Staff Reporter

The writing of a new Bill of Rights provides the chance to bring a second revolution in citizen’s rights, argue Water Affairs Minister Kader Asmal and academic Ronald Roberts THE first rights revolution in South Africa has ended the political powerlessness of the majority of citizens. The second must overcome the continuing reality of economic […]

Pat Sidley THE fledgling cellular phone industry has become the latest field for thieves and fraudsters with about R10- million of theft and crime occuring in the five months of the industry’s life. The scams are so rife and the amounts involved so steep that police have seconded a full-time officer from the fraud squad […]

William Pretorius ALLOW children to make their own films and you won’t get Mary Poppins, as producer Brent Quinn discovered when he workshopped scripts with groups of children from Hillbrow, Lenasia, Eldorado Park and Soweto. The results form the project Developing Visions, part of the South African International Film Festival. The children were chosen from […]

A little-noted post-election building boom provides valuable lessons for the recovery of our injured economy, writes Terence Moll ‘IF you’re a small builder and aren’t working every day,” the salesman said, “then you must be either lazy or fast asleep.” He should know: he works for a firm which sells precision saws, drills and concrete-cutting […]

Mapula Sibanda PIETER MAYISELA was starting to lose hope of ever finding his younger sister, Fikile, who left their rural home in 1991 at the age of 19 to seek her fortune in the cities. “We are a family of 12 and our ageing parents do not work any more,” says Mayisela. “It is customary […]

CRICKET: Paul Martin IT sure ain’t gonna be no easy ride in this sheriff’s posse. Big Bob Woolmer is known in the cricket world as something of a radical, an intellectual, a man of ideas, new ideas. For one thing, he will be requiring from the South African cricket team the same sort of dedication […]

WHAT’s the cost of transformation? Well-placed senior sources claim that the transformation process has already cost R500 000, the lions’ share of which has been spent at Television News Productions. One group of facilitators was reportedly paid R200 000 for the work they did facilitating workshops at TNP; three days of workshops in the radio […]

Farouk Chotia ZULU king Goodwill Zwelethini has spurned Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s efforts at reconciliation. Speaking to about 10 000 people in kwaMashu last Sunday, Buthelezi said he had twice sent IFP deputy secretary general Mandla Zakhele “MZ” Khumalo (the sacrificial lamb for the Inkathagate scandal) to the monarch, offering two head of […]

Quentin Tarantino’s new film, Pulp Fiction, opened the South African International Film Festival this week. The controversial director spoke to Andrew Pulver in London WHEN Quentin Tarantino strolled up the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year to take possession of the Palme d’Or for his second feature, Pulp Fiction, it wasn’t […]

Mondli waka Makhanya FROM Wilmot James’ office in the Cape Town suburb of Rondebosch one can see the gates of the president’s Westbrooke residence. And if one gets there early enough, one can see a procession of ministers and officials exiting from President Nelson Mandela’s legendary early morning meetings. So it is quite apt that […]

With a carload of prejudices Charles Leonard recently attended his first hotrod races at the Wembley International Raceway in Johannesburg MY first experience with hotrods not only taught me some of life’s valuable lessons, but it also gave me my first taste of class analysis. As a farmer’s son my father took me along to […]

Trevor Steele Taylor EMINENT French documentary filmmaker Marcel Ophuls, renowned not only for his extraordinary exposes of Nazi war crimes but also for his volatile lawsuits against producers, has withdrawn from the South African International Film Festival. Ophuls, who was due to arrive yesterday for the opening of the festival, cancelled his visit at the […]

The defence ministry is investigating Armscor’s mysterious shipment of AK47s to Yemen — which may originally have been intended for Unita. By Eddie Koch, Paul Stober and Stefaans Brummer A CLANDESTINE consignment of AK47 assault rifles sent to Yemen by Armscor officials has opened new tensions between Defence Minister Joe Modise and conservative elements in […]

Scientists are unanimous that culling Namibia’s seals this year makes no sense. But the government is persisting . Fiona Macleod reports AN urgent appeal has been made to the Namibian ombudsman to intervene in the government’s plan to cull thousands of seals this year, which scientists have warned threatens to wipe out the country’s entire […]

Dogtroep kick off their performances at Arts Alive tomorrow night. Neil Wallace gives an idea of what to expect HOLLAND’S Dogtroep, a group of performers, musicians, sculptors and technicians specialising in bizarre performance events, work both indoors and out. The snow spectacle commissioned for the 1992 Winter Olympics confirmed them as one of Europe’s most […]

ON the eve of the launch of Weekly Mail & Guardian’s new supplement on nature tourism, environmental editor Eddie Koch has won a special merit award for his coverage. Koch won the award at this week’s SAB Environmental Journalists of the Year Award for his “consistently high standard and commitment to stimulating public interest and […]

