Staff Reporter

David Macfarlane Unisa will receive its government subsidy this month but the university’s controversy-ridden council continues its open defiance of the government. Unisa staff fear the council’s stance jeopardises the university’s future, in particular the role defined for it in the national higher education plan. Confrontation between Minister of Education Kader Asmal and the Unisa […]

Jaspreet Kindra African National Congress officials at a top-level meeting last weekend tried to persuade the South African Communist Party to withdraw its support for the Congress of South African Trade Unions’s anti-privatisation campaign. The ANC pulled out its heavy artillery for the meeting between the two alliance partners on Sunday. Its delegation was led […]

Neil McIntosh Apple has unveiled a stylised, portable MP3 player that boasts what the company calls a “breakthrough” in storage space and industrial design. The iPod, roughly the same size as a pack of cards and weighing 0,23kg, sports a large five gigabyte hard disk, enough to store 1 000 songs. Apple also claims an […]

analysis Pallo Jordan Hegel once wrote that a political party becomes real only when it becomes divided. This dialectical statement will strike some as odd, but its profundity lies precisely in its paradoxical nature. Provided that it is not brain dead, as a political movement grows, its inner contradictions inevitably begin to unfold. But as […]

Relations between the ruling party and religious leaders strained over arms deal and what action to take on HIV/Aids Jaspreet Kindra President Thabo Mbeki has joined the chorus of African National Congress criticism of church leaders, suggesting that they have abandoned the common struggle against the legacy of apartheid. And in a further salvo in […]

Barry Streek An apartheid-era proposal to licence journalists in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been incorporated into a protocol that was signed by the heads of state of its 14 member countries in August. “State parties shall establish a regional and internationally recognised SADC accreditation system or procedure for media practitioners with specific […]

After a comprehensive win in the one-day series, South Africa are favoured to beat India in the Tests Peter Robinson After a week during which the Indian tour found itself bogged down in the slush at Chatsworth stadium, slightly better service should be resumed in Bloemfontein on Saturday with the start of the first Test […]

Hoping for the prevalence of principle in politics is a bit like expecting the lion to lie down with the lamb: it’s a lovely idea, but lousy as a prediction. We on this newspaper, however, persist in the naive hope that principle will prevail; and we have not hesitated to make of it a demand. […]

Who is Winnie Madikizela-Mandela: an ambitious rabble-rouser, or a champion of the poor? An ungovernable spendthrift, or a misunderstood woman persecuted for her criticism of government? Madikizela-Mandela spoke to Sipho Seepe, RehanaRossouw andDrew Forrest about the economy, Aids, the arms package, the tripartite alliance, women, her debts and her fraud case Rehana Rossouw: What do […]

I do not like to bore readers with slanging matches. But allow me to make an exception with Ebrahim Rasool’s letter of October 26 (“Does Rhoda Kadalie want a job with the DA?”). Let me respond to Rasool’s main charges. First, the African National Congress’s “coconut” advertisement is racist. It is a cheap shot that […]

The award of a R10-billion contract for fighter trainers may be contested in court Paul Kirk One of the largest contracts awarded in South Africa’s R60-billion arms deal may be challenged in court by an Italian aeronautics company that lost out to a British contender after then-defence minister Joe Modise intervened to change the tender […]

BOOK REVIEW Peter Robinson JONTYINPICTURES(with text by Andy Capostagno) Viking This is, as the title suggests, Jonty Rhodes in pictures. Jonty with his shirt on, Jonty with his shirt off, Jonty batting, Jonty fielding and, a rare one this, Jonty fielding. In essence it’s a book for members of the Jonty Rhodes Fan Club (those […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni and Gregory Mthembu-Salter The South African government was under such pressure to respond to former president Nelson Mandela’s request to deploy a protection force to war-torn Burundi that it invoked an emergency provision in the Constitution to belatedly inform Parliament of the decision. Last week opposition parties raised concerns about the […]

Neal Collins Lucas Radebe faces an uncertain future in the game that has been his life. According to sources at Leeds United, the Soweto-reared centre-half might never be able to train properly again, such is the state of his creaking 32-year-old knees. The Chief, Rhoo, Lucas, call him what you will, but life has been […]

