The Davis/Pityana debate: The M&G has received a flood of letters on the issue, some of which appear below Peter du Preez, UCT Psychology Department YES, there are whacky liberals who believe they are without prejudice and prove it by condescending to those they are definitely not prejudiced against. There are also people who call […]
Without financial back-up and in defiance of Parliament and the IBA, BopBC is going it alone, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy With only days to go before the Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation (BopBC) is obliged to integrate with the SABC, the broadcaster, once the mouthpiece of Lucas Mangope, is defiantly going it alone, outside of the Independent Broadcasting […]
There is much to commend the idea of a monument which celebrates the triumph of freedom in South Africa and remembers those who sacrified and suffered to achieve it. Think of Auschwitz standing for all to visit and be reminded of the pledge of survivors, repeated by Mandela in his inauguration address: “Never, never again.” […]
A new structure will replace the archaic Publications Control Board, writes Jacquie Golding-Duffy South Africa’s apartheid-era censor board is grinding along on taxpayers’ money to the annual tune of R2,5-million, although censorship is in direct conflict with the government’s interim Constitution. The Directorate of Publications, commonly known as the Publications Control Board, will, however, be […]
Revelations about his alleged tax evasion have led to a dentist bringing a multi-million rand defamation case against two publications, writes Rehana Rossouw AN American-born dentist given South African citizenship in 1981, Dr Robert Milton Hall, “knew how never to pay tax and how to make a living out of fiddling the Finrand”. This is […]
It’s business as usual at the Community Bank, despite reports of a solvency crisis. But potential investors may take more convincing, reports Madeleine Wackernagel Reassurances have been flowing thick and fast that all is well at the Community Bank (CB). Drawing on the lessons of the African Bank debacle, the government took rapid action. The […]
Pieter-Dirk Uys, South Africa’s most playful political commentator, digs into the truth commission in an effort to define what is true and what is just another aspect of reality THROUGHOUT our lives, I bet you, we’ve all at one time or another sweated before a truth commission. As small children, in front of the giggling […]
Since the first working draft of the Constitution was distributed in November last year, submissions have been pouring in to the Constitutional Assembly offering more proposals for the negotiators to work with, some of which have been ignored. These are the suggestions that have not made it into the Bill of Rights: 1) Freedom of […]
DNA testing may be the only solution to the furore surrounding the ‘skull’ of Chief Hintsa, recently discovered in Scotland. Eddie Koch reports The controversial “head” of Chief Hintsa, which has been brought back to South Africa, will become the subject of an intriguing scientific study mixing high-tech genetic analysis with Xhosa oral history. Hintsa […]
Does the SABC have the right to decide what is or isn’t savoury advertising? Jacquie Golding- Duffy reports on “code orange” Before the launch of the new South African Broadcasting Corporation in February, the corporation was banning what they thought to be unsavoury advertisements. A month after the launch, the SABC continues to censor. Prior […]
Runners hoping to win Saturday’s world cross coutry championships will have to contend with the formidable Kenyans, running as a team CROSS COUNTRY: Julian Drew IF YOU are not Kenyan and you want to win the world cross country championships, you not only need to be the best middle distance runner in the world, you […]
Kenneth Clarke came to town to promote privatisation in South Africa, reports Madeleine Wackernagel Privatisation, which warranted barely a mention in last week’s Budget, was brought back into the spotlight by Kenneth Clarke, Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, this week. Selling off state assets would solve the problem of under-investment and output expansion in the […]
The Mail & Guardian has received exclusive documents detailing IBA salary packages. Jacquie Golding-Duffy reports Chairman of the Portfolio Committee on Communications, Saci Macozoma, emphatically denied this week that a gravy train existed at the Independent Broadcasting Authority. He said his committee would not be drawn into the salary issue and would not get involved […]
Amichand Rajbansi, the much-pilloried leader of the Minority Front, is back in the political limelight and being hailed as a saviour, writes Ann Eveleth ‘Bengal Tiger” Amichand Rajbansi played the key role in securing KwaZulu-Natal’s Constitution last week. Walking out of the parliamentary chamber in Pietermaritzburg last Friday morning, bleary-eyed after the 24-hour negotiations which […]
Justin Pearce Among the ornaments crowding every shelf in Johanna Claasens’s living room in Welkom is a mug with the inscription “Harmony Gold Mine – — 5 000 accident-free shifts”. It was given to her by a friend after Harmony’s worst accident ever — the Merriespruit mudslide in February 1994, which killed 17 people, including […]
If one goes back to the Dennis Davis article in this newspaper — which led to the furious counter-attack from Human Rights Commission head Barney Pityana, and this week’s impassioned television debate — it is striking how mild his criticism was. Davis lamented the commission’s “lack of profile” and the appointment of its members. He […]
