Staff Reporter

The health minister is on the campaign trail for her department, giving doctors a chance to harangue her in public. Pat Sidley reports A GATHERING in a huge auditorium at the Johannesburg Hospital last week probably marked the first time in South African history that health care professionals, many of them doctors, had a chance […]

Far-rightwingers are planning to hold their own poll in tandem with the local government elections. Jan Taljaard reports THE far-rightwing is planning its own separate elections to be held at the time of the local government elections in October this year. True to character, however, the different factions cannot agree on whether to participate in […]

Stefaans Brummer A CHARGE of theft is being investigated against Dirk Coetzee, the former Vlakplaas commander who exposed police hit squads, in what Coetzee believes is a campaign of revenge against him. Coetzee was informed on February 1 that Middelburg police were investigating a charge that he had stolen R6 000 from a man in […]

A brilliant Indian student was refused entry to medical school — an apparent victim of affirmative action. When she took legal action, she was admitted. Farouk Chothia reports from Durban A young Pinetown matriculant, refused entry to medical school despite getting six distinctions, has started a flood of court challenges to affirmative action. Karin Singh […]

Gavin Evans and Stefaans Brummer SOUTH african National Defence Force military intelligence is still interested in bugging its enemies, although these days it prefers to call them This much emerged from a “feeling out” session monitored by the Weekly Mail & Guardian, between a Wits student “spotted” by an SANDF talent scout, and a senior […]

The Democratic Party performs well in parliament but leader Tony Leon wants growth in support as well, writes Gaye Davis DEMOCRATIC Party leader Tony Leon says he was sounding a “wake-up call”, rather than a death-knell, by warning that the party’s future depended on its performance in local government elections. Leon told a public meeting […]

The presence of a Krugersdorp riot unit fanned the flames of racial tension in the violent clash at Orlando police station, writes Stefaans Brummer THE strike at Orlando East police station in Soweto last month exploded in ugly racial confrontation — and resulted in the death of a striking policeman — because of the chance […]

Mondli waka Makhanya AFRIKANER business has its back to the wall as it tries to hang on to government contracts which have been its preserve for the past 40 years. Just a week after Volkskas — now under the Absa umbrella — lost the Gauteng government’s R10-billion account to Standard Bank, the two Afrikaans press […]

TV viewers can expect radical changes in their watching habits, writes a Weekly Mail reporter THE South African Broadcasting Corporation is thoroughly revising what viewers see on their screens and the three TV channels as we know them are likely to disappear within weeks. The current NNTV signal — which serves only metropolitan areas — […]

A clause in the FPJ’s trust was designed to indemnify its trustees . Justin Pearce and Pat Sidley report THE trustees of Allan Boesak’s Foundation for Peace and Justice attempted to indemnify themselves against allegations of fraud after R400 000 of Children’s Trust money had already been removed from its account into that of the […]

Jan Taljaard in Pretoria THE rightwing has stashed away arms caches containing a Buccanneer fighter aircraft, G5 and G6 cannons and several nuclear warheads, if a report this week by Britain’s Channel 4 is to be believed. Said to be behind these arms caches is the once shadowy Volkseenheidskomitee (Vekom) of general Tienie Groenewald, now […]

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Coenraad Visser A STUNNING performance of Benjamin Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge gave the South African tour of the London Philharmonic Orchestra a flying start at the Johannesbiurg City Hall this week. The Variations, one of Britten’s early creations for string orchestra, was a perfect choice for the LPO strings […]

In the debate about whether South Africa should ally itself with Beijing or with Taipei, the choice is between a huge potential market and an immediate investor. But, argues Peter Vale, it doesn’t have to be an `either/or’ option South Africa’s great China debate has ignited inconsequential arguments which have pitted one China over the […]

Phila Ngqumba TRANSKEI police and prisons departments tried to help themselves to a 150 percent pay rise in May last year – – simply by altering computer records. However, East Cape government officials this week insisted that the computer fiddle had been stopped before millions in unauthorised money went into the pay packets of the […]

Mondli waka Makhanya AN Eastern Transvaal National Party organiser has started an organisation for Mozambican refugees, sparking fears among non-governmental organisations in the area that the NP is providing identity documents to refugees as a way of boosting its performance in the October municipal elections. Concerned Refugees and Immigrants of Mozambique (Coreimo) is ostensibly a […]

As Arcadia set out to tease audiences in Johannesburg, Guy Willoughby spoke to Tom Stoppard between West End rehearsals of his latest play THERE can be few more incendiary British playwrights living than Tom Stoppard — an evening in the theatre with one of his plays is a bit like a mental Guy Fawkes night. […]