CINEMA: Stanley Peskin CONCEIVED as a television film, the Emmy Award- winning And the Band Plays On is a painstaking but sometimes flawed docudrama based on the book by Randy Shilts. The transposing of 664 pages of rigorous investigative reporting into a 140-minute film clearly posed a tricky problem of adaptation – – screenplay writer […]

Gwen Ansell pays tribute to late great South African percussionist Makhaya Mahlangu MAKHAYA MAHLANGU is no more. The 42-year-old percussionist died in his sleep in the early hours of Monday morning. “Makhaya was a person who’d gone through many things in his life: poverty, oppression from the system. Yet he became one of the greats […]

SENIOR National Union of Metalworkers members are to meet on Saturday to investigate claims of “serious sexual harassment” by two of its delegates during the Cosatu national congress. Numsa general secretary Peter Dantjie said national office- bearers would meet to weigh the allegations. Cosatu’s press officer, Neil Coleman, would not comment on the alleged incident. […]

Instead of depending on the government for a roof over their heads, a group of homeless women from Khayelitsha has started an innovative savings scheme. Justin Pearce reports FOR the women of the Victoria Mxenge Savings Scheme, development starts with coins in a jam jar under the bed. On Saturday, the group of 200 homeless […]

RUGBY: Jon Swift IN the height of Cup final fervour, it would be well not to forget that this country is only a week away from the first test against Marcelo Loffreda’s Pumas. It would be foolish, considering the problems which currently face national coach Kitch Christie, to dismiss the tourists on the basis of […]

Elana Meyer has just completed the most successful four weeks of her career ATHLETICS: Julian Drew ELANA MEYER, South Africa’s most successful athlete, finally struck gold last weekend to put the cherry on the top of a highly rewarding season. Her victory in Oslo in the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) world half-marathon championships provided […]

Next week’s Constitutional Court selection won’t provide much scandal, writes Lesley Cowling. But will this compromise its transparency? TWENTY-FIVE candidates for the Constitutional Court will be interviewed in the Civic’s Tesson Theatre next week, but it is unlikely that the hearings will contain the stuff of drama. Albie Sachs, director of the Constitutional Studies Centre […]

Big business parastatal, the Industrial Development Corporation, is up for restructuring, says the government. The IDC thinks otherwise. Reg Rumney reports DESPITE providing almost R400-million to support black economic empowerment, the parastatal Industrial Development Corporation is still up for restructuring. The recently released White Paper on the reconstruction and development programme reiterates an earlier promise […]

EDUCATION: Shattered school windows and poor relationships … PWV MEC for education Mary Metcalfe faces a tough task. But she is not daunted. By Gaye Davis SATURDAY morning at Mapetla Secondary School, Soweto. Parents, teachers, pupils and members of community organisations sit in the stifling heat of the cramped classroom. No one bothers to open […]

Guy Willoughby LAST week saw the official launch at the Civic Theatre of the Theatre Managements of South Africa (TMSA), set up after intensive negotiations to represent the interests of theatre management nationwide. The body’s executive includes industry movers and shakers, and a management council brings in public- sector and independent producers, as well as […]

British prime minister John Major led a host of international sports stars and the media around township sports facilities, writes Paul Martin WITH Wednesday’s rival attractions conveniently divided by that compulsory cricket tradition, the lunch-break, cognoscenti had the mouth-watering prospect of admiring the 12 or so balls Brian Lara stroked in the Soweto nets after […]

Louise Flanagan GETTING Sun king Sol Kerzner to court to face bribery and corruption charges might be more difficult than hitting the jackpot in one of the Sun International (SI) casinos. The attorney general in the former Transkei homeland, Christo Nel, has determinedly chased the SI chairman for four years and he’s not ready to […]

Weekly Mail Reporter THE abortion debate looks set to start all over again with the appointment this month of a parliamentary committee that is likely to have the pro-choice and anti-abortion lobbies fighting it out. The 26-member committee, which will hear submissions from the public before recommending legislation to the cabinet, represents a wide spectrum […]

Jacques Magliolo COCA-COLA International will be back in South Africa before the end of this year, say the experts ahead of Coke’s planned Friday press announcement and following rumours that Coke Group president for Africa Karl Weir has been seen in South Africa. Though a press conference has been called for Friday, little information has […]

Moveable Feast Marino Corazza DURING our courting years one of the simple treats my wife and I would indulge in when we had a little spare cash was to have dinner at La Lampara in Norwood. La Lampara is a fishing boat lamp used at night to attract the fish. The eaterie had similar beckoning […]

Toyota South Africa’s founder was an unlikely motor mogul. Reg Rumney reviews a new book about the company he founded THE real truth behind the management philosophy that spurred the Japanese economic miracle is “the last fart of the ferret”, according to the man who started it all. This fascinating fact is disclosed in a […]