Staff Reporter

‘As German chancellor I do not have any intention of interfering in the internal affairs of this country,” said Helmut Kohl in Johannesburg this week. On the first visit to South Africa by a German chancellor, Kohl was at pains to avoid political controversy, concentrating on trade and economic co-operation between the two countries. But, […]

At least debate about this country’s media can take place now without fear of government clampdown. No longer do editors have to respond to every government criticism by warning of the dangers of action which might inhibit press freedom. Even if Deputy President Thabo Mbeki had such activity in mind when he criticised the media […]

The huge fine imposed on Kobus Wiese has highlighted the problems associated with rugby becoming a pay for play sport RUGBY: Jon Swift THERE are any number of issues which remain unresolved following the massive R50 000 fine slapped on Kobus Wiese as rugby sets sail into the new and largely uncharted waters of professionalism. […]

CINEMA: Justin Pearce IT was a genius who cast Arnold Schwarzenegger as an android in Terminator II. No longer did apologists have to make excuses about the man’s perpetually stony countenance — androids don’t express emotion, after all, so all Arnie had to do was to say “hasta la vista, baby” in a talking-clock monotone […]

Hazel Friedman WINIFRED BROUCKAERT still carries the scars and bruises of a brutal attack more than six months ago. But more agonising than her injuries is the knowledge that the man who allegedly robbed and stabbed her in the face — leaving her partially blind and close to death — is a police officer still […]

Meshack Mabogoane reports on the political and racial issues that have arisen as the African Bank closes its doors The closure of the African Bank (AB), pioneering black financial institution, has sparked off racial emotions, political heat and personal anguish. The AB has been more than just a business venture; its symbolic value — reflected […]

The first official papal visit to South Africa spells the end of the era of ‘Roomse gevaar’, reports Pat Sidley SOMEWHERE in the Free State is a garage owner who will be wondering if the Vatican will spend a penny in his toilets this weekend. It happened in 1988, when the pope landed unexpectedly at […]

The Skweyiya Commission, which examined corruption and political destabilisation in the former Bophuthatswana homeland, should set an example for other provincial governments, argues Dr John Seiler BOPHUTHATSWANA’S only president, Lucas Mangope, has taken to the political hustings with the cynical, self-serving argument that only he, of all former homeland leaders, has been subjected to an […]

Itumeleng Mosala takes issue with last week’s article by Dr Mamphela Ramphele DR MAMPHELA Ramphele (Mail & Guardian September 8 to 14) makes several serious claims that need challenging. I am a member of the Azanian People’s Organisation; in fact, an immediate ex- president, but, contrary to the opportunistic claims of Ramphele, I was not […]

ANC MP Phillip Dexter used to lead health workers’ strikes. Now he is sharply critical of the conduct of nurses The strike action by nurses in the Gauteng area has thrown to the fore the issue of the public service in the new democratic dispensation. It is not the first such action. There have been […]

Meshack Mabogoane and Reg Rumney If any government aid is granted to the closed African Bank (AB) it will not come from the Reserve Bank. Pressure built up this week to throw the AB a lifeline, but Registrar of Banks Christo Wiese is adamant the Reserve Bank will only lend support to solvent institutions — […]

Marion Edmunds and Ann Eveleth The recently released hardline Inkatha Freedom Party constitution calls for a provincial army, exclusive provincial policing powers and the right to refuse intervention in the province by the South African National Defence Force. It also claims exclusive powers over all constitutional, legislative, judicial, and financial matters and paves the way […]

Four world-renowned musicians, playing together for the first time at Arts Alive, discussed the merits of jazz with MESHACK MABOGOANE GETTING four musicians from three continents together in a Braamfontein hotel and sounding them out on a range of views is like combining a classic jam session – – in which each player improvises on […]

Indications are that the RDP is more entangled in financial wrangles than in development and reconstruction, argues Nicoli Nattrass The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) has two public faces. In its general, and more rhetorical manifestation, it refers to South Africa’s supposedly integrated developmental vision. More practically, however, it boils down to the activities of […]

Thami Mazwai of the Black Editors’ Forum in The Mark Gevisser Profile Last Saturday night at the Carlton Hotel, while a band trundled tonelessly through a rendition of Stand by Me in the function room next door, Thami Mazwai’s Black Editors’ Forum (BEF) gathered to contemplate its relationship to press freedom, to the white mainstream […]

Richard Calland THE consortium of management consultants hired by Parliament to investigate restructuring, at a cost of almost half a million rand, is racked by internal tensions, accusations against one partner of previous failures to deliver and the defection of a respected team member. The South African firm of Kenneth Mgqamqo & Associates joined forces […]

