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/ 19 May 1995

Super committee to fight police abuse

Gaye Davis A NEW “super-committee” aimed at slicing through red-tape and other obstacles hampering investigations into police violations of human rights is to be set up at national The move comes days after human rights organisations released a 300-page report charging that police torture of suspects on criminal charges was endemic and that other abuses […]

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/ 19 May 1995

A dialogue about sex

FINE ART: James Garner THE paintings by Francine Scialom Greenblatt at the South=20 African Association of Arts in Cape Town serve as a=20 reminder that explorations of sex and sexuality need not be=20 subsumed by the self-conscious, ironic appropriation of=20 media stereotypes that has become so fashionable among=20 artists desperate to place themselves at the […]

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/ 19 May 1995

Welcome to the Mail Guardian

We have changed our newspaper this week as part of a concerted drive to ensure we are a truly modern paper designed for the late 1990s. This is an era when you may get flashes of news more quickly from television, radio or the Internet — but we aim to give you information, depth, reading […]

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/ 19 May 1995

Zambia’s drug war heats up

Jowie Mwiinga in Lusaka Senior drug enforcement officer Mwamba Makasa was driving into his yard one Sunday two months ago when a gang of four men shot and wounded him. The Drug Enforcement Commission in Zambia reacted to the daring daylight ambush by declaring an all-out war, dubbed “Operation No Return”, against Zambia’s drug dealers, […]

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/ 19 May 1995

There s no bite in this crackdown

A government promise to beef up the security forces in KwaZulu/Natal is ringing hollow, writes Ann Eveleth SAFETY and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi’s violence crackdown two weeks ago appears so far to have been little more than a publicity stunt. Despite a climbing death toll in KwaZulu/Natal, no extra troops or police have been deployed […]

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/ 19 May 1995

The great Jo burg battle over borders

Gavin Du Venage Gauteng’s ANC-dominated cabinet has been accused of gerrymandering after rejecting municipal boundaries negotiated over three years, reports Gavin du Venage It took three agonising years of squabbling between the municipalities and civic associations of greater Johannesburg to reach agreement on local government boundaries. This week, Gauteng’s ANC-dominated cabinet changed the lot — […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Action needed to curb deficit

The current account deficit is growing. Drastic measures=20 must be taken now if the economic recovery is to be=20 sustained. Lynda Loxton reports Economists, ever watchful for dark clouds on the horizon,=20 are tempering their delight about the continued strong=20 growth of the economy by worrying about the deepening=20 current account deficit. And they received […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Family living in poverty

Ann Eveleth FIVE years, five months and two inquests after assassins snuffed out the lives of Vusi Ngcobo and Bonokhwakhe Gasa, at least 17 other victims of the same attack have descended into abject poverty, with a combined income of less than R200 per month. Ngcobo’s frail elderly mother Khonzaphi suffered two bullet wounds in […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Futures firm in takeover deal

Jacques Magliolo Nervousness among smaller stockbrokers was highlighted this=20 week by Frankel Pollak Vinderine’s (FPV) takeover of Hayes=20 Cutten & Co, a stockbroking firm which concentrates on=20 futures trading. Hayes Cutten & Co’s John Cutten says the move was prompted=20 largely by the changes likely to materialise with the=20 imminent deregulation process which the JSE […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Cover up cop still on duty

Despite being implicated in the cover-up of two police killings, a policeman is still on duty, reports Ann Eveleth A POLICE investigating officer twice implicated in cover- ups protecting colleagues involved in Third Force-style murders in KwaZulu/Natal is now “investigating” crime as a member of the Internal Investigation Unit at Soweto’s Kliptown station. Major Joseph […]

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/ 12 May 1995

The age of serfdom is finally over 20

RUGBY: Jon Swift WITHOUT so much as a by your leave, the flatulent winds of=20 change have blown through the sombre portals of the=20 stuffily named Rugby Football Union, the home of the game=20 in England. The stink raised by the Will Carling affair spells the end=20 of the game of rugby as it is […]

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/ 12 May 1995

with a certain wisdom in the eye

and continued: “‘Tis none of your business, dear friend, for the gentleman of Caucasian extraction possesses a palm that is two times your visage. Glasses ar expensive …” In revolutionary zeal, I had neglected to look at the size of the offending whitey and thought onl’ of my self- righteous blackness and how I could […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Editorial Beyers Fischer and Cachalia

THERE was a generation that fought a principled fight against apartheid and is easily forgotten in the rush to bury the past. Yusuf Cachalia, a defiance campaign leader of the 1950s and long-time victim of an extremely long and harsh house arrest, died this week, 20 years to the day since the death of Bram […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Black women hold new power

Clive Simpkins A CHALLENGE to South African marketers is keeping pace with=20 the changes occurring daily as a result of the awakening of=20 the once-sleeping giant of black enfranchisement. Black women, historically the bottom of the heap in terms=20 of earning power, status and direct influence in business=20 and society, are emerging as a major […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Selectors find the right mix at last

The South African selectors have come up with a good mix of=20 youth and experience in the team for the world=20 ATHELTICS: Julian Drew WITH the naming of the team for the world athletics=20 championships in Gothenburg in August the Athletics South=20 Africa (ASA) selectors finally seem to have the measure of=20 their task with […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Drug firms move into SA

International drugmaking companies Eli Lilly of=20 Indianapolis and Glaxo-Wellcome of London announced this=20 week that they have agreed to buy South Africa’s largest=20 private drug benefits manager, Medikredit. =20 Medikredit processes prescriptions for more than half the=20 country’s 190 private health plans and virtually all 3 000=20 retail pharmacies.=20 The acquisition follows Lilly’s purchase of […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Editoria abortion a test for women’s rights

