Staff Reporter

Stefaans BrUmmer WERNER VAN GREUNEN — who this week implicated Deputy President Thabo Mbeki when he claimed to have spied on “National Party” and “Broederbond” municipal officials in Gauteng — was a National Intelligence Agency (NIA) “source”. But it appears his brief went no further than to report on threats against last November’s local government […]

SOCCER: Lungile Madywabe THE legendary Pele once declared that it is better to play well and lose than to play badly and win, but South Africa did not play very well in their 1-0 loss to Egypt on South Africa still ended top of the group, equal on points with Egypt but ahead on goal […]

Bantu Holomisa, deputy minister of tourism and environmental affairs, in The Mark Gevisser ‘My friend,” says Bantu Holomisa with his trademark imp-twinkle when asked about his role as deputy minister and his political ambitions, “you must remember that I have already tasted power. Absolute power. I’ve been there. I’ve had it all. Now I’m just […]

Thabo Mbeki’s media task team has ruffled the feathers of the major newspaper conglomerates, writes Jacquie Golding-Duffy Major newspaper conglomerates are worried that the 10-member media task team appointed late last year by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki will exercise its power to ensure large scale affirmative action at newspapers — up to the level of […]

David Beresford in Luanda Sitting on a hotel balcony, the ambassador recounted with gleaming eyes how a diamond prospector had invited him to grab a random handful of gravel from a river bed, and had then picked three precious gemstones from the palm of his hand. Below, in Luanda’s stinking, garbage-strewn streets, a street-urchin kicked […]

South Africa’s World Cup squad is a blend of experienced players mixed with stars of the CRICKET: Jon Swift THE SELECTION of the tour squad for the World Cup in Pakistan is an intriguing combination; a mixture of those with the experience of abject failure on the Indian sub-continent and those still carrying the aura […]

Soccer fever has gripped much of South Africa but in Port Elizabeth the sport doesn’t rate that highly SOCCER: Andy Capostagno and Mark Lamport- PORT ELIZABETH has never seen anything like it and has been largely underwhelmed by the dubious honour of hosting Group D of the African Nations Cup. Football has been front and […]

THEATRE: David Le Page KAFKA Dances is not an attempt at dramatic history. That the character Franz Kafka is obviously based on the well-known writer is no more important than that entirely fictional characters may be born of the real experiences of those who create them. As Australian playwright Timothy Daly writes: “Better to try […]

CABARET: Malu van Leeuwen ‘DOES anyone have a serviette? I’m doing what ladies do — glowing.” A napkin makes its way to the stage; Irit Noble delicately wipes the dewy pearls from her face and neck. “If anyone wants this they can have it for five bucks.” No takers, but a generous round of applause […]

Mail & Guardian Reporter There has been a shake-up at Independent Newspaper’s golden egg, Natal Newspapers. Loss-making Natal Mercury editor John Patten has suddenly taken early retirement. It is due to be announced next week that his place has been taken by David Wightman, editor of the massively profitable Sunday Tribune, which went down-market in […]

THEATRE: Matthew Krouse IF, in some afterworld, the great muralist Diego Riviera were to see Helene Lombard playing his wife in Frida Kahlo’s Eyes, he’d probably fall in love all over again. Her dark, angular features are so similar to Kahlo’s, it makes you wonder whether playwright Harry Kalmer created the role especially for the […]

High-heeled boys are Hollywood’s new rage. But, asks ERIKA MILVY, does today’s fetish for drag really mean the coming of a new LARGER than life and sashaying soon to A Theatre Near You, the drag queen is having her day. More and more, Hollywood stars are sporting high heels and hairy chests. Outrageous, outlandish and […]

Too little, too late was the response to the announcement that the Transitional National Development Trust is finally to begin work, Rehana Rossouw reports MILLIONS of rand earmarked for education programmes have been held up by the failure of the Transitional National Development Trust (TNDT) to set up shop. The TNDT was established in October […]

Karen Harverson South Africa’s first national lottery — expected to generate billions-of-rands in turnover a year — should begin operating by Minister for General Services Chris Fismer will appoint consultants before the end of February to advise on the format of the lottery as well as to make changes to the National Lottery Act to […]

Racial divisions rocked the latest financial hearing on taxation for the future, reports Lynda Loxton The wide economic divide that still separates blacks and whites in this country was highlighted during this week’s parliamentary joint committee on finance hearings into the Katz Commission’s proposals on taxation. On the one hand, there were the multi-billion rand […]

SOCCER: Lungile Madywabe HIS shots at goal probably travel at about 200km an hour, and his team-mates tease him that one of these days he will break the posts if not the goalkeeper’s hands. So one would think that Eric Tinkler has scored many goals, but he is still looking forward to scoring his first […]

