Staff Reporter

to tow? The limitations of the current minimum car licence may come as a surprise if you are about to hitch that caravan Gavin Foster Thousands of South Africans who passed driving tests in the past three years are unaware that they are not eligible to tow caravans, speedboats or trailers licensed to carry a […]

Algiers | Friday THE death toll from storms that lashed northern Algeria at the weekend swelled to 701 on Thursday, as rescue workers pulled another 50 bodies from mountains of mud and debris in the capital. Officials said 651 people died in Algiers, where the working-class neighbourhood of Bab El Oued bore the brunt of […]

David Shapshak The death of the desktop PC has long been prophesied by the technology industry, which is always conscious of the next big thing. First came the laptop, then the handheld computers, cellphones and gaming platforms. But the new hub of our increasingly digital homes may well be the fridge, certainly if Korea has […]

report Paul Kirk Apartheid-era legislation, designed to allow a pariah state to conduct secret arms deals, gave the presidency the power to scrutinise and even censor the report of the joint investigation team into the multibillion-rand arms deal before it reached Parliament. The apparent use of this legislation is the latest in a series of […]

I have questions about your motivation in publishing the truly madly explicit copulation photograph (Friday, November 9). I don’t know why we don’t copulate openly in public, but we don’t. All the other animals, as far as I know, copulate anywhere, anytime. We do it in private. Why? It seems so odd. Can you tell […]

MARIANNE MERTEN, Cape Town | Friday IN a further twist in the machiavellian manoeuvrings of Cape politics, the Democratic Alliance is forcing its New National Party councillors to resign from the NNP before the end of the year – or lose their jobs. The DA is amending its interim constitution to ban dual party membership, […]

analysis Judith February Louis XIV’s financial adviser was once quoted as saying: “The art of taxation consists in plucking the goose so as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least amount of hissing.” Have we in South Africa come to the end of the road as far as major tax reform is […]

REVIEW Gavin Foster BMW M3 SMG, R405000 BMW 3 Series compact, from R165000 Switch off the Dynamic Stability Control. Move the shift lever to the right sequential mode. Select performance mode programme 6 on the centre console-mounted switch. Move the gearstick forward and hold it there. Now comes the ugly part plant your foot on […]

Charlene Smith In a sharp turn from current government policy, the parliamentary Committee on the Status of Women has recommended that anti-retroviral drugs be given to protect rape survivors and to stop mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The African National Congress-dominated committee issued its recommendations after two months of hearings into women and HIV, and found […]

ANOTHER 552 children suspected of genocide and other crimes against humanity regained their freedom on Monday after spending three months in the Gaculiro re-education camp in the capital, Kigali. Unicef Information Officer Cyriaque Ngoboka said that 13 girls were among those freed, after a traditional village tribunal heard testimonies of their innocence. Monday’s release brings […]

Five women have battled the odds and become successful entrepreneurs Thuli Nhlapo An age-old tradition and a pastime for herdboys in rural communities bee honey harvesting is becoming a thriving small-business activity that has diversified to produce other products such as candles and cosmetics. This is the success story of a group of women from […]

Nawaal Deane The head of a Nelspruit hospital has been suspended, allegedly because of his support for an organisation that helped rape survivors obtain access to anti-retroviral drugs to reduce their chances of catching HIV. The superintendent, Dr Matthys von Mollendorff, is taking Mpumalanga MEC for Health Sibongile Manana to court to lift his suspension, […]

Bongani Majola The desire to heal historic breaches in the Gauteng African National Congress is seen as a key motive for the elevation of Angie Motshekga wife of former Gauteng premier Mathole Motshekga to deputy leader of the provincial party. At the Gauteng ANC conference last weekend she was elected provincial deputy chairperson in a […]

The Bok coach has made wholesale changes after the loss to France Andy Capostagno in Genoa Last Saturday, for the second time this year, South Africa went into a Test match against France confident of victory, only to have their hopes dashed by a massively confident team in blue. Consequently when the team arrived in […]

A SECOND LOOK Don Glass and Ruth Sack Imagine a place where creative, innovative and critical thinking is highly valued. Imagine a place where multiple ways of knowing are recognised, explored and celebrated. Imagine a place where you can learn about the heritage and cultural practices of your community and others, a place where you […]

Date : Cape Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) in African Songbirds, featuring Gloria Bosman, Jelena Revishin and Nontutthuzelo Puoane, conducted by Mike Campbell and including a jazz quintet. November 18: Pop Goes the Orchestra, conducted by George Michie, featuring Zayn Adams. December 5 to 8: Moya Wa Sechaba Spirit of the Nation, with Sibongile Khumalo and her […]