The Government of National Unity is faced with a litmus test of its commitment to gender rights: whether to change existing abortion legislation for a “freedom of choice” Bill proposed by pro-choice activists, medical and legal An ad hoc parliamentary committee is considering submissions on abortion from all sectors of the community and the anti-choice […]

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/ 12 May 1995

High noon for the Hard Living kids

Residents of Cape Town’s gangster-ridden communities are making a determined effort to stem the spiral of crime and violence, reports Rehana Rossouw RASHIED and Rashaad Staggie are household names on the Cape Flats. The identical-twin brothers are referred to admiringly as “the untouchables” and “Cape Town’s Kray The Staggies are role models to an estimated […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Trade bloc planned for eastern regions

The Eastern Transvaal wants to form a regional economic=20 bloc with Swaziland and southern Mozambique, reports Justin=20 The Eastern Transvaal has announced it intends spearheading=20 the creation of a unified regional economic bloc, which=20 will include Swaziland and the southern provinces of=20 Formally announcing the initiative during the opening of=20 the first ordinary sitting of […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Coke adds life to Boesak scandal

Justin Pearce While Dr Allan Boesak was making headlines daily in South Africa with allegations of corruption, a United States corporation was blissfully unaware that its $50 000 donation to the Foundation for Peace and Justice (FPJ) was never used for the purposes for which it was intended. This week Kerry Traubert, a representative of […]

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/ 12 May 1995

SAfm sliding back to the past

An outcry from conservatives and threats to cut advertising forced the SABC ‘s hand. Justin Pearce reports The SABC has begun to beat a hasty retreat over its new- look SAfm station, as board chair Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri this week tried to paper over the growing rifts in the Staffers accused the board of pandering […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Intolerance rife in SA

According to the results of a survey by the Institute for Democracy released this week, sixty percent of respondents said they would not allow a member of a political party they opposed to stage a political event in their Asked whether they would allow a member of a party they most opposed to teach history […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Asmal puts steel mill at marine park on hold

Kader Asmal, the Minister of Water Affairs, has entered the debate on the controversial plan for a steelmill at Langebaan. Eddie Koch and Rehana Rossouw report WATER Affairs Minister Kader Asmal wants a “total reassessment” of the impact that Iscor’s proposed steel mill will have on the ecology of the Langebaan lagoon — and will […]

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/ 12 May 1995

On the road to nowhere

CINEMA: Stanley Peskin IN Mike Leigh’s Naked, a 27-year-old man comes from=20 Manchester to London. Claiming to be fascinated with all=20 things peripatetic, Johnny (Daniel Thewlis) is unable to=20 find any meaning in or make any commitment to people, life,=20 or any religious belief. In a series of encounters with friends and strangers he=20 meets […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Beethoven III

CINEMA: Stanley Peskin HOLLYWOOD has enshrined famous composers in romantic=20 titles: Chopin in Song to Remember; Brahms and Schumann in=20 Song of Love; Liszt in Song Without End and now Beethoven=20 in Immortal Beloved. But perhaps the chief influences on=20 writer/director Bernard Rose are Peter Shaffer and Milos=20 Forman, whose film about Mozart was called […]

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/ 12 May 1995

The centre of the problem

RUGBY: Jon Swift THERE is a lot of truth in the old adage that there is no=20 remarks column on the scoreboard. But, with only a four- point edge in the 104 points scored in two warm-up matches=20 against Western Province and Natal, the World Cup squad=20 have some serious thinking to do. There are […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Communities take over from impotent police force

Rehana Rossouw Do-it-yourself policing is spreading across the Cape Peninsula as communities organise themselves to do the tasks their understaffed police stations cannot. The Mitchell’s Plain Neighbourhood Watch has 10 units in the sprawling dormitory town, with membership currently at 4 000 and climbing steadily. Its 400 active members patrol neighbourhoods in Mitchell’s Plain every […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Needles that cure addicts

Rehana Rossouw DRUG addicts and dirty needles go together like love and marriage used to in the old lyrics but, in Cape Town, where drugs are smoked rather than mainlined, a zealous doctor is using (clean) needles to cure addicts of their curse. In his comfortable Rondebosch acupuncture clinic, Dr Won H Lee launches passionately […]

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/ 12 May 1995

JSE made simple

A new book, Share Analysis and Company Forecasting: How to=20 Make Money on the JSE by Weekly Mail & Guardian financial=20 journalist Jacques Magliolo aims to demystify the=20 Johannesburg Stock Exchange for the investor and to outline=20 how analysts assess companies. Areas covered include: understanding the JSE; how to read=20 share price pages; outlining shareholders’ […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Different attitudes to altitude

RUGBY: Luke Alfred THE hoary question of how the Highveld altitude affects=20 visiting rugby teams has never been more squarely in the=20 frame, particularly with the arrival of 15 World Cup squads=20 The results of sides playing Transvaal in this year’s Super=20 10 appear to contradict the truism that “visitors fade in=20 the second half”, […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Just visiting this planet

Native tongue Bafana Khumalo WHY do these things happen to me? I must be cursed. Of all the billions of people in the world, I am the only one who will encounter an alien and the alien will not say anything profound like “take me to your leader”. To other people, yes, he will say […]

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/ 12 May 1995

Rule by focus groups

Nelson Mandela’s Budget speech last week was co-written by a dozen white female secretaries in Cape Town, a group of female squatters in Gauteng, and some coloured professionals in the Cape. And they didn’t even know it. Call it Rule by Focus Group. The impact of Clinton pollster Stanley Greenberg in the last election has […]