A new ‘RDP bureaucracy’ has come in for some sharp criticism, reports Reg Rumney No one in government actually knows how much of the money in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) fund has actually been spent, say two academics who have been monitoring the RDP. Their criticism of the government’s role in the ANC’s, […]
Ian Moultrie, a private shareholder in Iscor, takes issue with ANC MP Jenny Schreiner’s comments on opposition to the proposed Saldanha Steel Project JENNY SCHREINER is reported in last week’s Mail & Guardian as saying: “It is incredibly arrogant to assume that only the bourgeoisie are concerned about the environment.” Nobody I know is making […]
Rehana Rossouw DRAFT legislation spelling out the powers of the Gender Equity Commission has been prepared by the Department of Justice, giving the body the same teeth as the Human Rights Commission to perform its tasks of ensuring gender equity in Parliament and society. The Parliamentary Commission on Gender Equity met on Wednesday to grapple […]
Frans Rautenbach argues that the new Labour Relations Bill should be scrapped THE problem with the Labour Relations Bill is that, in the best possible scenario, such a system would be a disaster for the South African economy, growth, jobs, the Reconstruction and Development Programme and everything that goes with it. The Bill is largely […]
Pat Sidley Last week’s march on Parliament by thousands of angry Christians highlights the rapid growth of fundamentalist Christian groups in South Africa, and mirrors the advance of the religious right wing in the United States. The marchers had come to protest the exclusion of the words “Almighty God” from the Constitution. But their agenda […]
Aspasia Karras interviews Judi Priday, the managing director of newly formed Quantum Insurance Newly launched Quantum Insurance is breaking new ground in the corporate risk management industry. Not only is it the first major insurance company to appoint a woman managing director, Judi Priday (32), but it uses a different approach to combat the market […]
Justin Pearce The self-appointed management team of Vista University — led by Armscor director Leon Bartell — is accused of stashing millions of rands of university funds to be used in case some of its staff are “chased off” campus. The university, originally the brainchild of Dr Andries Treurnicht, is now battling to transform itself […]
Alfred Nzo’s ministry stands accused of not having made the leap into the new South Africa, reports Rehana Rossouw Minister Alfred Nzo and his Department of Foreign Affairs came in for a barrage of criticism this week from the ANC alliance and academics who charged that it had failed to provide the moral leadership the […]
Reluctant to release any of its vast tracts of land, the Defence Force is being threatened with land invasions by displaced communities, writes Eddie Koch THE South African National Defence Force has come under fire for scuttling land reform in parts of the country where the army controls large tracts of unused territory — much […]
RUGBY: Jon Swift SADLY, the enduring memories of the opening phase of World Cup Rugby ’95 will be of a savage confrontation and a tragic accident. The pile up during the Cote d’Ivoire-Tonga tie which led to Max Brito being so badly injured will leave an indelible scar on the tournament. The sight of the […]
Speculation is rife that Sol Kerzner is involved in South Africa’s first satellite TV channel, reports Justin Pearce South Africa entered the satellite television era on Wednesday evening when Africa Satellite Entertainment Corporation (ASEC) launched its sports and entertainment channel amid speculation that casino king Sol Kerzner is involved in the deal. The move is […]
Pat Sidley WEDNESDAY — D-day for health warnings on tobacco advertising — was an ultra-light affair: * Many radio stations were exempted from broadcasting cigarette ads with health warnings. * Warnings on cigarette packs did not appear after being given a stay of execution * Some tobacco companies simply withdrew their ads from the marketplace. […]
Mike Loewe For Glenn van Loggerenberg, the earnest and upbeat station manager of Rhodes Music Radio, the angry old days of confrontation are an anathema. The new language, he insists, is sweet, slick music — much like the stuff that is coming through the walls as we Underneath the baggy pants and flowing jersey lurks […]
Justin Pearce Those who’ve been worried about a return to PW Botha- era broadcasting can sleep peacefully once more. The government’s request for airtime on SABC radio and television is unlikely to get past the SABC board when it comes up for discussion next Wednesday. Although the matter has not yet been formally presented to […]
The upcoming season of labour protests will make or break the labour movement, argues Eddie Koch DO or die. That’s how a union shopsteward this week explained The Congress of South African Trade Unions’ decision to stage a 1980s-style programme of mass action around the Labour Relations Amendment Bill. Although unintended, his statement may just […]
Bafana Khumalo With all the bitching about English as she is spoken on SAfm, wait till you hear the Voice of Soweto. It’s promising not to broadcast the queen’s English when the station comes on the air in spring. But in a spirit of reconciliation, the Voice promises not to slam the phone down on […]