Weekly Mail Reporter ALMOST three quarters of the executives of the Top 100 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange have no faith in the reconstruction and development programme, the ANC’s grand plan to put right the wrongs left by apartheid. This is the finding of the annual business environment survey conducted by Unisa’s Bureau […]

BY replaying his pre-election game of brinkmanship, IFP=20 leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi appears set to wage a=20 fierce campaign to win local government elections in=20 kwaZulu/Natal and ring concessions from the African=20 National Congress (ANC) in the Constitutional Assembly=20 Buthelezi has clearly kept the initiative over a lame- duck ANC in kwaZulu/Natal by announcing plans to […]

CRICKET: Jon Swift THE rightful flurry of concern which has surrounded the injury to Brian McMillan is illustrative of the immense pressures on the modern day Test cricketer. At the heart of the issue which has kept everyone on tenterhooks for the past week, is the fact convenor of the national selectors Peter Pollock has […]

The Foundation for=20 Peace and Justice witheld=20 Danish funding for a Karoo=20 preschool association, reports=20 Justin Pearce in Cape Town AS the investigation into the allegations of misuse of=20 funding by Dr Allan Boesak’s Foundation for Peace and=20 Justice draws to a close, the Weekly Mail & Guardian=20 has obtained further evidence of foreign donor […]

CINEMA: Stanley Peskin THE opening shot of a lake and mountains in Lee Tamahori’s Once Were Warriors is seminal. Throughout the film it sticks in the memory as an image of a once tranquil world that has been lost. Within a space of a few seconds, the camera tracks back to reveal crowded streets and […]

FINE ART: Ivor Powell I AM assured that it is coincidental, or maybe serendipitous, that Geoffrey Armstrong’s exhibition The Tree should have opened at the Newtown Galleries within a week of Edoardo Villa’s Trees at the Goodman Galley. Nor is it hard to believe that this is the case: beyond the accident of the title, […]

Native tongue Bafana Khumalo THIS is a profound apology to all of media consuming=20 South Africa. I am sorry, I never meant any of the=20 things that appeared under my byline in this=20 publication. They were at the behest of a white,=20 middle-aged, male editor that I said all of those=20 things. You know that […]

The South African Air Force is selling its planes to=20 the people — after 75 years. Jan Taljaard reports THE general wants all his planes to fly again. So does=20 the deputy minister, it seems. So they are going to=20 sell their airforce to none other than the people=20 Caught up in a struggle between […]

THE spat over the passing out parade for 650 kwaZulu=20 Police trainees is a baptism of fire for new police=20 commissioner George Fivaz. There is far more to the=20 dispute than the question of whether a few men with=20 criminal records should be allowed to become policemen. It is now common knowledge that hit men […]

HSRC proposals for restructuring the film industry have received the stamp of approval of the main players. William Pretorius asks, why aren’t they being THE local film industry could be in for stormy weather — despite the fact that recent proposals for its restructuring were accepted by virtually the entire In December last year, the […]

With his talent and tenacity Brian McMillan is an all- rounder who will be around for a good whil e yet CRICKET: Luke Alfred WHAT do Brian McMillan and Orson Welles have in common? They both do public relations work for Nashua. In McMillan’s case he works for Nashua in Cape Town, the result of […]

OPERA: Peter Klatzow OPERA-LOVERS who attended the Cape Town Opera Festival’s offering of (what appeared to be) Carmen by Bizet were in for a rude awakening. The new title — La Tragedie de Carmen — might have alerted the wary, but after a few minutes it would have been apparent that this was not your […]

The Taiwanese government is wooing MPs with free trips=20 in an attempt to retain a good relationship with South=20 Africa, writes Gaye Davis Scores of parliamentarians are believed to have enjoyed=20 all-expenses paid trips to Taiwan as part of a massive=20 campaign by that government to ensure its relationship=20 with South Africa is not downgraded […]

Scope: All workers, whether engaged in the private or=20 public sector — with the exception of members of the=20 police, intelligence services and defence force –=20 covered by a single Act. Bargaining councils: Collective bargaining over wages=20 and working conditions between representative unions=20 and employer bodies promoted at bargaining councils. No=20 duty to bargain but […]

OVER the next few weeks, experts will debate the=20 details of the new Labour Relations Act, a draft of=20 which was published this week. This fine-tuning should=20 not detract from the central import of the document.=20 At one level, it is a technical feat to produce so=20 quickly such a comprehensive Bill that deals with […]

Jacques Magliolo THIS week saw a communication problem evolve at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. A press release was sent to stockbroking members and to the press, stating that a “plan and timetable for the restructuring of the JSE to meet the changing needs of South Africa” was published in August 1994. The purpose of the […]