Staff Reporter

Marius Schoon plans to lay charges against Craig Williamson for the murder of his wife and child, writes Mark Gevisser The conscience of white South Africa is a self-assured Standard Six pupil whose voice has just broken, who is soccer-mad, and who witnessed his mother and sister blown to smithereens when he was two years […]

SOCCER: Clinton Asary WHEN Clemens Westerhof took charge of Sundowns this season he predicted that the “Brazilians” would win the league this year. But it has been a far from satisfactory start for the “supercoach” who led Nigeria to the 1994 African Nations Cup, and the last 16 of the World Cup the same year. […]

Annie Mapoma MANAGEMENT at two of Johannesburg’s most popular flea markets, Rosebank and Bruma, are surveying their traders and intend taking serious measures against those who threaten the city’s flourishing flea market industry by overpricing. The issue was brought to light when customers complained they were being ripped-off by certain traders, especially on items like […]

ATHLETICS: Julian Drew WHEN Shadrack Hoff sliced more than five seconds off Matthews Temane’s eight-year-old national 5 000m record in Stellenbosch two weeks ago, it signalled the beginning of a new era for South African distance running. In the dark years of the apartheid inspired sports boycott distance running turned in on itself in this […]

Weekly Mail Reporters MOST of the 14 regions of the ANC’s Women’s League have condemned the recent decision of 11 members of the league’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to resign their posts without proper consultation. The league’s Northern Natal secretary, Nokwethemba Biyela, said 12 of the 14 regions had “stood up” at the NEC meeting […]

SAILING: Jonathan Spencer Jones THREE weeks into the third leg of the BOC Challenge single-handed around the world race and Christophe Auguin sailing Sceta Calberson has become the first of the entrants remaining in the fleet to round Cape Horn. Auguin, who days earlier had notched up a record 350,4 mile 24-hour run, passed about […]

Making quick runs on the slow wickets in New Zealand is an art Gary Kirsten seems to have mastered CRICKET: Krish Mi’rams in New Zealand The pitches in New Zealand are notoriously slow but on Thursday the ground was completely soggy as the vital match between South Africa and the home team was rained off. […]

Life assurers are honing their strategies in order to capture the multi-billion rand funeral business, reports Jacques Magliolo How big is the funeral business? Big enough for the life assurers to fight tooth and nail for it. Financial Services Board long term insurance manager Oppie Opperman says: “In 1993 total premium received by the life […]

Weekly Mail Reporter READY or not, Africus: The Johannesburg Biennale — South Africa’s debut on the global fine arts circuit — will be throwing open its doors to the public on Tuesday, February 28. With luck, buildings and roads will have been completed, a dignitary secured to make the opening speeches, and art works will […]

Apartheid policies turned the Transkei homeland into a disaster area which will take years to repair, writes Louise Flanagan IT’S underfunded, marginalised, demoralised, has little infrastructure or communications, and its services are collapsing. It’s one of apartheid’s worst legacies and it’s now the Eastern Cape’s biggest nightmare. It’s the former Transkei homeland. Since the April […]

SOCCER: Clinton Asary THE South African under-23 squad is currently on a two- pronged mission as it aims to qualify for the All Africa Games finals in Harare this September, and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Should they beat Lesotho in their All Africa second round second leg encounter in Maseru on Sunday, the Super Squad […]

THEATRE: Guy Willoughby IN a programme note to Macbeth, at the Alexander Theatre, director Craig Freimond observes that Shakespeare’s great plays “are so well known that it becomes difficult to find fresh readings of them, and even if you do, there will be many who disagree with your interpretation”. Quite true, but the inevitability of […]

Stanley Peskin DANCE Umbrella, now under the aegis of FNB Vita, is making its seventh appearance at the Wits Theatre. There will be an extended run of two and a half weeks, during which time the work of 115 choreographers will be featured. The emphasis will fall on different dance idioms in a contemporary style. […]

The Bartel Arts Trust is injecting life into the arts scene in Durban, writes Humphrey Tyler DURBAN’S Bartel Arts Centre hasn’t got a door on its harbourside headquarters yet — the builders haven’t finished the entrance and you have to jump over the foundations to get inside — but it started full tilt this week […]

Two pioneers are using art therapy to help Soweto children heal the wounds of poverty and violence. Hazel Friedman reports THEY beckon like neons in the smog and debris: two zozo huts decorated with bright murals of frolicking children and flowers. These are the Dube and Othandweni headquarters of Matep (Mokhele Art Therapy and Education […]

