Staff Reporter

CHIEF Mangosuthu Buthelezi is desperately trying to cling on to traditional power. For the first time ever, he has issued invitations to ANC-aligned traditional leaders to attend Shaka Day celebrations, to be held in Stanger in two weeks time. He issued the invitations in his capacity as traditional prime minister. Buthelezi is also seeking a […]

A document leaked to the Mail, alleging misuse of funds, caused a stir at the Cosatu congress, reports Drew Forrest FURIOUS Cosatu leaders are alleging a disinformation campaign aimed at smearing them and influencing the Cosatu congress after the leak of a confidential financial report to the Mail. The report points to misuse of money […]

Farouk Chothia A SENIOR Inkatha Freedom Party leader has been charged with the murder of two IFP members who were shot dead after organising a joint IFP and ANC peace rally in the Bhambayi squatter settlement, near Durban, last weekend. A police spokesman said this week that Bhambayis IFP chairman, Victor Shawe (49), and two […]

Tokyo Sexwale, PWV premier, replies to criticism of his attack on the press YOU strike a journalist, you strike a rock. Journalists are understandably touchy about their freedom to express themselves. Politicians, too, are touchy about attempts at character assassination and dissemination of disinformation. Lets put a few things on record: * A democratic media […]

Sir Ian McKellen, one of Britains leading actors, is also an activist. Robert Greig spoke to him on the eve of his visit to South Africa IN Ian McKellens experience there is a clear connection between activism and acting. They involve similar performance skills, he told the Weekly Mail & Guardian in a telephone interview […]

Weekly Mail Reporter FORMER security policeman Michael Bellingan has been charged with the murder of his first wife, Janine Bellingan, acting Transvaal attorney general Chris Human said on Thursday. He said extradition proceedings would be launched against Bellingan if he failed to return to South Africa of his own accord. It was also possible Bellingan […]

An upcoming conference may be the South African feature film industrys last chance to deal with its inner fragmentation, writes William Pretorius THE South African feature film industry is not quite dead. The corpse still twitches: Willie Estherhuisen of Orkney Snork Nie fame is busy with Lipstick, Dipstick, and Dirk de Villiers with Kalahari Harry […]

The alleged Station Strangler has already been tried and convicted by the NP, the media and the public, writes Justin Pearce THE man outside the magistrates court wasnt going to wait for a verdict. With the words Ek sal jou vrek doodmaak (Ill kill you dead), he pronounced his own sentence on Norman Afzal Simons, […]

Sibusiso Nxumalo NAMIBIAN police are investigating whether a full- page advertisement in a Windhoek-based newspaper last month contravened the countrys Racial Discrimination Prohibition Act. A docket would be ready soon, according to Namibias attorney general, Hatmut Ruppel. The advert — run on August 17, the anniversary of the birth of Nazi leader Rudolf Hess — […]

Weekly Mail Reporter MILL and bakery owner Sam Molope is the first beneficiary of the United States trade drive into South Africa. The US Trade & Development Agency is providing a $40 000 grant to finance a feasibility study by Ga- Rankuwa Milling into the building of a flour mill in North-West province. Ga-Rankuwa Milling […]

Lesley Cowling STRIP the five Cover Boys down to their bare essentials, take away their G-strings, animal skins and ripped jeans, and underneath you will find your regular nice South African guy. But on stage, they offer themselves to their all- women audiences in fast-paced dance routines, stripping down to G-strings from a variety of […]

Louise Flanagan THE Ministry of Defence has still not been briefed on the controversial Steyn report, deputy minister of defence Ronnie Kasrils admitted to parliament this week. I have been contextually briefed by General (Pierre) Steyn … I have, however, not been briefed on the contents of any report. This will be done shortly, Kasrils […]

MEDIA & MARKETING Clive Simpkins THE advertising colleges in this country are the incubator or nursery of the industry. But it seems that the industrial giants prefer to snatch BComm graduates straight from university and put them through their own version of paediatric marketing pedantry. The AAA, based in the PWV and Cape Town, positions […]

The government is still funding an elite school set up by Lucas Mangope, writes Paul Stober THE government is spending R12-million a year to subsidise one of Lucas Mangope’s pet projects: a palatial school in Mafikeng that cost an estimated R100-million to build and caters to only 500 pupils, mostly foreign students studying a British […]

CRITICAL CONSUMER Pat Sidley PARLIAMENT is an interesting place these days. When the Minister of Health, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, participated in the debate on the price of drugs on August 17, the House, it seems, was fully in support of her views. This included Dr DR Madide, the Inkatha Freedom Party’s spokesman on health. […]

International development support for South Africa is being snagged on a paradoxical problem, writes Simon Segal THE much-hyped flow of foreign aid to South Africa is being held up by a paradoxical problem: the government does not have any clarity about what exactly is being offered, and the donors won’t move until the government proposes […]

