Staff Reporter

Dear Nelson, I write to you in a great hurry and with much regret to tell of a terrible misfortune. Returning home recently from the Push-a- Bottletop Challenge Cup for Veterans at the Orlando community hall, I happened to see the postman struggling to push what appeared to be several envelopes into a drain pipe. […]

South Africa has 11 official languages, but we need a new language to capture the soul of the new Constitution, writes Etienne MureinikResponding to the just published working draft of the final Constitution, Bafana Khumalo regrets the lack of “phrases that roll easily off the tongue of a voice artist” (Mail & Guardian, December 1, […]

Mail &Guardian Reporter KWAZULU-NATAL attorney general Tim McNally has two targets in his sights at the moment: Magnus Malan and other generals acussed of “hit squad” activity; and the Mail & Guardian, accused of defamation. McNally this week served summons on the M&G, claiming R250 000. This arises from articles published in the M&G on […]

1 Which Constitutional Court judge has not served in the court since taking office in 2 Whom did air charter company Foster-Webb sue for R50 000 in November over the non-payment of a two-year-old bill? 3 At which South African university was a lecture interrupted by a student falling through the ceiling? 4 To which […]

THE ARTS British novelist Kingsley Amis (73) Actor Jeremy Brett, the definitive Sherlock Novelist Bridgid Brophy (66) Science fiction author John Brunner (60), grandfather of cyberpunk, of a stroke Avant-garde jazz trumpeter and composer Don Cherry (58), of liver failure Actor Elisha Cook (91) — the trigger-happy kid in The Maltese Falcon Canadian author Robertson […]

Wits could take a leaf from UCT’s book on managing transformation, writes Philippa THE embattled vice-chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand must be glancing enviously from his turbulent empire to that picture of tranquillity nestling in Table Mountain’s aprons — the University of Cape Town. As Wits struggles to contain the crisis around accusations […]

Mehlo Mvelase A VISIBLY angry King Goodwill Zwelithini for the first time blamed the Inkatha Freedom Party publicly for violence last weekend — after his brother, Prince Mbousi Zulu, had escaped a hail of bullets fired at his car. Zwelithini’s outburst, during a traditional ceremony in KwaZulu-Natal’s KwaNongoma last Saturday, marks a new low in […]

Chris McGreal The Rwanda war crimes tribunal has issued its first international arrest warrants for eight men accused of genocide and crimes against humanity during the organised extermination of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis last year. The chief prosecutor, South Africa’s Judge Richard Goldstone, declined to name the accused while their arrest is sought in […]

Sharon Hammond and Hazel Friedman Four years after a high concentration of arsenic was first found in drinking water at Anglovaal’s New Consort gold mine in Barberton, Mpumalanga, the poison is alleged to have claimed its first victim. An investigation into the mine started recently after 2 000 residents were poisoned by drinking water in […]

Two innovative ventures are set to improve the Gauteng public’s art literacy levels, reports HAZEL FRIEDMAN THE perfect instrument for assessing art literacy in Gauteng has, to date, been the microscope. And leading the “no-need-to-know” pack are past city councils whose role in cultural promotion has been so negligible — and misguided — as to […]

The dynamics of black participation in corporate South Africa are complex as has been revealed in the past year, writes Meshack As the past year saw political power shifting into largely black hands, 1995 saw gleams of what black economic empowerment may mean. The strident calls, the blinding euphoria and widespread upsurge of ventures covered […]

South Africa has seen foreign investment increase for the first time in a decade, but is this enough to sustain our emerging economy, asks Simon Segal Perhaps the greatest and most visible achievement of the government of national unity is the dramatic reversal in capital flows to and from the country. The Reserve Bank’s latest […]

Vuyo Mvoko Tension between labour and the government broke into the open this week, culminating in a wave of wildcat strikes that hit three parastatals up for privatisation — Autonet, South African Airways, and Telkom. The South African Railways and Harbour Workers’ Union (Sarhwu), which organised the nationwide strikes on Wednesday, warned: “If they (the […]

Staff at the SABC and Sowetan are accusing their managements of kowtowing to the ANC, report Marion Edmunds and Rehana Rossouw Staff in the newsrooms of both the South African Broadcasting Corporation and Sowetan, the country’s largest daily, charge their independence has been compromised, and accuse management of “meddling” to curry favour with the African […]

Rated the second-best team in the world Germany will be a real test for the South African team Soccer: Lungile Madywabe BAYERN MUNICH star Jurgen Klinsmann’s clinical finishing has made him one of the most feared strikers in the world. And this is the man South Africa’s defenders will have to try and contain on […]

The controversial industrial development of Saldanha Bay, near the west coast wetlands, is more about politics than about the environmental impact of a steel mill, writes Neville Sweijd THE decision of Lampie Fick, Western Cape MEC for Environment and Tourism, to rezone a farm on the Saldanha Bay coast from agricultural to industrial land has […]