More than R150-million worth of yacht has arrived in Cape Town in the past week John Young The Formula One of ocean racing decamped in Cape Town this week, but so far Capetonians have responded less with a buzz than with a purr. The arrival of the Illbruck, winner of the first leg of the […]

Tony Leon’s arrogant treatment of the NNP drove it into the ANC’s arms, argues Drew Forrest In the highly fluid aftermath of the New National Party’s withdrawal from the Democratic Alliance, it is impossible to say how much damage has been inflicted on the multiparty cause in South Africa. But if there is significant damage, […]

The troubled Road Accident Fund cannot seem to steer clear of controversy Nawaal Deane The deputy chairperson of the cash-strapped Road Accident Fund this week announced his resignation amid internal clashes and allegations that his own firm’s work for the fund constituted a conflict of interest. The controversial selection of an assessor who has a […]

Although he pioneered the PlayStation 2, the favourite toy of Sony chief Ken Kutaragi is not its games console, as Steven Poole discovers ‘Plus plus plus plus plus plus!” That, according to Ken Kutaragi, is the videogame business. The smiling, dapper president of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc is talking, in his charmingly idiosyncratic way, about […]

Hazel Friedman “Can I pour you a SADC special ? Or one of our alcohol-free independence day cocktails perfect for a sobering day?” I am sitting in a shebeen on the outskirts of Maseru. Three years ago, this was the watering hole of choice for journalists bored with sipping sundowners at the Lesotho Sun hotel. […]

analysis Duncan Hindle Khulekani Mathe raises important issues about the role of adult learners in policy formulation processes, and the extent to which their needs are addressed in those processes (“Is anybody out there listening to the learners?”, October 5). The Department of Education appreciates his comments in this regard, but wishes to respond. Mathe […]

analysis Judith Streak In principle all children in South Africa have a set of socio-economic rights that includes social security. The Bill of Rights and signed international treaties give children the right to social services, including social security, basic health and nutrition, basic housing and shelter, and basic education. A recent study commissioned by the […]

Khadija Magardie “It is said the measure of the quality of a democracy is the state of its prisons but I say it is through the diversity of its media,” says veteran journalist Anton Harber, the newly appointed head of the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Journalism. Although in terms of diversity Harber gives […]

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 […]

PEDZISAI RUHANYA, Harare | Thursday ZIMBABWE’S Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications, Christopher Mushowe, has acquired a masters degree in Public Administration, but he failed the exam. High Court judge Elizabeth Gwaunza slammed the vice-chancellor of the University of the Zimbabwe, Professor Graham Hill, for awarding Mushowe a pass mark, even though he failed the […]

THE Nigerian government on Wednesday decided that the country’s budget for 2002 should be based on a price of $18 per barrel of crude oil, as against $22 for the current year, a minister said. The government plans to spend about 843-billion naira ($7,5-billion) in 2002, with capital expenditure accounting for 414 billion naira ($3,7-billion), […]

MOZAMBIQUE President Joaquim Chissano said on Tuesday that the current war on terrorism, declared in the wake of terror strikes last month against the United States, should be extended to become a war on poverty. Chissano, who is on an official visit to Cuba, called poverty a “pressing need of humanity,” but underlined that current […]

An Egyptian Islamic militant presumed close to chief terror suspect Osama bin Laden was killed while handling a bomb dropped by US aircraft on Afghanistan, the head of an Islamic information agency said on Thursday. The Egyptian, named as Abu Bassir al-Masri, an alias, was killed Friday near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, Yasser al-Serri, head […]

A CRIPPLING indefinite strike launched by pilots and cabin crew of ailing carrier Air Afrique continued for a third day on Friday as talks between the protestors and the management failed. “The meeting with the director-general did not elicit satisfactory responses to our grievances, therefore the strike will continue,” said Denis Attiba, representative for the […]

THE Zimbabwe government has approved the commercialisation of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) into a public company wholly owned by the government. The Herald reported that the ZBC commercialisation Bill will soon go to parliament. The Bill intends to split the public broadcaster into two separate companies: one responsible for Broadcasting and the other for […]

TWO South African Airways flights were grounded on Thursday night, after flight attendants and personnel in Cape Town discovered a latex glove and “white powerdery substance” on a plane being readied for flight to Johannesburg. According to SAA, all personnel were ordered to leave the aircraft. The police were called, and chemical decontamination specialists Waste […]