universities and […]
The Home Affairs Department plans to charge exorbitant fees for permanent residence, work permit and visa applications, reports Marion Edmunds All visitors to South Africa are going to have to pay up as the Department of Home Affairs is poised to charge for visas. And would-be permanent residents are in for a bigger shock — […]
Julian Drew AT the 97th session of the International Olympic Committee in Birmingham in 1991 where the venue for the 1998 Winter Olympic Games was decided, a dinner was hosted by the president of the British Olympic Association, Princess Anne, on the lawns of Warwick Castle. To her left sat the president of the Association […]
Justin Pearce Stellenbosch University vice-rector Christo Viljoen leaves the Independent Broadcasting Authority this week, amid rumblings from within the IBA that he rarely turned up for duty in Johannesburg although he received a full-time salary for seven months. Viljoen, a former chairman of the South African Broadcasting Corporation —he also did that job part-time — […]
The Safety and Security Ministry’s gamble in banning traditional weapons paid off this week when IFP marchers left their pangas and spears at home, writes Eddie Koch A COMBINATION of firm policing and delicate negotiations with moderate groups in the Inkatha Freedom Party defied fire-and- brimstone predictions that the ban on traditional weapons would cause […]
An apartheid-era weapons smuggler could be extradited back home to Demark, report Stefaans Brummer and Rehana Rossouw DENMARK may ask South Africa to extradite a Dane who shipped East-bloc weapons worth millions of rand to apartheid South Africa, against the United Nations arms embargo and Danish law. Danish shipper Anders Jensen left Denmark for South […]
AS the parties move into intense negotiations about “provincial powers” at an Arniston bosberaad, the African National Congress is trying to dismiss the suspicion that its latest drafts on provincial competencies do not comply with the constitutional principles, inherited from the multi-party negotiations at Kempton Park. The constitutional principle in question states that provincial powers […]
Julian Drew JUST over a year ago Colleen de Reuck gave birth to her first child, and ever since the soon-to-be-32 year-old Durbanite’s running form has been on an upward spiral. Last Saturday she registered possibly the greatest achievement of her career when she placed fifth in the world cross country championships in Stellenbosch, missing […]
Doc Martens will have been kitting out grannies and models for 36 years this week. Here are some vital statistics Age: 36 on April 1. Appearance: In your face. Meaning? As the footwear of preference for Britain’s skinhead community, a good kicking as likely as not involved a pair of Doc Martens. But surely that […]
JAZZ: Gwen Ansell TRUMPETING, roaring and pawing the ground, the trombone is the elephant of the jazz band. In the right hands — and Jonas Gwangwa’s, at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre, are certainly those — it’s also capable of breathtaking delicacy and precision. Instrumental virtuosity is one of the main delights of Gwangwa’s show, which […]