Karen Harverson The National Occupational and Safety Association (Nosa) may lose the R10-million a year in funding it receives from the Department of Labour next year. Director General of Labour Sipho Pityana, speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, said it was unlikely that the department would confirm that level of funding to Nosa in […]

Chris McGreal follows a forlorn dirt track to Oloibiri, where oil was first struck in the Niger Delta 40 years ago ASMALL, rectangular sign on the dirt track into Oloibiri is the sole monument to the crucible of modern Nigeria. “This is Oloibiri, the goose that lays the golden egg. You are welcome,” it says. […]

Contrary to government rationalisations, privatisation is not necessarily in the interests of disadvantaged South Africans, argues Brendan Martin THE price of water was as popular a talking point in the Gdansk birthplace of Polish Solidarity this week as the defeat of the city’s favourite son, Lech Walesa, in the presidential election. Water tariffs have risen […]

Cinema: Andrew Worsdale MACHISMO meets facetious jokiness in Robert Rodriguez’ Desperado, the disappointing follow-up to his zany and spirited $7 000 art- house hit, El Mariachi. Antonio (baby-fat) Banderas plays the balladeer who travels with a veritable armoury inside his guitar-case as he proceeds to exact revenge on a druglord in a small Mexican border […]

Vuyo Mvoko The Ministry of Education says it wants to avoid a collision with the Witwatersrand University Council for now, but threatened yesterday if the council did not heed proposals it had made on Wednesday, it would “act”. “It is not something we want to talk about now … but we have a responsibility to […]

After over-racing in previous years Martin Ndivheni is going for quality instead of quantity and hoping to achieve his Olympic Athletics: Julian Drew AN all-too-familiar story in South African athletics is the waste of talent brought about by over-racing in the pursuit of meagre earnings on the local road running circuit. The truth is that […]

The man accused of killing a trainee diplomat has been allowed to leave the country, writes David Beresford WEDDING bells were due to ring out for Roslyn Perkins this week. Instead she is nursing her grief in England and fuming at a demonstration of the apparent powerlessness of the powerful where the new South Africa […]

The attack on the Koeberg nuclear plant was a chilling demonstration of the vulnerability of an atomic installation to attack as well as a reflection on the incompetence of South African security. The authorities at Koeberg have since made the extraordinary claim that they not only anticipated the attack, but had pin-pointed the date. In […]

Justin Arenstein Faced with accusations of corruption in the awarding of school textbook supply contracts, the Mpumalanga Tender Board has dismissed the allegations as a racist attack on the country’s new political leaders. Officials did, however, concede that a criminal investigation was necessary following irregularities during the awarding of four multi-million rand school textbook contracts. […]

Rowan Callaghan Local spaza shop-owners in Ivory Park no longer have to make long journeys to replenish supplies now that the Ivory Park spaza wholesalers have set up shop in the township. The wholesalers operate from blue shipping containers, donated by Safmarine, in a mall- type complex, selling everything from food stuffs to building materials. […]

Exiled movements are setting up in South Africa, reports Justin Pearce Willie Nwiido’s family thought he had died on the gallows along with Ken Saro-Wiwa — until they got word he was in South Africa. Wanted in Nigeria for his political activities, the 30- year-old Ogoni doctor went into hiding, only to re-emerge in Johannesburg, […]

CRICKET: Jon Swift WE ARE two days into the scheduled five of the pivotal Test in the series against England. All the frustration of the rained-out opening confrontation at Centurion Park, matched only by the vexation of the South African bowlers, thwarted by Mike Atherton and Jack Russell in the interminably long fifth day at […]

Orlando Pirates face a hostile reception and an uphill battle against Asec Mimosa in Soccer: Lungile Madywabe ‘THERE will be hell in Ivory Coast,” said Asec Mimosa coach Zare Mamadou after his team drew 2-2 with Orlando Pirates in the first leg of the Champions Cup at the FNB stadium two weeks ago. With these […]

RUGBY: Jon Swift IT is to the credit of the new-style South African Rugby Football Union that the process of changing the top playing management has been a fairly smooth affair. And while there has been some chopping and changing, this has been without the blood-letting which has typified such changes both historically and in […]

Leon Perlman Transtel is to install a large national satellite-based network to foil cable thieves disrupting rail traffic. Cable thieves are disrupting rail services by pulling up copper cabling leading to line signalling and switching equipment. Despite increased policing, the problem is becoming endemic as thieves go on 24-hour shifts to yank out the arteries […]

Leon Perlman The Internet, introduced to the world by the United States military as a method of ensuring uninterrupted global communication, is providing a benevolent peace dividend — as a unique conduit for international commerce. But while many companies vacillate over whether to commit to the new business paradigm, a new enemy has emerged — […]