Pat Sidley Gauteng’s public hospitals are in a state of crisis. Hospital budgets are strained to breaking point, as the government has cut a whopping R600-million from the province’s health budget and sent the money to historically under-served provinces. Patients crowd Gauteng’s health services from all over the country, but there is no way yet […]
Justin Pearce A RADIO advertisement for the Mail & Guardian has been disallowed by the SABC on the grounds that it might offend the religious sensibilities of listeners. The advertisement, devised by the ad agency Network, features background music of an angelic choir, and a voiceover that begins: “On the first day his gaze fell […]
The photographic exhibition Positive Lives: Responses to HIV challenges our most cherished concepts of life and death, writes HAYDEN PROUD AWARD-WINNING South African photographer Gideon Mendel is the focal point and bridge between this country and Britain in Positive Lives: Responses to HIV, a ground- breaking exhibition which enables poignant comparisons to be made on […]
Inside Parliament: The onerous committee system, the code of ethics … and the ushers By special arrangement, we feature extracts from Parliamentary Whip, the publication of Idasa’s Parliamentary Information and Monitoring Service Pims MPs are seriously overstretched by the committee system, with some sitting on more than a dozen of these An investigation by Parliamentary […]
Karen Harverson reports on the details of Sasol’s plan to enter the coal export market Sasol’s mining division this week released details of its R635-million plan to enter the coal export market through the expansion of capacity at its Twistdraai Colliery and its recent acquisition of a shareholding in the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT). […]
Adam Bacher and Shaun Pollock have famous names to live up to but they are playing their own way in Sri Lanka CRICKET: Ahitisham Manerjee THERE is a popular myth amongst Westerners that Sri Lankans, and Asians in general for that matter, are all fanatical about cricket. For their part, Sri Lankans have a similar […]
Fumane Diseko Cape settler Simon van der Stel may have come from a continent where people devoured snails and frogs’ legs with relish, but he could not stomach a local culinary custom — the roasting and eating of mopane worms. “This caterpillar is called aroutse by the Namaquas and is found in their country,” he […]
Jon Swift AT THE root of all the current upheaval and litigation=20 facing world rugby union is the insistence by the game’s=20 authorities that the game be an amateur sport. This=20 iconoclasm, this sticking to the ideals of a bygone era,=20 is rooted in the breakaway just on 100 years ago, when=20 some of the […]
At more than R18-billion, the amount of fraud under=20 investigation poses a serious problem for police. Reg=20 Rumney reports Around R18,5-billion of white-collar crime is under=20 investigation in South Africa at present. The Office for Serious Offences is investigating around=20 R9,5-billion worth of fraud, while the South African=20 Police Commercial branch is investigating around 23 […]
Karen Harverson The trademark dispute between Chicken Licken owner=20 George Sombonos and US hamburger chain McDonald’s will=20 be heard in the Pretoria Supreme Court this month. The case consists of two applications; one of which will=20 be tried under South Africa’s old Trademark Act and the=20 other under the new Act passed in May 1995. […]
SOCCER: Andy Capostagno If it’s August, can the English soccer season be far=20 behind? Sad, but true, alas. And if you don’t think it’s=20 sad you obviously didn’t see Leeds United’s two=20 contributions to the United Bank Challenge. At Loftus Versfeld, Mamelodi Sundowns outplayed the=20 Yorkshire Monoliths, but only won 1-0 thanks to some=20 typically […]
Politician Thandi Modise talks frankly about being abused by her husband, to Stefaans Brummer SHE’s deputy head of the ANC Women’s League, MP and former Umkhonto weSizwe commander, yet Thandi Modise cannot make phone calls from home. For that she needs the permission of her husband, and he won’t give it to The SABC’s controversial […]
Robert Pickup, performing in Pretoria tonight, has the=20 world at his feet, writes COENRAAD VISSER WHEN Robert Pickup took the stage last month in Tempe,=20 Arizona, as this year’s winner of the young artists’=20 competition of the International Clarinet Society, he=20 was merely taking the next step along a career path=20 which saw him take […]
Karen Harverson Foundry engineering and rolled steel producing group=20 Scaw Metals is investigating the possibility of=20 expanding into South America and may acquire a foundry=20 operation to supply the Chilean mining industry with=20 mining consumables such as mill liners and gauging=20 “It’s still in the early stages but we are looking to=20 diversify into other […]
# Not all Christians oppose abortion Graham McINTOSH’S emotional attack on Charles Villa- Vicencio (M&G July 28 to August 3) shows he has not researched his topic sufficiently. As he becomes more aware of the developing ecumenical consensus worldwide on ethical questions that challenge the traditional teaching of the church on abortion, he may regret […]
The consumer court proposed in a new draft Bill will allow for severe measures to be taken against shoddy business practices, reports Pat Sidley A FAR-REACHING Bill giving provinces the power to fine businesses and jail executives for harmful business practices is being drafted by the nine provincial The Consumer Protection Bill will strengthen the […]