Karen Harveson Over the next two decades, three-quarters of world trade will take place in the emerging markets, of which South Africa is one. Speaking at a Bell, Dewar and Hall presentation on trade and business in South Africa last week, United States Minister Counsellor for Commercial Affairs Millard Arnold said the US, along with […]

Neil Bierbaum SUPPLIERS of satellite dishes and decoders are advising consumers to wait for an expected reduction in import duties before ordering the new technology — but if there is a rush, manufacturers may not be able to meet the demand. The current 77,5 percent duty on satellite receiving equipment is expected to come down […]

Rehana Rossouw MINERAL and Energy Affairs Minister Pik Botha this week blamed the Strategic Fuel Fund (SSF) for allowing a “rust bucket” tanker — which spilled 66.5 tons of crude oil into the sensitive Saldanha Bay area — to slip through safety controls. The spill, some of which seeped into the Langebaan lagoon reserve, fulfilled […]

The supreme court this week heard the heart-wrenching case of a mother suing her gynaecologist for allowing her extremely ill baby to be born. Pat Sidley and Annicia Reddiar report ‘THEY placed Alexandra on my tummy after the birth. Then a sister grabbed her and quickly took her to the furthest side of the room. […]

Local-content rules will help the industry, writes IBA chair Peter de Klerk in a response to the M&G THE new local-content rules for television are designed to build a South African TV-programme-making industry —so that South Africans can see and hear themselves on our TV screens, and to create jobs in a key industry of […]

Philippa Garson ROSEMARY MANGOPE, daughter-in-law of former Bophuthatswana president Lucas Mangope, still reaps the benefits of her former job as executive director of the Mabana Cultural Centre in Mmabatho, even though she left the centre when she fled the homeland 18 months ago. After the homeland uprising, which toppled her father-in-law, she was suspended from […]

The sentencing of 18-year-old schoolboy Uwer Rayner Campher to four years’ jail without the option of a fine, just a few hours after his arrest, has been described by Lawyers for Human Rights as “absurd”. “Bizarre”, “asinine” and “idiotic” are just a few other adjectives which spring to mind. Campher was caught dealing in LSD […]

FINE ART: Ruth Sack SONGS and Monuments by Bongi Dhlomo is an exhibition of drawings, paintings and assemblages in which the central, recurring image is of an African headrest, standing alone and without context — as, of course, they now do in museums. Some of these paintings make it easy to think of headrests as […]

Turfloop University closed early this week amid student strife. Philippa Garson asks what has gone wrong WHEN Njabulo Ndebele took up his position as vice-chancellor of the University of the North over two years ago, he was glowing with optimism about the institution’s future, believing not only in its “tremendous potential”, but wanting “to be […]

The troubled Limpopo River area is in trouble again — this time from the effects of herbicides used by contractors employed by the SADF, writes Stephanie Dippenaar ILLEGAL and dangerous herbicides — used by South African Defence Force contractors to control 70km of sisal fence along the Zimbabwe border — have contaminated farmers’ crops and […]

The IBA has made its report: now the lobbying begins, reports Neil Bierbaum Fierce lobbying is expected in response to the Independent Broadcasting Authority’s report on television. Prospective commercial broadcasters want the licensing of a commercial television channel to happen sooner, while the SABC will lobby to retain its third channel. But even if prospective […]

Neil Bierbaum A NUMBER of radio stations — some of them leaders in the field — have had a decrease in audience figures, according to research just released by the All Media and Product Survey (Amps). The Amps survey is conducted twice a year by the South African Advertising Research Foundation (Saarf) and provides in-depth […]

Rehana Rossouw THERE’S a new way of describing women who challenge male domination at Safety and Security headquarters in Pretoria: the women are told they are “doing a The Zelda being referred to is Zelda Holtzman, a thirtysomething from Cape Town who in June became the highest-ranking black woman in South African police She was […]

Concerns have been raised that German funding is being used for IFP paramilitary purposes, report Paul Stober, Marion Edmonds, Eddie Koch and Ann Eveleth Evidence has emerged that the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) plans to rebuild its paramilitary and intelligence capabilities — using German funds earmarked for development — ahead of a possible showdown with […]

Amendments to the Income Tax Act cut back on the loopholes to which=20 firms have become accustomed. Karen Harverson reports A tax loophole, which effectively meant Inland Revenue made a loan to the= taxpaying public, has been stopped.=20 This was one of the 1995 amendments to the Income Tax Act, passed in=20 July and reviewed […]

SOCCER: Lungile Madywabe THE South African team, which assembles on Monday in preparation for=20 the Africa Nations Cup finals which take place in South Africa from=20 January 13 to February 3 next year, know that they have a momentous task=20 ahead of them. This week they were drawn in a group with Cameroon, Egypt and […]