Mail & Guardian reporter SEVERAL top figures in Namibian politics, including two cabinet ministers and the Southern African Development Community (SADC ) executive secretary, have been accused of misusing drought relief aid. The Namibian Cabinet in early May refused to release the report of an investigation into the abuse of funds while ‘clearing’ all top […]
Mandela added to the discomfort of mine owners when he announced that he was giving his own money to the fund for the victims of a mine disaster.
Sheena Duncan THE Black Sash is not disbanding, as Business Day posters proclaimed this week. We are alive and well and forty years old, celebrating our birthday. We will be continuing our work in our restructured form as the Black Sash Trust. The Black Sash was formed in 1955 as the Women’s Defence of the […]
Restaurants are just like the theatre, says Robert Colman,=20 whose latest play is all about eating. Matthew Krouse=20 AS a two-year work-in-progress reaches fruition, Robert=20 Colman — author and director of Afrodizzia, at the=20 Johannesburg Civic Theatre — reflects on the times and=20 traumas that formed his fantastical farce about food. The idea of setting […]
Simon Segal THE South African art market is benefitting from the more=20 favourable economic conditions. Stephan Welz & Co’s art auction this week might not have=20 been as exciting as the record-breaking 1993 auction, but=20 it does indicate a firmness in South Africa’s art market.=20 Although some people anticipated that prices would be=20 higher, R2,8-million […]
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 […]
SOCCER: Gerald Combrinck MORE or less a year ago in a packed and highly emotional=20 Ellis Park Stadium more than 50 000 South Africans=20 experienced possibly the greatest moment in their lives. Having been inaugurated just hours earlier as South=20 Africa’s first democratic president, Nelson Mandela’s first=20 official assignment was to watch the national soccer […]
President Nelson Mandela is considering the early release of former Cabinet minister Pietie du Plessis. It would be a mistake for him to grant it.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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”, […]
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’ […]
A SERIES of spats between officials of the Northern and Eastern Transvaal governments over who has the right to administer the Bushbuckridge area, a tract of land that straddles the two provinces, could escalate into a mini- border war involving two strong ANC regions. The premiers of each province agreed last year that the territory […]
CINEMA: Stanley Peskin PATRICE CHEREAU’S Queen Margot begins with a wedding and=20 ends with a coronation. In between there is a lengthy and=20 operatic treatment of religious strife and the fall of a=20 If Wagner — Chereau staged The Ring at Bayreuth in the=20 1970s — and Visconti come to mind, the sources of the […]
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 […]