Julian Drew PAULO GUERRA of Portugal was the second European home in last year’s world 10 000m final in Gothenburg, finishing eighth, one place behind Germany’s Stephane Franke. Ahead of them were the might of Ethiopia, Kenya and Morocco, the untouchables of world middle distance running. But for Guerra the world championships and track racing […]
Bafana Khumalo Whitey didn’t know what hit him. One minute he was walking down the crowded early evening street and the next, bang! The film of alcohol in his eyes, which made the piss-smelling streets seem as safe as Disneyland, rudely cleared. A film which made the redlined people around him seem as friendly as […]
Despite a law forbidding in-depth coverage of divorce cases, the media scrutinised the Mandela case, writes Philippa Garson THE flagrant contravention by the media this week of a section of the Divorce Act has raised questions about whether that aspect of the legislation is unconstitutional. The media had a “field-week” reporting on the ins and […]
industry If drastic action is not taken soon, the textile industry may face irreversible damage, writes Karen Harverson South Africa’s R8,8-billion textile industry is trying hard to get its house in order before trade barriers come tumbling down and it is faced with international competition. Already, a government programme, implemented last September, is phasing down […]
prisons Chief casualties of the conflict between the correctional services minister and ANC MP Carl Niehaus are prisoners, prison staff and prison reform, reports Gaye Davis AMID signs that South Africa’s jails are lurching further into crisis, President Nelson Mandela is yet again to intervene to bring together the Inkatha Freedom Party minister and the […]
Philippa Garson More people are employed in the security industry than there are policemen, and peace monitors have asked Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi to investigate links between private security companies and crime. The flourishing security industry is wide open to political or criminal abuse and must be investigated and regulated as a matter […]
CINEMA: Andrew Worsdale JON AMIEL, the British director of Sommersby and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, turns away from romanticism to manipulative horror in Copycat, a very nasty thriller that seems to gloat over the violence the story deals with. Sigourney Weaver plays criminal psychologist Helen Hudson, an expert on serial killers, who gets involved […]
Eddie Koch A KEY witness in the Magnus Malan trial has provided details of the close-knit relationship between military officers who ran clandestine supply lines to Renamo rebels in Mozambique and the covert plan to use Inkatha as a surrogate offensive force against the ANC inside South Africa. One of JP Opperman’s rare outbursts in […]
Take one of the dirt roads that run off the main tar road to St Lucia into the dense undergrowth of the Dukuduku and visit one of the settlements that have been carved into the forest. It will be a salutary lesson in how the poorest of the poor in this country experience nature conservation. […]
Julian Drew SOUTH AFRICAN 5 000m record holder Shadrack Hoff of Pretoria Correctional Services is in awesome shape at the moment. He just missed the national 10 000m record in Port Elizabeth two weeks ago and has already posted an Olympic qualifier in the 5 000m this year. While Hoff’s times won’t make the likes […]
The Constitutional Assembly is likely to leave some of the trickiest disputes unresolved for the Constitutional Court to tackle, predicts Marion Edmunds Moses was lucky. He went up into the mountains, according to the Bible, and came back with two tablets of ten commandments, which gave the fundamentals in plain language. No public participation programmes, […]
Philippa Garson LAWYERS are baffled at how Winnie Madikizela- Mandela’s legal team handled the divorce, which ended so suddenly, with her defeated and empty-handed. A successful challenge to the divorce judgment in the Constitutional Court is seen as unlikely. Madikizela-Mandela must now rely on the “goodness of heart” of President Nelson Mandela, who has offered […]
Those responsible for the Merriespruit slimes dam disaster have been fined … a pittance. Bronwen Jones and Justin Pearce report Harmony Gold Mine, found guilty of culpable homicide in the Merriespruit slimes dam disaster, is to pay a fine equivalent to one fifth of one percent of the mine’s post-tax profits for last year. The […]
David Beresford In the final adjournment on Tuesday in the case of Mandela vs Mandela — waiting for the Judge President of the Transvaal, Judge Frikkie Eloff, to deliver the by-now inevitable decree of divorce — the state president sat slumped in his chair, gazing into the middle distance. Gone was his bonhomie with the […]
Once ashamed of being dubbed a ‘bush college’, Fort Hare University now regards it as a compliment as it turns its back on the Ivy League model. Adrienne Carlisle visited the campus On the small campus and impressive grounds of Fort Hare University, it is difficult to envisage that the institution is facing desperate financial […]
What kind of radio and TV shows would education bureaucrats design? We’re about to find out. Barbara Ludman reports on a new plan A GRANDIOSE scheme to revolutionise educational broadcasting is in the final planning stage. Details are being fine-tuned in a multi- million-rand “partnership arrangement” between the national Department of Education and the SABC. […]