Staff Reporter

THE Nigerian government said on Wednesday that it was considering closing down its diplomatic missions in seven countries either because they are unnecessary or because of problems funding them. The plan follows a recommendation of a committee set up by President Olusegun Obasanjo that some of the missions considered either unnecessary or too expensive to […]

A NEW combination of antimalarial drugs, tested in Tanzania, has proven remarkably successful against resistant strains of the disease, according to a study reported in Saturday’s issue of The Lancet. The combination is a mixture of two existing drugs, chlorproguanil and dapsone, the British medical weekly said. A team led by Theonest Mutabingwa from the […]

A year from now South Africa will host Rio+10, the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Johannesburg World Summit Company CEO Moss Mashishi looks at an event that he believes will make the environment everyone’s business Until recently South African media coverage of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD 2002)has been largely about scale. And […]

Modern women make relationships seem like hard work, and where’s the fun in that? BODY LANGUAGE Julie Burchill Someone sends me a book called The Art Of Seduction. Oh, please. This is about as clever as sending Stephen Hawking a book called Great Pennine Walks. And 454 pages! They’re having a laugh, aren’t they? (Can […]

A SECOND LOOK Colleen du Toit The Southern African Grantmakers’ Association (Saga) is a membership association of institutions committed to developmental and effective grantmaking. Most of Saga’s members are South African corporations having social investment programmes. During the past four months, Saga has begun to reinvent itself in light of a comprehensive stakeholder consultation, and […]

Legal gambling in South Africa has taken a nosedive over the past four financial years, despite the opening of new casinos, and revenues to provincial governments have been hit as a result. The treasury’s intergovernmental fiscal review points out that in the 1997/8 financial year, the provinces received R290-million in gambling taxes, which dropped to […]

Ntuthuko Maphumulo Kaizer Chiefs have become the first South African team to reach the African Cup Winners’ Cup semifinals after they drew 1-1 with Ismaily in Egypt in their quarter-final second leg after a goalless draw at Ellis Park. The team that stands between Chiefs and the final is Club Africain of Tunisia, who they […]

Mail & Guardian reporter The Business Coordinating Forum (BCF) for World Summit 2002, chaired by politician-turned-businessman Tokyo Sexwale, comprises representatives of all the major business organisations in South Africa. The forum is coordinating and promoting business initiatives in the preparations for the summit. According to the BCF business plan, which is to be a public […]

London | Friday BRITAIN has provided the most detailed outline yet of the case against Osama bin Laden, but the evidence which it says indicates his guilt over the September 11 attacks raises as many questions as answers. Crucially, what has been made public so far does not appear to contain the elusive “smoking gun” […]

Thebe Mabanga on the players who are bringing arts and culture to the fore The nominees for this year’s Arts & Culture Trust Award for Arts Journalist of the Year are crusaders who have displayed enormous chutzpah to speak their minds and champion the cause of a sector that is besieged by troubles ranging from […]

IN YOUR EAR Thebe Mabanga One of the most versatile personalities on radio is Yfm’s Rudeboy Paul Mnisi. He has been with the station since its inception in 1997 and has built his weekday evening show, The Groove Kamikaze, into a colourful radio experience. What’s more, he does not seem to believe that he has […]

The Zimbabwean president created an alibi for himself when hangings were reintroduced Michael Hartnack President Robert Mugabe flew back into Harare this week, after hangings were resumed and drastic plans to fix basic commodity prices below the cost of production were unveiled in his absence. Just as Mugabe established a foreign alibi for himself in […]

Guy Willoughby When is a foul-mouthed bore with a taste for urinals more than a foul-mouthed bore with a taste for urinals? When s/he’s a fully paid-up comedian in the Danger Zone at the Smirnoff International Comedy Festival, that’s when. Now in its fifth year, this hugely successful funny-folk festival has made marvellous strides. Time […]

Horse of the Year Celtic Grove disappointed his legion of supporters in the Skeaping Trophy a fortnight ago when, starting at absurdly short odds of 1-4, he could manage no better than a dead-heat for fourth behind joint winners Clifton King and Ingleside. In spite of the inevitable excuse that he “needed the run” after […]

South Africa boasts a rich and diverse cultural and artistic heritage. This has evolved over centuries and has been shaped by events, experiences and the attitude and the soul of its people. The heritage of any country is unique, and, in a healthy society, is a source of national unity and pride. The development of […]

