Staff Reporter

A RETIRED colonel is training 6 000 militiamen in Nigeria’s central Taraba State, which is locked in a bloody inter-ethnic feud with neighbouring Benue State, Radio Nigeria reported on Thursday. The radio quoted the commander of the 232 battalion in Yola, Brigadier General D. Yaji, as having told Taraba State Governor Jolly Nyame that that […]

Mail & Guardian reporter Food becomes theatre this month when Gauteng launches its annual Gourmet Festival in an attempt to steal some of the limelight from the Cape as the fine dining province of the country. Indeed, the festival aims to promote itself as a positive part of what its press release refers to as […]

Marianne Merten At the end of a week of bizarre zig-zags in the Western Cape politics, Premier Gerald Morkel stands alone in the political wilderness while axed Cape Town mayor Peter Marais looks set to stage a political comeback. Hours after Morkel was suspended from the New National Party for defying his political bosses and […]

spirit level Cedric Mayson The telephone exchange in Heaven has been suffering from overload. Both United States President George W Bush and Osama bin Laden have been using their hot line to God on an hourly basis. Israelis and Palestinians both report direct contact on high. Christians and Muslims in Nigeria are fighting for fibre-optic […]

Three cheers for the bravery of our communications minister comment Suzanne Vos Very early last Thursday morning, the day of Parliament’s debate on the Telecommunications Amendment Bill, I received a telephone call at home from African National Congress MP Nkenke Kekana, the (genuinely excellent) chairperson of the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Communications. He uttered […]

The truncated version of my letter, published under the provocative title: “Pious Seepe hasn’t read the literature on political parties” (October 26) contributed little to an important debate. My point was that Sipho Seepe’s sweeping claim that the “silence” of members of the African National Congress on important issues “is a reflection on either their […]

CRICKET Neil Sonnekus Back in the Seventies there was a heavily Expressionist-type style of black art in magazines like Staffrider and on record covers by the likes of one of our greatest bands, Sakhile. It was deeply political in subject matter but highly original in conception. To reconstruct an image from memory and imagination: a […]

Reigning Horse of the Year Celtic Grove makes his third appearance in five weeks in the R500000 grade 1 November Handicap over 1600m at Gosforth Park on Saturday, and his legion of followers will be hoping he picks up the winning trail again. Certainly, the David Ferraris-trained gelding seems to have a better chance at […]

Jaspreet Kindra The New National Party’s fears of being outmanoeuvred by the Democratic Party in the Democratic Alliance were raised by NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk in the party’s provincial structures as early as March this year. This emerges from the minutes of a meeting of the NNP provincial executive committee in the Northern Province […]

SOCCER James Richardson As football crises go, the one running at Fiorentina right now takes some beating. Tuscany’s top team are up to their teeth in trouble: without an owner, stripped of their best players, and threatened by both relegation and bankruptcy. And to top it off, this week there’s the real risk their own […]

Simon Kuper Luxembourg were on a roll. They had just taken a 2-1 lead in Belgrade and were being cheered on by the Yugoslav fans. But then, in an unfortunate 14-minute spell, they conceded five goals and it was all over. Last month, just three days after that match, Luxembourg manager Paul Philipp was called […]

Mungo Soggot The family of African National Congress stalwart Thomas Nkobi has implicated ANC heavyweight Joe Modise in an allegedly fraudulent ploy by a businessman embroiled in the arms scandal to use Nkobi’s name in bids for defence contracts. Shabir Shaik, whose Nkobi Holdings company was raided last month by the Scorpions as part of […]

Sundowns have to overcome Petro Atletico to reach the Champions League final Ntuthuko Maphumulo Some teams make history, others are part of history, and Sundowns will be looking to add a new chapter to the history books of the African Champions League this weekend. Only one team from Southern Africa has won the continent’s top […]

NO blows BARRED Sipho Seepe To defend the indefensible one must resort to some twisted logic. To maintain and reproduce its values the apartheid government relied on the big lie of white supremacy. To sustain this big lie it had to marshal other lies. This included misrepresentation of the Bible to provide theological justification of […]

Marianne Merten The chance discovery of two hidden cameras and a listening device in the Cape High Court has again put the spotlight on the state’s conduct in prosecuting five high-profile members of People against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) for the 1996 murder of Cape gang boss Rashaad Staggie. Only three months ago state prosecutor […]

North American responses to anthrax highlight the apparent hypocrisy of the developed world’s position on patents Belinda Beresford Faced with the threat of a killer disease invading its borders, the Canadian government acted with commendable swiftness, acquiring a stockpile of one of the best antibiotics to treat it. But because the patent holder couldn’t supply […]

