Staff Reporter

The police and Kathorus residents are working together to bring peace to the townships, reports Mduduzi ka Harvey FOR East Rand policeman Godfrey “Godfather” Maditsi (34), Thokoza was once a place where he feared to tread — with police targeted by self-defence unit youths at the height of political violence in the 1980s, harassed by […]

plan THERE are 22 presidential lead projects for which a total of R1,06-billion has already been disbursed. Progress, as reported from the presidential office, is as follows: 1. Land restitution: Business plan approved on December 1, R5,1-million allocated. 2. Land redistribution: Business plan approved on December 1, R2,1-million allocated. 3. National capacity building programme: Business […]

PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela threw out a challenge in his opening speech at the ANC’s national conference in Bloemfontein this week.

Reg Rumney provides an indispensable guide to framers of RDP-correct policy documents RDP may spell “rape, destroy and pillage” to some cynical business people, as Minister without Portfolio Jay Naidoo has suggested. To many businessmen and women it simply spells “money”, judging by the number of opportunistic press releases that linked the RDP to all […]

`Gauties’ who’ve been left behind this Christmas need not despair, writes Hazel Friedman: they’ve got the wildest wildlife IT’S that time of the year again and the Great Trek to trendoid holiday spots is already well under way. To those depressed “Gauties” who’ve been left behind, the only way of getting into the festive spirit […]

So censorship has gone? Hustler magazine editor Jeff Zerbst discovers few people want to celebrate this new- found freedom of expression with him “The cummulative (sic) effect is an important factor when a publication like Hustler is discussed.” (The censors) “We agree.” (Hustler) THE Weekly Mail &Guardian has invited me to celebrate the death of […]

IT was a poignant moment: one veteran of the struggle acknowledging the contribution, over decades, of the other. Struggle-hardened cadres fought back tears as President Nelson Mandela, his own voice breaking with emotion, honoured “an outstanding revolutionary” who had “touched the lives of millions” by his example of “militant and unswerving commitment” to the ANC. […]

At last the WM&G is able to disclose the identity of the man behind the momentous Inkathagate scandal. David Beresford reports THE Weekly Mail & Guardian can finally disclose the identity of the man behind the Inkathagate scandal, who may have changed the course of South African history. He is Brian Morrow, a former member […]

Conventional logic has it that a flag with six bright colours is beyond the pale, writes Eddie Koch. So why is the new South African flag such a resounding success? VIVA condom, viva! That was the cry of a volunteer who handed out leaflets decorated with pictures of a prophylactic draped in the flowing red, […]

Arthur Goldstuck Real-life snippets from the small-town press The best of `94 JANUARY * MICHAEL ABRAHAMS, charged with theft of TV sets, tells a Durban regional magistrate he was forced into a life of crime by his wife’s constant nagging. The magistrate tells him to stop blaming his wife, and gives him two years. * […]

Reg Rumney digs through the office pile of promotional junk and remembers the invitations and press releases he might have missed AS any good PR knows, attracting the attention of journalists is not easy. It is an open question whether this is because they are overworked, don’t have secretaries to organise their lives, or are […]

AT the tail end of a surreptitious visit to South Africa, a prominent Dutch rightwinger last week declared South African rightwingers as being “too lazy to work” and “not prepared to do kaffir work”. In an exclusive interview with the Weekly Mail & Guardian, Henk Ruitenberg (47), chairman of the rightwing CD-86 Party in the […]

The daft, clever, stupid, witty things South Africans said in 1994, compiled by Jennifer Crwys-Williams * Nelson Mandela has so much egg on his face he needs two bars of soap to get it off. — FW de Klerk (before the election) * Mr Mandela has walked a long road and now stands at the […]

Vuyo Mvoko JANE HLONGWANE (28), her face exuberant with the satisfaction of pregnancy, smiled as she was asked how she felt now that she and her unborn child could take advantage of free medical care from the government. “Happy, really happy …” she said, in search of better words to describe her pleasure. Two years […]

Now that the struggle for socialism has been fought, won and ignored, Cape Town’s beaches are hot on the heels of shopping malls, writes Justin Pearce WHEN I was a laaitie, Cape Town’s beaches were for swimming. Or at least for building sandcastles, exercising the dog and similarly wholesome pursuits. The nearest thing you got […]

Vuyo Mvoko CLARENCE MAKWETU, re-elected president of the Pan Africanist Congress, has always drawn criticism from other parties, but none has been as harsh as the criticism he got from his own party during its congress last weekend. Although wary of inflicting more wounds on their party, delegates made no secret of their dissatisfaction. Fumed […]

