Cato Manor squatters face eviction after an IFP minister accused Sanco of orchestrating land grabs. But shack lords may be behind the problem, reports Farouk Chothia THE kwaZulu/Natal Minister of Housing and Local Government, Peter Miller, has accused the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) of “orchestrating” the occupation by squatters of land earmarked for […]
RUGBY: Barney Spender ON THE 12th green with the rain beginning to fall gently, the big man in the lumberjack shirt lines up the putt. His three colleagues look on quietly as he steadies himself, gripping the putter lightly in his lumberjack hands. Finally he is ready and the ball rolls toward the hole. And […]
The Markets Jacques Magliolo Today we take you to a brand new casino in downtown Johannesburg. No, not to the Calton Hotel or some shady hole in Hillbrow, but to Diagonal Street; to that financial stronghold called the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. “When markets are quiet, we bet on horse racing,” says a senior equity dealer, […]
Gone are the rough, raw emotions. But don’t blame Koos Kombuis; it’s the production that’s the problem, writes Fred de Vries IT’S confession time. I love the music of Koos Kombuis. But his first proper album since 1989s Niemandsland is a bitter disappointment. Or perhaps one should say: it could have been so much better […]
Is regional public broadcasting the responsibility of the SABC or of the provinces? The first salvos have been fired in a heated dispute between the premiers and central government, writes Mark Gevisser A RAGING controversy over North-West premier Popo Molefe’s decision to appoint one of his provincial government’s advisers as director general of the vast […]
THE transition that propelled Safoora Sadek from activist to a member of the PWV legislature was so quick that she is still getting used to her title of “honourable member”. The former national director of the Human Rights Commission is also battling to come to grips with the culture of politics in the provincial legislature. […]
Paul Stober MINISTER of Safety and Security Sydney Mufamadi has announced he will set up a special team to investigate allegations of hit-squads in the kwaZulu Police — but one of the first people he will consult is somebody who has himself been accused of involvement: kwaZulu/Natal’s minister of safety and security, Celani Mtetwa. Mtetwa […]
Peter and Gary Kirsten have already made their mark in the current test series … but they’re amazed they’re even there CRICKET: Paul Martin ON the Knysna lagoon a year-or-so ago, a rubber dinghy floated idly along. “We had a few Castles in the boat, and we didn’t even notice the fishes on the hook,” […]
Weekly Mail Reporter OWNERS of guns of all kinds — licensed or not, toys or real — will give up their weapons at mosques, churches and synagogues countrywide later this year if the Gun Free South Africa Campaign gets its way. Methodist Bishop Peter Storey, chairman of the campaign, said this week it was aiming […]
Native tongue Bafana Khumalo STOP the world, I want to get off! There are too many changes! My system can’t cope. The appointment pages of the business sections of newspapers used to be packed with proud, beaming white males whose bosses had just summoned them to their offices and said: “Jack, you’ve paid your dues […]
The Nationalists called them ‘surplus people’, the government of national unity calls them ‘squatters’. Whatever term you use, they’re as ‘superfluous’ as they ever were, writes Cosmas Desmond IT was just like old times: people — angry, frustrated, powerless and, of course, black people — squatting in the dust waiting for the powers that be […]
Critical Consumer Pat Sidley SOUTH African consumers may soon have the advantage of the United Kingdom’s Consumers’ Association operating here. The CA recently sent representatives to South Africa to have look at the situation and is debating setting up an office here, which would also circulate a publication similar to its respected Which? magazine in […]
Moveable Feast Michele Witthaus BEHIND the dusty, unimposing exterior of 25 Alexander Street, Ferreirastown, are a myriad curious objects on shelves and in glass cabinets. Gaudily painted statuettes share space with miniature Oriental houses, white rabbit sweets, ginseng remedies and “stop smoking tea”. A sign on the wall informs one that “The Chon Hing Restaurant […]
The schoolboyish spat between South Africa’s rugby administrators is hurting the players and the image of the game RUGBY: Jon Swift So South African Rugby football Union president Louis Luyt and South African team manager Jannie Engelbrecht have publicly shaken hands. One senses the strong hand of Sarfu vice-president, strongman Mluleke George, as the matchmaker […]
Weekly Mail Reporters THE PWV government yesterday disclosed sensational details of an alleged plot by drug lords to kill PWV premier Tokyo Sexwale. PWV government spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said he could “confirm the existence of a conspiracy to murder the premier” by a sinister group in the drug world. The reason the group wanted Sexwale […]
Farouk Chothia CRAFT vendors who display their wares on Durban’s Golden Mile, the sangomas who scatter dead pigeons on the city’s bustling pavements, the dress-sellers who shout their prices on street corners — these women are all members of one of the country’s newest unions, the Self-Employed Women’s Union (Sewu). Muti-seller Zodwa Khumalo is Sewu’s […]
