Staff Reporter

There is only one route open to General Magnus Malan if he wants to avoid the trial which is ahead of him. He and his co-accused can ask the court in Durban for a stay of proceedings because they wish to take their case to the Amnesty Committee within the Truth and Reconciliation Commission when […]

Filmmaker Adam Louw has been spending his time in a mental home. HAZEL FRIEDMAN reports on an emotional exploration of insanity ‘Why have you brought me here?” The young man stares wildly at the white coats surrounding him. “God will punish you all, I know what His plans are for South Africa.” Tell us, implore […]

The Weekly Mail (now the Mail & Guardian) first exposed the existence of the Caprivi 200 hit-squad in 1990, when it reported the group was trained at a secret training base called Hippo on the banks of the Cuando River in the Caprivi Strip. The base was not far from the Angolan border and was […]

It was a joyous occasion in Soweto when the English cricketers played there, but some of them were not happy with their form Cricket: Jon Swift THERE is an assurance from all concerned that Soweto’s Elkah Oval is to become an integral part of our cricket, a fixed seasonal venue and the future site for […]

Elections provide the chill factor We should have more of these things. They seem to have a very high chill pill content. I’m talking of elections. We should schedule one or two of these as a matter of course. It has been pretty laid back, this election. Even the SAUK has, until the past few […]

Justin Arenstein WHEN election authorities in Mpumalanga announced that they had lost the trucks transporting ballot papers to more than 50 polling stations in the former KwaNdebele, it sounded like one of the more amusing episodes of the local elections. But when the ballot papers had still not arrived 12 hours after polls were supposed […]

Ernest Thusini used to be a religious leader. But it was the brutal murder of five of his children at KwaMakhutha on January 21 1987 that brought him into politics. “I think the attack motivated me to go into politics because I believed I had to do something to help enable these changes to take […]

Marion Edmunds A MASSIVE task of re-evaluation and restructuring lies ahead for town, city and rural councils, now that the elections have taken place in most parts of South Africa. While local government has been in a state of flux since the April elections last year, real change in priorities and service delivery can only […]

The cinema is considered by many, especially the French, who practically invented it, to be the key art form of the 20th century. Now a century old, its 100th birthday will be celebrated by a special presentation of films beginning at the Seven Arts in Norwood on Wednesday November 8. The season, organised by The […]

Neil Bierbaum An on-line radio news service is being provided by the South African Press Association under the banner of its new division Network Radio Services (NRS), which will also act as an advertising brokerage for community and commercial radio stations. The news product, dubbed Network Radio News, is presently being supplied in text form […]

Cry, the Beloved Country is beautiful to the point of kitsch — but it doesn’t seem to have benefited from 50 years’ hindsight, writes JUSTIN PEARCE Our own dear Y-fronted South African flag appears at the bottom of the ethno-abstract poster for Cry, the Beloved Country. This may seem odd considering that the film is […]

Lynda Loxton Despite South Africa’s 3 000km coastline, few black South Africans are seafarers while few cargo ships bear the South African flag — but all this is about to change. Several initiatives are in hand not only to make young South Africans more aware of potential careers in shipping instead of commerce, agriculture or […]

The festival will host four guests who are major gay or lesbian filmmakers: * John Greyson is a Toronto-based videomaker who is widely regarded as being in the forefront of politically motivated, risk-taking gay film in North America. The director of the brilliant Zero Patience, which caused such a stir at last year’s festival, Greyson […]

Soccer: Lungile Madywabe WHATEVER Kaizer Chiefs coach Jeff Butler tells his charges before their game on Saturday against log leaders Cape Town Spurs at the Rand Stadium, he knows that Chiefs will have to win to keep alive their hopes of salvaging anything this year. However, the real drama will be 20 hours later in […]

Iscor’s Hans Smith discusses his dreams and aspirations for the organisation with Aspasia Hans Jurie Smith, managing director and soon to be chairman of Iscor, describes himself as ‘a bit of a dreamer’. He has a vision of Iscor becoming a large international player in the commodities business with the potential to grow even faster […]

Karen Harverson South Africa does not have the luxury of time to plan for the transformation of its economy. All players at national, sectoral, company and community level need to co-operate in a joint strategy to achieve this second miracle. “There is no alternative open to South Africa except to seek a meaningful social partnership. […]

The IBA’s latest strategy on radio frequencies severely restricts potential independent commercial stations, writes Neil Bierbaum ONLY five low-power frequencies are available for commercial stations in Gauteng and some of these may be allocated to the South African Broadcasting Corporation. This is only one severely limiting implication of the frequency spectrum plan published by the […]

