Staff Reporter

Shadley Nash: Port Elizabeth THE Cradock community, still reeling from shock at recent revelations that three Port Elizabeth civic leaders were brutally murdered by the security forces, believe the bodies may be buried at the site of their torture and murder. A privately-owned holiday farm now stands where the Pebco Three were allegedly tortured and […]

Native tongue Bafana Khumalo I HATE them all. My parents, my friends, my schoolteachers and all the other scum who taught me that going to school is a two-year guarantee ticket out of the ghetto. You have gathered that this column is going to be one of those do-it-yourself psychotherapy sessions, haven’t you? “Why do […]

Some R14,5-million of the kwaZulu/Natal budget for school library books is unaccounted for, reports Ann Eveleth AS much as R14,5-million earmarked for the purchase of school library books in kwaZulu/Natal is unaccounted for, prompting an official investigation by the provincial government. The Weekly Mail & Guardian has established that the province’s new library director, Sally […]

GOLF: Jon Swift WATCHING Nick Faldo smile is both a precious and rare occasion. So inwardly focussed is the man, so high the standards he sets himself, that this normal and outward sign of humanity has, like so many of the inconsistencies of his game, been ruled out of his professional persona. Faldo is a […]

The first opportunity to introduce substantial change to the Appellate Court presented itself this week as the Judicial Service Commission interviewed candidates for three vacancies in that decrepit institution. What do we find? That all the candidates are white males, and at least two are the subject of some considerable controversy. Mr Justice Kees van […]

Trade and Industry Minister Trevor Manuel is pushing hard for better access for South African exports. Reg Rumney reports TRADE and Industry Minister Trevor Manuel, just returned from Brussels, says he is hopeful that South Africa will get preferential treatment for exports in terms of the Lome convention. Manuel was in Europe doing what he […]

SOUTH African businessmen have come through a tough time in the past five years. They have faced high inflation, prohibitive interest rates, political upheaval and rampant violence and crime. The general election may have changed the country, but negative factors have not entirely disappeared. Since April, we have seen strike action and violent confrontation at […]

fight He may be vulnerable and fragile, but Joe Slovo’s political and personal battles are not over yet, reports Phillip van Niekerk A FEW weeks ago Joe Slovo’s battle with cancer took on a very public dimension. A dramatic weight loss and sudden gaunt appearance, brought on by an unfavourable response to new medication, unleash-ed […]

Critical Consumer Pat Sidley CONSUMERS may have noticed a campaign directed at making them “more secure” at automatic teller machines (ATMs). The campaign is cunningly framed to make consumers believe that all the ATM fraud, theft and related crime in general is the consumers’ own fault. Now that the banks are kindly giving its consumers […]

THEATRE: Stanley Peskin Presented on Broadway in 1992 and now by Pact Opera as its Christmas attraction, Crazy for You is modelled on Girl Crazy (1930). The original musical comedy followed the bright, witty pattern of the old Princess Theatre attractions — only, according to Guy Bolton, the librettist of Girl Crazy, on a larger […]

A video shows another side of this week’s eviction of illegal squatters in central Johannesburg, reports Mduduzi ka Harvey A VIDEO cassette in the possession of the Weekly Mail & Guardian strongly supports claims by squatters forcefully evicted from Claridge Court in central Johannesburg this week that police played a part in the trashing of […]

Moves are afoot to beef up competition policy, says Trade and Industry Minister Trevor Manuel. Reg Rumney reports LEGISLATION in terms of the Competition Act is unbelievably weak, says Trade and Industry Minister Trevor Manuel. The Competition Board has never been taken seriously as an instrument of policy, he adds. However, the Trade and Industry […]

Farouk Chothia THE ANC signalled its intention to prise support from the Inkatha Freedom Party in kwaZulu/Natal with the election last weekend of two traditional leaders to senior positions in the organisation’s new provincial executive committee (PEC). Chief Zibuse Mlaba was elected deputy chairman at a provincial conference last weekend, while Chief Elpheus Molefe was […]

Vusi Khoza and Annie Mapoma HUMAN hands — burnt to ashes and mixed with herbal ingredients — are considered an effective anti-stroke remedy by muti men who use body parts in their practice. This is according to Johannesburg muti shop owner Kessavan Naidoo, a herbalist for 30 years and close observer of traditional healing methods. […]

Cry, the Beloved Country is South Africa’s first major post-election film project. William Pretorius spent a day on set THERE’S a lot riding on director Darrell Roodt’s film of Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country, produced by Anant Singh. It’s the first major post-election film production. A new beginning? Yes, thinks Roodt, when you can […]

THERE were times during the Million Dollar Challenge when Dennis Bruyns must have been the most disliked man at Sun City. For it was Bruyns, former PGA tournament director and a one-time touring professional, who was the man behind the sometimes devillish pin placements across the four days of the tournament. “My philosophy about pin […]