Matt Haig One thing to have survived the dot.com slump intact is the obsession for e-business acronyms, and B2T, referring to the business-to-teenage online market, is the latest. As teenagers are typically receptive to new technologies, companies targeting this market are being advised to use the Internet not only as a medium to communicate their […]

The residents of one of the Cape’s most popular coastal towns are working together to find solutions to conflict Tracey Farren Muizenberg, the once-grand town near the point where two seas meet, is back from the dead. This time it has a blacker face and speaks a multitude of languages. Writers, artists, tradespeople and refugees […]

Granite: Granite, like the gladiators of ancient Rome, is the toughest of the tough, the meanest of the mean. His motto is: “You can achieve anything in life as long as you believe in yourself.” Spider: Take heed of what this “hanging man” has to say: “Make as many friends as possible and have lots […]

GLENDA DANIELS AND DAVID MACFARLANE, Johannesburg | Friday A “cowboy style” management dictates the running of e.tv, causing a massive staff turnover that threatens the survival of the free-to-air broadcaster, staff members say. The controversial three-year-old TV station is racked by infighting. This, the shenanigans of top management and an ongoing financial crisis, say e.tv […]

It is with much disgust that I note your lack of professionalism as an editor of a major South African publication when you tell Hansie Cronje to “fuck off”. A more objective and insightful view is what I would expect from an editor like yourself, but what should I be expecting from someone as crass […]

Charlene Smith Should women stop on isolated roads for unmarked vehicles occupied by men who may or may not be wearing police uniforms? In a country where police vehicles and cars are routinely stolen and women are often forced off the road and gang-raped, I think any woman who stops her car in a lonely […]

Niki Moore In a high-tech, sealed room in the Sugar Experimental Station at Mt Edgecombe, human figures move around in white lab coats and sterile coverings. No, they’re not developing a new killer virus to wipe out mankind as we know it they’re actually breeding thousands of caterpillars. The caterpillar in question, however, has the […]

How keeping fit is different for girls BODY LANGUAGE Rachel Cugnoni Men are weird in so many ways but they are at their weirdest when they play football. I’m not talking about the freaks who make a living out of it but the kind who spend their Sunday mornings shouting things like “man on” and […]

analysis Khadija Magardie Last week’s violence at the Zandspruit informal settlement in Gauteng, last month’s looting and burning of Somali-owned shops in Uitenhage and undoubtedly several undocumented attacks directed at foreigners, pose a serious question. Not whether locals become salivating mobs at the thought of a “kwere-kwere” moving in next door. But whether public education […]

Staff fear that infighting and an ongoing financial crisis will soon lead to the TV station’s demise Glenda Daniels and David Macfarlane A “cowboy style” management dictates the running of e.tv, causing a massive staff turnover that threatens the survival of the free-to-air broadcaster, staff members say. The controversial three-year-old TV station is racked by […]

The minister of finance also announced an increase in HIV/Aids spending Barry Streek and Glenda Daniels In the government’s first move to promote job creation through the tax system, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel this week announced tax breaks for companies that employ new workers as learners. The announcement was a key feature of the […]

Marianne Merten Teenagers are wearing it. The elderly are wearing it. For weeks the only visible member of Muslims against Illegitimate Leaders, Abduraghman Khan, has been sporting it while claiming to have signed up about 1 000 volunteers for the war against the United States. It is, of course, the Osama bin Laden T-shirt. Various […]

I refer to the article by David Macfarlane titled: “We can’t afford silence” (October 26). I don’t understand why leading educationists in South Africa, the Education Department and Kader Asmal don’t just spell out the reason for the 85% drop in qualifying teachers, other than the effect of HIV/Aids. Government policy has caused the closure […]

The Springboks embark on their end-of-year tour without the excuse that they’re in a rebuilding phase Andy Capostagno The itinerary may include Genoa and Houston, but the Springbok tour of 2001 can hardly be called a trip into the unknown. If anything, the players and management know rather too much about what to expect from […]

John Young If your idea of a braai is burnt chops and dodgy wors over stuttering flames, then a universe-expanding experience awaits you at this weekend’s Chateau Libertas World Barbecue Championships, to be held at Canal Walk, Century City, in Cape Town. Barbecued musselcracker tandoori, rooibos-smoked tomatoes, waterblommetjie risotto and a prune, bacon and corn […]

Martin Gillingham At least two of Australia’s top rugby league clubs are trying to tempt troubled Wallaby winger Andrew Walker into making a return to the 13-man game. It’s barely five months since Walker was the toast of Canberra when he kicked 21 points for the Brumbies in their 36-6 triumph over the Sharks in […]