Jaspreet Kindra In a possible step towards a political realignment, the African National Congress’s leader in KwaZulu-Natal, S’bu Ndebele, has attacked the Inkatha Freedom Party for reneging on a post-election promise to give the ANC more provincial cabinet posts. ANC sources view Ndebele’s criticism as a strategic move to put some distance between the two […]

Morgan Tsvangirai has been tipped as the next president of Zimbabwe. Rehana Rossouw and Jaspreet Kindra spoke to him about the prospects for a free and fair election next year, famine in Zimbabwe and his exit strategy for President Robert Mugabe Rehana Rossouw: According to opinion polls, you are going to be president of Zimbabwe […]

Paul Kirk Between 1995 and 1996 the Ministry of Defence conducted a strategic defence review a stocktaking of the equipment the South African National Defence Force needs to acquire. The review presented a “force design” that amounted to little more than a wish list because, as the Department of Defence conceded, funding was unavailable. In […]

ATHLETICS Duncan Mackay Ludmila Engquist’s story sounds like the stuff of a Hollywood blockbuster. How she grew up as a cog in the Soviet sports machinery; failed a drugs test only to be cleared by a judge after her tyrannical husband admitted he had spiked her drink in revenge for her asking for a divorce; […]

I congratulate you on the advertisement on November 9, “When a nine-month-old baby was recently gang-raped, who were the guilty parties?”. The increase in child abuse from 37 500 (in 1998) to 67 017 (last year) as quoted by Minister Steve Tshwete in Parliament earlier this year is a tragic indictment on our government and […]

spirit level Cedric Mayson What do religious people have to celebrate? Jews have just had their high season. Hindus are praying and feasting for Diwali. Bahais are commemorating the birthday of Bahula. Muslims are about to begin Ramadan. And Christmas is about to leap over the horizon with a shower of stars and angels, cribs […]

This system means cellphone users pay for data not time David Shapshak The failure of wireless application protocol (WAP) has dented the confidence of cellphone users who thought they could get the Internet on their phones. WAP promised a Web-like interface that would be ideal for small transactions and ticket purchases and for accessing information, […]

BODY LANGUAGE Thabo Mohlala My 11-year-old nephew and I were recently walking down the streets of Dobsonville, Soweto on a swelteringly hot day. I had promised him ice cream and we were on our way to a supermarket. On our way we met a posse of streetwise youngsters sporting the latest designer labels. My nephew […]

The PAC and Cosatu have teamed up with civic and community groups to boot British multinational Biwater out of Nelspruit Glenda Daniels A strident battle has erupted over South Africa’s first test case of water privatisation and even President Thabo Mbeki is said to have entered the fray. The Pan Africanist Congress and the Congress […]

The latest discovery adds weight to the call for an inquiry into Swiss relations with the apartheid regime Evidence wa ka Ngobeni Former apartheid president PW Botha secretly awarded the highest national honours to Swiss industrialists for supplying the apartheid regime against a United Nations arms embargo with war matriel. Some details of the secret […]

Barry Streek The postponement of floor-crossing legislation may be a blessing in disguise for the New National Party both the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance say the NNP has most to lose by the proposed law. The law, which provides for the lifting of anti-defection clauses for MPs and provincial legislature members when […]

Khadija Magardie Residents of two tiny agricultural plots in Vanderbijlpark, an industrial town in the Vaal Triangle, will square up to iron and steel giant Iscor in the Johannesburg High Court early next week. Armed with a battery of medical reports, lawyers for 16 residents of Steel Valley and Linkholm Agricultural Holdings hope to prove […]

Zenzile Khoisan Western Cape police chief Lennit Max this week refused to answer claims that he met National Intelligence Agency (NIA) officials as his detectives were gearing up to investigate an alleged cover-up by the same officials. The Mail & Guardian last week reported on an affidavit by Andr Lincoln, the suspended top policeman who […]

Management meddling was behind e.tv’s attack on the M&G, writes Drew Forrest ‘Excellence in journalism is the best protection for media freedom,” e.tv’s channel director Quraysh Patel told the Human Rights Commission (HRC) last year. Fine-sounding words but entirely hollow, given the channel’s crude attempt to knife the Mail & Guardian last week. Paradoxically, the […]

A second look Jaspreet Kindra After five years of exposure to politics in KwaZulu-Natal, spending a week at the national Parliament was an eye-opener. It was amazing how unsophisticated and aggressive the debate was in Cape Town. Attacks from either side were often personal and ineffective if intended to change the other side’s position. With […]

If the former champion fails on Saturday his legendary trainer could go down with him Richard Williams Manny Steward will be in Lennox Lewis’s dressing room on Saturday, taping the fighter’s hands with tender care. Steward’s will be the last words Lewis hears before entering the ring in Las Vegas to recapture his world heavyweight […]