# Western Cape Bush Radio (89.5FM) Aimed at African and coloured people in the Cape Flats; languages are English, Afrikaans and Xhosa; on from 2 pm to 2am. Has a very strong developmental focus; 60 percent of its time is given to music and the remaining time is filled by news and talk shows. Most […]
Ann Eveleth Privatisation has moved to the centre-stage of the transformation debate at the University of Durban Westville (UDW), precipitating a fresh crisis which has led to assaults and racial insults being hurled. The black-dominated Students Representative Council (SRC), backing calls to privatise the Indian-dominated catering service at campus residences, has been accused of racism,assaults […]
The Democratic Party has policies, leaders, energy and razzmatazz — everything except supporters. Marion Edmunds reports from last weekend’s Federal Congress A Kimberley man walked into his local Democratic Party (DP) office before the last elections and said: “I’m not going to vote for the DP, but I’m registering here because I don’t trust any […]
Karen Harverson Multinational hamburger chain McDonald’s is on track to=20 open its first two restaurants in South Africa despite=20 the fact that the court case over the rights to its=20 trademark has not yet been resolved. South African George Sombonos, owner of franchise chain=20 Chicken Licken, is seeking the right to expunge=20 McDonald’s trademark from […]
RUGBY: Jon Swift IT is a measure of the importance of the position that=20 the flyhalf is the most exposed and often most=20 criticised of players in the game of rugby. Just how the flyhalf slots into the complex 15-part=20 puzzle which makes up a successful team is a poser which=20 faces every coach at […]
Charges of plagiarism are being levelled against renowned South African writer and educationist Mbulelo Mzamane. Philippa Garson reports THE credibility of renowned South African writer and educationist Mbulelo Mzamane has been called into question, with evidence surfacing that he plagiarised extracts of the work of another famous writer and journalist, Joseph Lelyveld, now editor of […]
Rehana Rossouw A senior member of the Cape Technikon staff has been suspended following allegations of massive fraud on the An internal investigation has been launched into allegations that senior members of staff had established private colleges where they purported that Cape Technikon accreditation had been granted for courses offered there. The head of the […]
Gilding the lily THE Sphinx will be undergoing a facelift, according to Egyptian antiquities officials. Plans are to remove layers of cement poured over the massive 4 600-year-old structure in an earlier restoration and replace them with limestone. Fouling the air The National Health Service in Britain said this week that with more than two-million […]
Eddie Koch A community newspaper that became the scourge of Colesberg when it published exposes of racism, corruption and third force actions in the small Karoo town during the early 1990s is alive and well — at a time when most “alternative” media projects in South Africa have shut down. The Toverberg Indaba was launched […]
Ballroom dance is taking root from Elsies River to=20 Mmabatho, discovered JUSTIN PEARCE at Sun City last=20 SOMEHOW, it could only have happened at Sun City. You=20 know you’ve arrived there when the plastic bags flapping=20 on fences give way to coloured flags flapping on poles,=20 and inside the dimly lit halls of the Superbowl […]
Okkert Brits is the only serious contender for Sergei=20 Bubka’s pole-vaulting crown at the World Athletics=20 Championships in Sweden tonight ATHLETICS: Julian Drew THEY call Sergei Bubka the czar of pole-vaulting. He has=20 dominated the event for the past 13 years and set 35=20 world records, 18 of them indoors. His current world=20 record stands […]
Local transport organisation Portnet is considering=20 managing the Congo’s major port. Karen Harverson=20 Portnet may enter into a joint venture with the People’s=20 Republic of the Congo to manage and operate the=20 country’s major port, Pointe Noire. Portnet chief executive Neil Oosthuizen says in-depth=20 discussions have been held with the Congolese ambassador=20 and minister of […]
Meshack Mabogoane reports on the National Sorghum=20 Breweries’ deal with United Breweries National Sorghum Breweries’ (NSB) announcement this week=20 that India’s United Breweries (UB) would have a say in=20 the appointment of senior management marks a turning=20 point in its five-year history . The UB deal, sealed this week, is the first and most=20 substantive […]
Tuesday sees the world premiere in Johannesburg of Athol=20 Fugard’s new play. He spoke to MATTHEW KROUSE ATHOL FUGARD’S island, today, is not the isolated penal=20 colony he once dramatised with fellow actors John Kani=20 and Winston Ntshona. His present refuge is a territory=20 of optimism, where he directs hopeful youngsters who=20 symbolise freedoms gained. […]
Ernie Els has turned his back on the the tedium of the=20 US golf circus for a real life in Europe GOLF: Jon Swift THERE are two ways to attack the tedium and insularity=20 of the US professional golf tour. The first is to do=20 what Nick Price has done for years: switch on to […]
CINEMA: Stanley Peskin IT was in the city of Barcelona that Queen Isabel=20 received Columbus on his return from the New World. In=20 Whit Stillman’s Barcelona, there is a witty reversal of=20 this event as he describes the experiences of two young=20 Americans abroad in post-Franco Spain. Although the film=20 is set in the 1990s, […]