Business is trying to subvert union power by making unions shareholders and offering workers ‘no-strike’ bonuses, writes Jacques Magliolo The bargaining power of unions is under threat. Recent trends in the market show that management is refusing to compromise during wage demands, but is, at the same time, introducing bonuses for those who do not […]
Evidence of a bombs-for-oil trade between Pretoria and Iraq in the 1980s is being used to try to force Armscor out of the international arms market. Paul Stober and Eddie Koch report AN American court has accused a former Barlow Rand company of illegally supplying Iraq with bomb technology in exchange for thousands of tons […]
The nine ‘very frustrated’ provincial premiers meet central government ministers today in a fresh bid to sort out their lack of powers. Chris Louw reports ALMOST four months after assuming office, the country’s nine premiers still lack the powers they need to govern their provinces effectively. The nine “very frustrated” leaders will meet Constitutional Development […]
AND BLACK LITERATURE Bafana Khumalo IF you thought the deregulated broadcasting dial was going to be inundated with mindless pop and inane talk stations, despair not — help is at hand. Hidden among hopeful commercial broadcasters are prospective radio stations aimed at niche markets. Black-owned Skotaville Publishers is applying to establish a national community radio […]
Stefaans Brummer WITWATERSRAND Attorney-General Klaus von Lieres und Wilkau says Defence Minister Joe Modise’s moratorium on prosecuting people who fail to respond to call-ups is a “puff in the wind”. Modise said in parliament members of the Citizen Force and commando units — all white, because they were fed by whites-only conscription until it was […]
RUGBY: Barney Spender WIN or lose on Saturday, this sixth tour of New Zealand by the Springboks will probably be judged a failure by the vast majority of South Africans. After all, the test series was lost, the Springbok head fell to Otago in rainy Dunedin and there was the ignominy of having prop Johan […]
A South African ambassador has taken the UN to task over attacks on tourists in Mozambique, reports Chris Louw SOUTH AFRICA’S ambassador in Maputo, John Sunde, this week criticised the United Nations for failing to improve the security situation in Mozambique in the wake of the dramatic increase in attacks on South African tourists. Sunde […]
Sidwell Hartman has turned down five overseas offers this year — yet the role he most wants to sing here has been offered to a foreigner. Coenraad Visser talked to him between rehearsals for Pact’s Aida A MODEST person with strong Christian beliefs, Sidwell Hartman does not at first evoke the image of the warrior […]
NATIVE TONGUE Bafana Khumalo ‘OH, Lisa! What you gon’ an’ done now, baby? What your mama gon’ and made you do?” I was sitting at a piazza at the Oriental Plaza, throwing bits of bread at the doves and shooting the breeze with my good friend, Ali. “Lisa Marie, mah baby, why now?” he cried, […]
Jacques Magliolo looks at the profile of a typical insider trader Meet Henry — well educated, well dressed and well-off. A highly respected member of the stockbroking fraternity and a well- known socialite, he knows everyone who is anyone. Henry drives an imported sports car, lives in a mansion in an exclusive Johannesburg suburb — […]
The leader of the African Muslim Party has helped victims from Bangladesh to Bosnia. Now he is using his skills to aid Rwanda. Stefaans Brummer reports Imtiaz Sooliman, a doctor turned politician and aid broker, has a plan to aid Rwanda which could put to shame last month’s South African airlift to the refugee camps. […]
Louise Flanagan and Chandre Gould SEVERAL askaris have died in mysterious circumstances — raising the possibility they are being murdered to stop further exposure of hit squad activities. Former Vlakplaas commander Colonel Eugene de Kock, currently facing murder and gun-running charges, is alleged to have killed askari Brian Ngqulunga, shot dead during the Harms Commission […]
Weekly Mail Reporter AN astonishing range of decorating workshops — from designs for low-cost housing to investments in Oriental carpets — will be on offer at the first ever Decorex (SA) exhibition starting on Wednesday August 10 at Gallagher’s Estate in Midrand. Decorator Nicola Hadfield and the South African Guild of Interior Designers have arranged […]
IN most countries, political parties tussle to become the government. In this country, members of all the major political parties are elbowing each other aside in the rush for the opposition benches. The National Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party, despite both being members of the government, also want to lead the opposition. The Democratic […]
Brezhnev’s favourite dish was veal and pork stuffed with vegetables; Gorbachev prefers smoked salmon blinis. Fabius Burger sampled the fare of tsars and presidents at Moscow THE Russians aren’t coming. They’ve arrived, culinary-wise that is, in the restaurant Moscow in Rosebank, Johannesburg, which has been open for just a week. And no, you don’t sit […]
Tenant farming communities are being ignored in the land- reform process. This could prove disastrous for the government, warns Dave Husy of the Farmworkers’ Research and Resource Project RECENTLY 7 000 farm tenants and workers downed tools and took to the streets of traditionally ultra-conservative Piet Retief, marching through the town to present a memorandum […]