Neil Bierbaum BY applying public service attitudes to its commercial radio stations, the South African Broadcasting Corporation could cause the demise of these stations. This is the opinion of former 5FM programme manager, Keith Lindsay. Lindsay is sueing the SABC for wrongful dismissal after his contract was terminated two months before it was due to […]

A Chicagoan with decades’ experience is creating a new forum for local comedy. He spoke to Pat OF the innumerable legacies left by Barney Simon to South African theatre — his words, his work and the many talents he nurtured — surely the most unusual has to be an energetic, ebullient theatre- maker from Chicago […]

Mail and Guardian reporter The Mail & Guardian has opened South Africa’s first recruitment service on the Internet. Called work@za, the service is housed at the World Wide Web site of the Electronic Mail & Guardian. It lists a variety of current jobs available in South Africa, and on-line users can apply for many of […]

The ‘video virtual meeting’ has now come of age as a strategic business tool. Leon Perlman reports Cut-rate airfares, Voyager Miles and bargain hotel and car hire deals are set to face stiff competition from an unlikely source — the telephone line. With near-video quality images, video-conferencing over normal copper telephone lines using new high […]

International players have given coaching clinics in Soweto before, but English cricketers actually playing at the township’s stadium is far more Cricket: Jon Swift PERHAPS some of the real significance of an international team playing cricket in Soweto will not strike the England players quite as dramatically as it will those of us who proudly […]

Opera: Coenraad Visser WITH this revival of his 1991 production of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann (State Theatre), Neels Hansen does himself proud. This time round his direction is more detailed, and there is a stronger sense of energy that pervades the Olympia and Venetian scenes. He is no doubt helped by an enthusiastic (and splendid) […]

Certain vehicles will be cut from the Mercedes Benz range, reports Karen Harverson Mercedes Benz of South Africa, in keeping with local motor industry sentiment to cut production of low volume models, will no longer manufacture all Mercedes Benz ranges but stick to the C-class model and limited production of the E-class. Production of the […]

Trade unionist Gwede Mantashe speaks to Karen Harverson about his appointment to the Samancor For the first time in South Africa’ s turbulent management-worker relationship, a trade unionist has been appointed to the board of directors of a major listed company. Ferro alloy producer Samancor has appointed 45- year old Gwede Mantashe, assistant general secretary […]

The Sunday Times’ policy of producing racially targeted ‘Extra’ editions has come under fire. Neil Bierbaum reports IS the country’s biggest-selling newspaper, the Sunday Times, living in the past? Gauteng Premier Tokyo Sexwale took aim at the paper’s separate racially-targeted editions last week, criticising the paper for continuing to “produce ‘Extra’ covers around their white […]

Fine Art: Hazel Friedman VIEWING Jason Crystal’s exhibition From Tokolosh to Lemonade (First Gallery, Parkhurst) is a bit like being taken on a magical mystery tour that begins in the Middle Ages and ends in the Garden of Earthly Delights via the New Age highway. Sounds like an acid trip, right? Except that Crystal doesn’t […]

The complex process of merging six spy agencies =20 has created more internal problems for the National =20 Intelligence Agency. Eddie Koch reports=20 South Africa’s chief spook threatens to blow away his =20 wife and kids in their Pretoria home. The mysterious =20 death of another top intelligence agent exposes =20 ideological differences that will […]

Theatre: David Le Page Watching the first minutes of The Choice (Civic Theatre) is like being steeped in a wash of pop- psychology epigrams. If Ray and Sal were actually people, they would have to memorise reams of material from women’s magazines and Readers’ Digest “10 Steps to a better Marriage/Relationship”-type articles to be able […]

The flipside of the university fracas=20 * AS a former SRC president of the University of =20 Durban Westville (1993) and currently a member of the =20 executive of Convocation, I am concerned about the =20 negative reports that it has received in the press and =20 I have begun to believe that the press […]

Questions are being asked about the viability of the =20 Cape Town Olympic Bid Company’s budget, presented =20 to Cabinet this week, reports Rehana Rossouw=20 THE green light for South Africa’s Olympic dream shone =20 faintly this week when Cabinet decided to support the =20 preparations for the 2004 Games, but warning lights =20 flashed […]

Eddie Koch=20 The right-wing movement in South Africa has advanced =20 nuclear weapons and can drop these on any town in the =20 country by using a squadron of Impalas or at least five =20 G6 cannons which are in their possession. This is the =20 most astonishing in a string of startling claims =20 […]