The only method of transaction that makes sense in South Africa is the introduction of Smart cards, reports Jacques Magliolo THE 1990s has been called the electronic age by computer experts, while economists and politicians alike have excitedly hailed the coming of the global village. Yet as much as 80 percent of all South African […]

Critical Consumer Pat Sidley MOST South African consumers had a magnificent year. The disenfranchised majority acquired and used that precious commodity — a vote — and got the government they wanted. This government in turn often proved more responsive to consumer needs than the last lot. Its interventions ranged from keeping the maize price at […]

Farouk Chothia: Durban KWAZULU/NATAL chiefs have received an increased stipend since April in what appears to be a move on the Inkatha Freedom Party’s part to retain their loyalty in the post- election era, it emerged this week. This disclosure comes amid further signs that Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini is battling to prise chiefs — […]

RUGBY: Jon Swift IT would be well for all concerned to take careful note of the cryptic comment made by national rugby coach Kitch Christie at the end of the tour of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. “We have the basis of the players for the World Cup,” was the way the quietly-spoken Christie laid it […]

Nombuyiselo Maloyi YOU can’t miss the Freedom Square RDP and Healing Centre, launched on Saturday. Fifty shipping containers painted in all the colours of the new South Africa flag now occupy the field in Kliptown, near Soweto, where the Freedom Charter was drafted 49 years ago. The traders’ containers and corrugated iron units were donated […]

CINEMA: Stanley Peskin THERE is little reason to doubt that Orlando (the pan- historical figure who serves Queen Elizabeth, changes sex in Constantinople and takes more than 300 years to write a poem) represents Virginia Woolf’s friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West, who, in Woolf’s words, inspired “the lusts of the flesh and the lure of […]

The Katz tax commission mostly makes sense, but some recommendations seem to have been hastily arrived at, reports Reg Rumney Most recommendations of the Katz tax commission were hailed by commentators this week — with some bothersome exceptions that pointed to hasty decisions and gave the impression of tinkering with the system. Under fire are […]

Jeremy Cronin, SACP leader,writes that the ANC cannot sit back and enjoy its honeymoon AT least three complex dynamics will be at play in the ANC’s conference. The first, the leadership issue has, rather tediously, been the focus of considerable media attention. Emerging out of three decades of illegality, the ANC has had to develop […]

Bruce Cohen A MASSIVE European Union (EU) development package for South Africa — R500-million in 1995 — is currently being finalised in Brussels. It will bring much-needed relief to many NGOs which have been staggering through a funding crisis since the April election. NGOs, however, will have to get used to sharing the EU funding […]

Native tongue Bafana Khumalo `TIS a season to be jolly. `Tis time for even an angry young black man who is fast becoming a cynical old fart to dispense with the vitriolic poison pen and embrace all of humanity with enthusiasm, in a spirit of peace and love. I am happy. So much so that […]

FINE ART: Ivor Powell A COUPLE of weeks ago I had some things that were not exactly brimming with goodwill to say about the kind of art exhibitions one encounters in the Christmas season. Well, it turns out I have to eat my words before I get to eat my turkey or brandy pudding. Anything […]

A five-storey-high screen and 13 000 watt speakers are just part of the attraction of Cape Town’s new Imax cinema. Peter Frost reports AFRICA’S first Imax cinema — hyped as “much more than movies”, with its 15m by 22m screen — opened in Cape Town this week, launched by visiting actor James Earl Jones. The […]

Terence Moll FORMER Reserve Bank governor Gerhard de Kock once severely criticised South African businessmen, calling them inept in controlling company spending and simply not able to understand fundamental economic principles. The highly respected governor is on record as having said: “At the start of an economic upswing, our businessmen spend as if boom times […]

TRADITIONAL leaders called for land restitution claims to be considered from 1652 instead of 1913 at the conference of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa in Midrand last weekend. Contralesa president Chief Phathekile Holomisa also expressed concern over the only-partial political freedom guaranteed traditional leaders in the interim constitution. “It denies chiefs their […]

Hardliners in the IFP are planning to quit government and strengthen their majority in kwaZulu/Natal, writes Farouk Chothia A SPECIAL Inkatha Freedom Party conference early next year will consider a plan by party hardliners to quit the government of national unity (GNU) and play the role of a Westminster-styled opposition party, IFP insiders revealed this […]

A new health scheme favoured by the government is likely to prove hugely popular. Pat Sidley reports THE government is actively investigating a national health insurance plan which would, if implemented, revolutionise the country’s health system and provide the funds for basic health care to all citizens. Three options are under consideration. The Weekly Mail […]