MARIETTE LE ROUX, Pretoria | Wednesday THE government put its foot down on Thursday, imposing a five percent pay rise on public servants following months of inconclusive wrangling with labour unions. By the state’s final deadline of midnight on Wednesday, a majority of unions had still not accepted its three-year pay rise package, which includes […]

Bongani Majola The initial enthusiasm shown by South African media consumers in the wake of the United States terror attacks two weeks ago is dwindling markedly, judging by circulation figures. Given to trumpeting their “rise in sales” the country’s major newspapers were uncharacteristically coy, confirming only that their sales are back to where they were […]

Suzan Chala The Arts & Culture Trust Cultural Development Project of the Year Award seeks to reward individuals and groups that devote a significant portion of their time, often without remuneration, to nurturing the country’s future stars in historically disadvantaged communities The judges look at the implementation and sustainability of the project, as well as […]

REVIEW Gavin Foster Jeep Cherokee Sport, R229900Jeep Cherokee Limited Edition, R266900 Unlike many luxury 4x4s, Jeep products always offer top class performance even in the worst off-road conditions. The Jeep Cherokee has been with us for the best part of two decades and has been a class leader throughout that time, even though its styling […]

The problem with a Palm handheld, I hear most often, is that it doesn’t have a keyboard. It’s pointless explaining to the uninitiated why Palms are the techno-wonder they are; why its operating system is crash proof while being only a few hundred kilobytes, why the device is light enough to be carried in my […]

Marianne Merten The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has ordered the University of the Western Cape (UWC) to reinstate a lecturer whose contract was not renewed in the wake of his complaints against the head of his department. When Brian Williams, formerly the director of the Western Cape Department of Labour, arrived at […]

Matthew Krouse Children’s theatre producer Joyce Levinsohn is the fourth individual to win the coveted Arts & Culture Trust Lifetime Achievement Award. Levinsohn, who began her career in London in the mid-1950s, has noted that she graduated from the Royal Academy of Dancing in the year that “coincided with the iniquitous Bantu education laws that […]

Cape Town | Friday TONY Leon goes into battle on Friday with his co-leader of the Democratic Alliance, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, armed with detailed research on Cape voters that does serious damage to the New National Party’s record in the Cape Town council. The full report, leaked to the Mail & Guardian, shows that Cape […]

A new book shows how on-court talent seems secondary to off-court shenanigans Stephen Bierley Here is a reminder: Anna Kour-nikova is a star. This might have escaped attention since she has played three competitive tennis matches only in the past eight months and lost them all. But it is of little or no consequence. For, […]

Drew Forrest Researcher Ryan Coetzee calls for a Democratic Alliance “branding” of the Cape Town council in his survey of city opinion but concedes certain key DA initiatives may be hard for Capetonians to swallow. Arguing that the unicity government under mayor Peter Marais is alienated from the citizenry, Coetzee says it has allowed “unimportant […]

Barry Streek The controversial Medical Research Council (MRC)report on the extent of HIV/Aids is to be released to the public next Tuesday and the MRC is sticking to its figures and methodology despite reservations expressed by an interdepartmental task team and Statistics SA. The MRC estimated that between five and seven million South Africans would […]

Peter Makarube A racist brawl between two women marred the success of the Aardklop Arts Festival in Potchefstroom last week. The organisers of Aardklop sought to change the town’s image from that of a conservative community to a model of the new South Africa. Instead, they were treated to an unusual racial incident involving two […]

For the world summit next September the Paris-headquartered International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development have set up a joint committee called Business Action for Sustainable Development. South African business is affiliated to these two bodies, which would like to see a formalised outcome at the world summit for […]

South Africa’s first entirely online bank has had a storming start, writes David Shapshak For a bank without any branches, new online banking service 20twenty has ironically garnered a lot of brand and consumer awareness. This is due in no small part to its high-profile outdoor advertising campaign, which featured a quote from Microsoft chief […]

For 40 years Private Eye has enraged and amused. As it enters its fifth decade, can the magazine keep pace with the newer, darker satire of TV’s Brass Eye or is it trapped in its own tweedy past? asks Geraldine Bedell Sneering, smug, homophobic, vicious and parochial: Private Eye has been accused of being all […]

I condemn, without reservation, terrorism and murder. Terrorists choose violence rather than the ballot box to inflict death and pain on innocent civilians. They justify their action by flying the banner of religion, race or political sovereignty. Islam is a way of life for more than one billion people in this world. Millions of these […]