KwaZulu-Natal’s embattled monarch finds himself between a rock and a hard place as negotiations for an imbizo gather momentum, writes Ann Eveleth There are few indications that the multi-party imbizo (mass gathering of the Zulu nation) planned for KwaZulu-Natal will achieve its nominal purpose of promoting peace and reconciliation in the blood-soaked province. Strategically planned […]

In any other country hurdler Tony Jarrett would be a star, but in England he has always played second fiddle to champion Colin Jackson ATHLETICS: Julian Drew WHEN Britain’s Tony Jarrett settled into the blocks for the final of the 110m hurdles at last year’s world championships in Gothenburg many people fancied his chances. Having […]

interest rates fall Simon Segal This week saw the launch of a 100-million 10- year Eurosterling bond issue at 9,38%, 190 points above the equivalent British benchmark It is the government of national unity’s third foreign loan. In June government raised Y30- billion in a Japanese samurai bond at 5%. In December 1994, $750-million was […]

development linked to Davis Cup TENNIS: Jon Swift IMPORTANT though next month’s Davis Cup tie against Austria on grass at the Wanderers undoubtedly is to the immediate future of tennis in this country, it is interesting to note that the glitz and glamour are not the only points of focus for the game’s new “Tennis […]

CINEMA: Andrew Worsdale LET’S get one thing straight. Amblin Entertainment, those nice guys who gave the world ET and have now brought us To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, will never, ever, make a good movie about drag queens. They may have enough money to secure the most fabulous outfits in the world, […]

Justin Arenstein As anti-monarchist and labour protests in Swaziland continued this week, a prominent human rights campaigner claimed the country’s ruler, King Mswati III, appears to have been sidelined in a palace coup. Ironically, although the protests are directed against Swaziland’s Tinkhudla traditionalist system of government, the 27-year-old absolute monarch remains popular with the Swaziland […]

Labour wants a greater say in the decisions made on the mines, report Karen Harverson and Vuyo Mvoko No one is arguing with Anglo American Corporation’s call last week that cost and productivity changes are needed at Free State Consolidated Gold mines (Freegold) to avoid the threatened closure of five of its shafts and the […]

GOLF: Jon Swift IT is a distinct measure of the worth of the tournaments which now make up the FNB Tour that Ernie Els can fly into the country and fly out with the South African Open title and second spot on the Order of Merit after earning R118 500 for his victory at Royal […]

FINE ART: Hazel Friedman FOUR Young Artists, at the Newtown Galleries, is more than a showcase for new kids on the block. Consisting of works by artists with little prior exhibition experience, it successfully creates a series of correspondences and juxtapositions based — refreshingly — as much on serendipity as on artistic intention. And the […]

In the dangerous game of media-bashing, in which some elements of the ANC have recently been indulging, the charge has been levelled that the press has failed to discharge its responsibilities. This week the cry was taken up by President Nelson Mandela who reportedly criticised the South African media for failing to expose the role […]

Four months on, the Makgoba row at Wits continues. Philippa Garson analyses the destructive row and finds both sides wanting WHO would have thought that a dispute between academics at Wits University could become a “rolling story” with all the dramatic elements of a national scandal? The saga has galvanised one opinion piece after another […]

Gaye Davis PARLIAMENT’S watchdog over the intelligence community faces its most crucial test as it prepares to uncover the truth behind the police spying scandal. The Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence thrashed out its terms of reference for its investigation into police claims that top members were being spied on by agents of the National […]

Vuyo Mvoko THE taxpayer is going to pay legal costs for former defence minister Magnus Malan and 10 senior officers in their murder trial which begins in early March in Durban. General Malan and his co-accused, including former SADF chief General “Kat” Liebenberg, are accused of complicity in the massacre of 13 civilians at KwaMakhuta […]

Marion Edmunds The Foundation for Equality Before the Law has spent its last penny on its first rally, to be held in Pretoria on Saturday. Chairman of the Foundation, Dr Theo de Jager said this week that the Foundation was spending R22 000 on the rally at which it hoped to make its first public […]

Raymond Mhlaba, Eastern Cape Premier, in The Mark Gevisser Profile You catch the similarity first in the tone: the ponderous and spare mode of delivery, a schoolmasterish stress on each syllable. Then you catch it in the ability — perhaps borne of a half-lifetime in captivity — to control a large, even gangly, frame with […]

President Nelson Mandela’s high-profile Children’s Fund has netted more than R12- million since its inception last year, with a further R24-million pledged to it, while humbler NGOs are battling for money. Marion Edmunds reports Non-government organisations are frightened that President Nelson Mandela’s midas touch is proving so successful that it is threatening their own ability […]