South Africa has produced its first full-length opera — about the life of enigmatic `prophet’ Enoch Mgijima. Justin Pearce spoke to librettist Michael Williams THE old government liked opera. Or so it seemed, since they subsidised the building of opera houses and the staging of lavish performances of Verdi, Wagner and Puccini. But, for all […]

MUSICAL THEATRE: Bafana Khumalo AS a concept in the producer’s mind, Born at the Right Time (Upstairs at the Market Theatre) might have worked pretty well. But when it comes to the execution of the project, it doesn’t work at all. Described as a “unique interpretation of the music of Paul Simon”, this is an […]

Skhumbuzo Miya THE Inkatha Freedom Party recently celebrated its kwaZulu/Natal election victory at Mphusheni on the South Coast by feasting on stolen ANC cattle. IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi was the keynote speaker at the rally, local residents said. They said several ANC-supporting families from nearby Adam’s Mission had had their cattle stolen before the celebration […]

The high prophets of commercialisation lost the struggle for the soul of the SABC this week, reports Mark Gevisser TWO men were notably absent from the panel of five SABC big shots going face-to-face with the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) yesterday as the corporation unveiled its plans for transformation: Quentin Green and Steve Schubach. Green, […]

A ground-breaking deal between conservationists and Transkei’s peasants has ended the plundering of nature reserves, reports Eddie Koch THE invasion of nature reserves in Transkei that led to the plunder of wildlife and marine species by peasants on the Wild Coast has ended with a path-breaking agreement between conservation officials and villagers from the area. […]

Jacques Magliolo WHEN Albert Einstein said that imagination was more important than knowledge, the South African assurance industry probably thought he was talking about them. The latest Financial Services Board statistics reveal shocking figures for 1993, heralding an industry-wide investigation by the LOA. In addition it highlights how assurers develop new imaginative schemes to sell […]

CHILDREN’S THEATRE: Pat Sidley PLATFORM shoes are hazardous to the health at the best of times, and Janice Honeyman’s Aladdin (in China) proved the point one evening last week, when the empress fell off hers during a dance sequence. The mishap resulted in some ad libbing — and presumably a sore ankle. It was the […]

The relaunch of the Afrikaner Volksfront appears to be little more than a damp squib, reports Jan Taljaard THE once-influential Afrikaner Volksfront (AVF) — relaunched last weekend after its demise in the wake of the April election — has been dismissed as “the Conservative Party in disguise”. At a press conference held to launch the […]

Rick Rubin’s American Recordings label kicks off its South African campaign with a loud, rude roar, writes Buddy Bradley YOU are a young man, only 31 years of age. Once you were fat and ugly. Then you dieted. Now you are merely large and hairy. But no matter. Nights, you can be seen in your […]

Military leaders usually know when to attack. Only the best of them know when to retreat. The SANDF waited too long before backing off this week from its attempt to seek judicial review of the Cameron Commission’s decision to release certain sensitive documents to the public. This newspaper had already published an earlier version of […]

The government’s affirmative action policy is cruel, heartless and immoral, argues Martin Brassey. Why are its victims so silent? OFFICIAL job reservation, scrapped in 1987, was reintroduced to South Africa a fortnight ago. Yet not a word has been said in protest. Where once the policy provoked uproar, now it evokes mere silence. Silence from […]

ATHLETICS: Julian Drew THE annual Soweto Marathon takes place for the second time on Sunday and despite the teething problems with the organisation of the race, it is fast becoming South Africa’s premier city marathon. Last year the race did not obtain official sanction from the South African Road Running Association. The Transvaal Amateur Athletic […]

Batting blues: Selectors need to think again after dismal failure against Kiwis CRICKET: Jon Swift THERE are, in the light of South Africa’s 137-run loss to Ken Rutherford’s touring New Zealanders at the Wanderers this week, a number of matters to be pondered. The most pressing of these is the continuing failure of the South […]

The formation of a House of Traditional Leaders in kwaZulu/Natal has created conflict between the ANC and IFP, writes Farouk Chothia BEHIND the ANC’s opposition to a House of Traditional Leaders in kwaZulu/Natal lies realpolitik: it wants to prevent its newly-acquired asset, Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini, from being exposed as a monarch without a crown, […]

What spurred last week’s panic attack at the JSE and what should investors do to prevent future losses? Jacques Magliolo reports BEARS had a field day last week when the Johannesburg Stock Exchange overall index fell a mere 100 points. No sooner had the index fallen in line with Wall Street — on the back […]

Farouk Chothia THREATS that disgruntled Umkhonto weSizwe cadres will disrupt the ANC’s national conference in Bloemfontein later this month were made this week by Patrick Hlongwane of the Returned Exiles Committee. Speaking from Ulundi, Hlongwane said he had suggested to MK deserters from the Wallmannstal army base that they visit the conference to present their […]