Ann Eveleth SENIOR Inkatha Freedom Party leaders this week closed ranks around party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi and engaged in a concerted damage-control exercise following the untimely leakage of the contentious “20- point plan” last week. While African National Congress leaders accused the party of launching a bid to secede KwaZulu/Natal from the rest of the […]
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the unsolved assassination of Matthew Goniwe and his three Cradock comrades. Jonathan Ancer visited Goniwe’s home town Among the simple graves and the old, weathered headstones one polished tombstone looms large in the Lingelihle Cemetery. It stands watch over the remains and memories of Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, […]
Eddie Koch A SPECIAL police unit this week arrested Colonel Louis Botha — the man who masterminded covert security police backing for Inkatha in the 1980s — and charged him with several political murders carried out at the Sources close to the Independent Task Unit (ITU), a team of detectives who operate out of Safety […]
Feel strongly about something in this newspaper? Want to question a reporter? Want to say something to the editor? Now’s your chance, with a new radio talk-back show starting this week. Mail & Guardian reporters, editor Anton Harber and other guests will be in the SAfm studio with Will Bernard this Friday morning (June 2) […]
Both the pro-life and pro-choice viewpoints were forcefully expressed as the abortion issue was discussed in parliament, writes Rehana Rossouw IT’S BEEN a brutal time for the parliamentary committee listening to public submissions on the abortion issue. Over the past two weeks pro-lifers have assaulted them with bottled foetuses and gory slide shows of abortions […]
Stefaans Brummer FRESH evidence of South African arms fuelling civil wars in the killing fields of Rwanda, former Yugoslavia and Angola is threatening to eclipse the long-awaited findings the Cameron Commission is about to present to President Nelson Mandela. The report Judge Edwin Cameron, appointed last year to investigate irregular arms deals since 1990, is […]
Rehana Rossouw Spanish shipbuilder Joaquin Coello left South Africa on Tuesday night an extremely disappointed man, after months of lobbying failed to secure a decision from Cabinet to give his company a contract to build four corvettes at the cost of R1,69- billion. Coello said he was assured by contacts in the Ministry of Defence […]
Age: Born in 1959 when it was still fashionable to name your children after Eastern Bloc communist leaders. Has this been a liability? Only after he returned from exile in 1990, when even computers were anti-communist and spell checks would advise his name be changed to “Tits” or “Veto”. Present occupation: Minister with a Mission […]
Justin Pearce Aspirant community radio broadcasters are furious with the Independent Broadcating Authority (IBA) for apparently favouring religious evangelists and rightwingers in the granting of licences. The loudest objections come from organisations trying to set up stations aimed at black communities, who feel sidelined both by the IBA’s manner of operating, and in its choice […]
In the wake of our report last week on South Africa’s close relationship with Indonesia, Simon Ratcliffe says there should be even greater concern over our relations with Sudan Between October 1990 and September 1992 I lived and worked in Khartoum, Sudan, for the United Nations Development Programme. I was witness to acts of extreme […]
As Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s adviser, Mario Ambrosini, is employed by the government, but he has been accused of planning to tear it apart, writes Ann Eveleth MARIO AMBROSINI, the American lawyer suspected of masterminding Inkatha’s “secession” strategy leaked last week, is on the government payroll earning more than the country’s Chief Justice. The African National Congress […]
Barbara Ludman EIGHTY percent of black South Africans and about 40 percent of whites cannot read or compute at a Standard Five level, according to a report released this week. In the first-ever nationwide study of literacy, Indian respondents showed the highest average literacy levels. Coloured participants scored, on average, between black and white literacy […]
The land reform programme takes a leap forward as a controversial law seeks to destroy the semi-feudal labour tenant system. Eddie Koch and Gaye Davis report Land Affairs Minister Derek Hanekom this week published a tough law to put an end to a semi-feudal system of farming that forces thousands of black labour tenants to […]
ANC MP kicks dust in the faces of those who want to stop the Saldanha steel mill, reports Rehana Rossouw African National Congress MP Jenny Schreiner this week hit out at “arrogant” conservationists for trying to stop Iscor from building a steel mill in the environmentally sensitive Langebaan lagoon area at Her broadside came as […]
Reg Rumney While the government is pressing on with attempts to get South Africa preferential trade access to the European Union (EU) in terms of the Lome Convention, business seems lukewarm. The Lome Convention gives products from underdeveloped countries access to European markets, and could boost sales in Europe of certain South African products, particularly […]
M-Net is planning to unbundle MultiChoice. Jacques Magliolo=20 asks whether this move will benefit shareholders=20 Electronic Media Networks (M-Net) is once again warning=20 shareholders to trade their shares with caution.=20 M-Net is proposing to unbundle MultiChoice into two=20 separate entities and has returned to the market with=20 promises that the unbundling will benefit shareholders. In=20 […]