Stefaans Brummer A HIGH-RANKING Pretoria police officer may have helped former security police captain Michael Bellingan, implicated in apartheid-era “dirty tricks” and the murder of his wife, to gain residency in New Zealand. Sources close to the international investigation into Bellingan — who emigrated to New Zealand three weeks after a May 6 inquest verdict […]

Theatre: Stanley Peskin PACT Ballet’s presentation (in association with Nedbank) of David Bintley’s Still Life at the Penguin Cafe is an altogether triumphant experience. The company, in superb form, places before us the choreographer’s passionate lyric on the continuity of man, death, and nature. A playful and poignant obituary notice, Still Life strips us of […]

Stefaans Brummer DEPUTY defence minister Ronnie Kasrils this week found himself caught in the middle of tensions between the Northern Cape ANC and the army. ANC VIPs were barred from entering the army’s Lohatla battle-training school, at the centre of a land dispute, when Kasrils and Land Affairs Minister Derek Hanekom went on a fact-finding […]

Special consultants to government ministers can earn a fortune — or nothing at all. Paul Stober reports VAST differences in the pay packets of government consultants make it difficult to work out their true worth to the new ministers. Government figures, detailing the appointment of advisers, show that 10 ANC ministers have employed consultants or […]

Cinema: Fabius Burger THE producer of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Duncan Kenworthy, said during filming that weddings were universal, then ran out of financing. Polygramme Filmed Entertainment and Channel Four, usually accused of financing only politically correct dramas about socially-loaded trisexual love affairs, came to the rescue. Surprise! The film was the biggest international […]

Wyatt Earp didn’t start out as a classic Western hero, according to a new film, but he seems to have had a great PRO. Fabius Burger reports THE fuss Hollywood movie magazines are making about the need for new heroes is probably a publicity gimmick for the current spate of neo-Westerns. Director Lawrence Kasdan’s Wyatt […]

During the week, they’re bakers, drivers and teachers — but on Sunday, they dance to keep tradition alive. Matlhodi Malope reports from the African Cultural Heritage Trust competition THOKO NDIMANDE was often punished for her love of dancing at school, when she dodged lessons to watch troupes perform at the Market Theatre. “Dancing is in […]

Pat Sidley ONE of the last vestiges of apartheid within the church has come to an end. The Apostolic Faith Mission which has always had separate churches for the different races of its adherents has decided to unite. The process began some time ago and was expected to drag on for longer than it has. […]

Chris Louw ANC attempts to shift the balance of power in parliament away from the cabinet would be fought by the National Party and could end up in the Constitutional Court, a senior NP MP warned this week. The Weekly Mail & Guardian reported last week that the ANC caucus was shifting parliamentary power to […]

Mondli waka Makhanya and Chris Louw ALLAN BOESAK is set to relinquish his position as ANC leader in the Western Cape, and will probably be replaced by a cabinet member. A little-known township activist is expected to be elected deputy leader of the province. Elections will take place at the ANC’s Western Cape regional congress, […]

All the indications are that this year’s toll of positive tests is set to exceed the 1993 total ATHLETICS: John Rodda DESPITE denials from the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the Weekly Mail & Guardian has learned that up to 20 more international athletes have tested positive for drugs in a batch of results which will […]

Getting the right players together, getting them fit and winning is new South African coach Kitch Christie’s aim RUGBY: Jon Swift IN A society, indeed in a game which consumes the interest of a not insignificant portion of that society, the new South African coach Kitch Christie has conducted a klopjag which has shaken not […]

Caution is the key word as South Africa take on Madagascar in the African Nations Cup on Sunday SOCCER: Clinton Asary THIS weekend all attention will be focused on the national squad, who kick off their African Nations Cup campaign with an away game against Madagascar in Antanarivo. Drawn in Group Five alongside Zambia, Gabon, […]

Farouk Chothia A GROUP of Durban lawyers stormed the offices of the Legal Aid Board (LAB) last Friday, claiming that only “corrupt” attorneys who paid “kickbacks” were offered state-funded cases. After storming the LAB’s office in the Durban’s Magistrate’s Court building, the group of about 20 lawyers demanded to see a roster where all lawyers […]

MOVEABLE FEAST Barbara Ludman LET’S get this straight at the outset, unapologetically: few of us are beautiful enough for Mea Culpa. Even on an ordinary off-night, by half past eight, unless you’re as stunning as the decor, you’ll stand out like a sore thumb. You can see they’ve gone after the Annabel’s crowd. One doesn’t […]

The country’s captain-in-waiting tells why and how he believes South Africa’s cricketing future must be strengthened CRICKET: Paul Martin HANSIE CRONJE, whom the selectors plan to appoint national cricket captain next month, has pinpointed a lack of all-year-round fitness as a significant factor in South Africa’s failure to win the Test series or either of […]