The battle for housing took a new twist when hostel dwellers paid R500 for a home — and destroyed a school in the process, reports Annie Mapoma AN education success story for 300 Mzimhlophe Hostel children is turning into a struggle for survival as hostel inmates this week destroyed classroom facilities and Guateng education authorities […]

Critical Consumer Pat Sidley THE Gauteng administration this week made history for its citizens and consumers. It called together a gathering of consumer organisations, groups with a consumer interest such as civics and trade unions, and those journalists who have had to do the job of consumer groups in the absence of adequate ones. Some […]

Evidence of murders motivated by greed rather than revelations of political crimes dominated the first days of Eugene de Kock’s trial, writes Jan Taljaard BOGGED down in intricate legal argument for the first two days of proceedings, the Eugene de Kock trial did not look to be the curtain raiser to the “truth hearings” or […]

Colin Jackson THE nation’s broadcasting heritage can be summed up with the Broederbond’s cherished term, “consensus broadcasting” — which meant not challenging the regime. The old SABC left no established editorial values, because they only formally accepted that the role of the public broadcasting service was to shine the torch of truth. A critical and […]

FOUNDATION for Peace and Justice staff member Leslie Liddell has denied reports that she received a loan from Dr Allan Boesak’s troubled foundation. Liddel says she believed she would receive a car from the FPJ as part of her package, but was then told she would have to repay the cost of the car in […]

Hugh McLean of the Liberty Life Foundation, and treasurer of the Southern African Grantmakers’ Association writes on the funding crisis in NGOs. It was Mark Twain who said: “October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate stocks in. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and […]

SOCCER: Clinton Asary THE South African under-23 squad’s quest for a place in the finals of the All Africa Games continues this weekend when they visit the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, for the second leg of their second round encounter on Sunday. South Africa won the first leg 2-0, and our “Young Guns” look set […]

It’s time for South Africans to move beyond the furore over Allan Boesak’s Geneva posting, writes Peter Vale. This week’s report by the Commission for Global Governance highlights the real international challenges facing the country OUR Global Neighbourhood, the report released in Cape Town this week by Swedish Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson and Sonny Ramphal, […]

THEATRE: Humphrey Tyler WHAT a talented cast in Khaya in the Sky, now on in the Drama Theatre in the Natal Playhouse, in Durban — but, sadly, in the end, what a waste. It starts okay. The leader of a group of Durban squatters turns out to be called Rudolph Valentino, who speaks with an […]

Native tongue Bafana Khumalo ‘MY name is Keith, I am 25 years old.” The young black man hesitated for a while, took a sip from the styrofoam cup filled with a dark liquid in his hand, which was shaking slightly. He looked at the group of people dressed in hand-printed clothing around him and wondered […]

Jacques Magliolo Newly acquired Billiton International made its debut in mining and financial giant Gencor’s first interim results. And, what an impressive start to its association it was. Billiton’s turnover, excluding associates and investments, amounted to US$1 074-million (R3 802- million) for the six months to end-December. Profit from operating companies (after depreciation) amounted to […]

Marketing Clive Simpkins IF South Africa is serious about hosting the World Cup and, more distantly, the 2004 Olympics, we’re going to have to rectify accommodation and infrastructure deficiencies. If not, our marketability as a big-event venue is at stake. I was in Cape Town for the opening of parliament. Weeks ahead, there was virtually […]

The Markets Jacques Magliolo Does anyone actually know what is going on out there? The markets are becoming more confusing and complex by the day. Investors have to keep track of a vast amount of changing Johannesburg Stock Exchange and company law regulations, market movement, fundamental issues as well as the factors which affect these. […]

Thousands of Western Cape pupils are the victims of the on-again off-again crisis in the Education Department, reports Justin Pearce SOME 6 000 Western Cape pupils remained without school accommodation this week as relations between the Western Cape Education Department and the National Education Co- ordinating Committee (NECC) broke down again in the aftermath of […]

Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi resorted to the politics of tantrums this week when he led a walkout from parliament. But more important than criticising this return to his pre-election ways is to understand why he is doing it and President Nelson Mandela’s somewhat limited options in dealing with it. The immediate concerns that lay behind the […]

Shadley Nash EZEKIEL MSIZI cast his steely gaze over the paddock where a dozen or more cows were being milked with hi-tech electronic equipment. “We want to come home. The white farmers’ time is up,” he said. Msizi’s impatience signals growing discontent in the ranks of the Mfengu community over the fact that they are […]

CINEMA: Stanley Peskin WRITTEN and directed by Tim Robbins, Bob Roberts (1992) has more than a passing resemblance to Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941), as well as to a number of films by Robert Altman, notably Nashville (1975) and The Player (1992), in which Robbins himself played a corrupt filmmaker. Originally a sketch for Saturday […]