Staff Reporter

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Nawaal Deane The Minister of Housing, Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele, launched a R3-million defamation action against the Mail & Guardian in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday in response to how she fared in the paper’s 1998 Cabinet “report card”. The report card, which gave Mthembi-Mahanyele an F, referred to how the controversial Motheo housing saga and […]

1961 Founded on 450 by Richard Ingrams, Paul Foot, Willie Rushton and Christopher Booker with the intention of waging war on “cant and humbug”. 1964 Saved from bankruptcy by Lord Farringdon (believed to be the only homosexual Communist peer in the Lords). 1975 An article linking Sir James Goldsmith to the Lucan Affair kicked off […]

Is the West waging another war by proxy? Comment Tabish Khair Fifteen bombers, 25 fighter planes and 50 missiles. That is all it took to launch the first phase of what United States President George W Bush has promised will be a long war on terrorism. Evidently, the first phase is not an expensive one. […]

the world, but they are among the dangerous leaders and key suspects, the planners and strategists … they must be found. They will be stopped and they will be punished.” – US President George W Bush, unveiling posters of 22 “most wanted terrorists” during a visit to the FBI. “This inhuman and profitmaking action by […]

Richard Calland Abuja Domestic airport, September 21. He sees me coming and, as I hand him my case, informs me that I must pay him 500 naira due to “excess weight”. I point out that he has not yet actually weighed my case. He shrugs: “It’s too heavy. You must pay me.” His airline carried […]

channel vision Robert Kirby ‘The paradigm of privilege must be communicated exponentially so that, at the end of the day, an interface and the aforementioned synergy can be utilised, hopefully to set up empowerment, albeit in terms of the previously disadvantaged and underprivileged, but of which fortuitous input can be maintained and feedback perused at […]

Director General of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Dr “Chippy” Olver was a key author of the Reconstruction and Development Programme. He spoke to Chris van der Merwe about the strategy underpinning the world summit Chris van der Merwe: Is sustainable development about redistribution of wealth? Chippy Olver: There have been three big […]

The Arts & Culture Trust Awards recognise excellence in those strategic areas without which the arts cannot develop and thrive. All entrants and the finalists for the 2001 awards are therefore commended for their fine work and their participation. The winners, judged by an independent panel to represent the highest levels of professionalism, dedication, leadership […]

Marianne Merten Cape Town councillor Una Pick, under police investigation for her role in the Cape Town street-renaming fiasco, has been promoted. The Democratic Alliance councillor now heads one of the unicity’s 16 sub-councils at an annual package of R388829, including allowances. This is equivalent to the salary of an executive committee member and almost […]

Thebe Mabanga and Evidence wa ka Ngobeni One of the freebies supplied to the delegates of the Black Management Forum’s (BMF) 25th anniversary conference this week was a huge sweet dispenser crammed with jelly babies, liquorice and lozenges. At the end of each speech by high-profile black academics and lieutenants of industry with aspirations to […]

Marianne Merten About 5 000 Capetonians on Thursday marched in protest against the United States-led bombings of Afghanistan to the razor-wire-surrounded American consulate, bearing posters like “Stop the Oppression”, “Stop the War” and “No Difference Hitler and Bush”. The peace march was jointly called by the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), the Congress of South African […]

REVIEW Gavin Foster BMW X5 3.0i, from R370 000 BMW X5 3.0d, R391 000 We loved BMW’s X5 launched last year. The problem was that the price ticket of R471 000 for the 4,4 litre V8 model is a little rich for all but the very well-heeled. At the time it was believed that the […]

A chance meeting on a dark highway has changed the life of a disabled man forever, Fred Esbend reports Otto Xelo’s disability grant was cancelled by the Eastern Cape Department of Welfare. But the nearest office where the wheelchair-ridden man could reapply for one was in Port Elizabeth 70km away from his home in Jeffreys […]

Are some South African medical aids contravening the Constitution? Barbara Erasmus Patients suffering from a psychiatric illness may become so disabled that hospitalisation becomes essential but they won’t be treated in the same way as heart patients. If their condition has led them to attempt suicide, some hospitals won’t treat them as some medical aids […]

Amazulu face the might of the in-form Maulers Ntuthuko Maphumulo The kingdom of the Zulus which is the capital of conferences will not be hosting a conference this weekend but a derby match between Manning Rangers and Amazulu. There will be no debates or talk shows about any issues affecting the country or world but […]

Suzan Chala Thousands of African journalists have passed through the offices of the Freedom Forum in Rosebank, Johannesburg, since it opened its offices in 1997. Some came to learn more about their profession from international experts, while others came to learn from each other. The Freedom Forum’s Africa Centre director, Jerrilyn Eddings, says she has […]

Mail & Guardian reporter The United Nations is the ultimate stakeholder in World Summit 2002. The UN will use the Sandton Convention Centre to host an expected 110 to 193 heads of state, as well as about 6 000 UN delegates. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked the president of the IUCN-World Conservation Union, […]

For the first time the party has to confront internal dissent on a significant scale, says Drew Forrest Seven years after taking power, the leadership echelons of the African National Congress are showing signs of growing entropy. A senior ANC man speaks of “loss of coherence and focus”, adding that the party has been through […]

Eighteen public-private partnerships (PPPs) have been signed and sealed at municipal level and a further 18 are being negotiated by provinces, despite strong criticism from public-sector trade unions. The treasury’s intergovernmental fiscal review says such partnerships are taking “root” as national and provincial departments seek assistance to enhance their own capacity, and private investors explore […]

Marianne Merten Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has warned the Western Cape government that he will use the Constitutional Court to stop it transforming the provincial agriculture department into a semi-autonomous public entity, arguing that the move violates legislative requirements and the constitutional principle of cooperative governance. Another clash between central government and the Western […]

We know that David Macfarlane has been told to stop writing about the South African National NGO coalition (Sangoco) because they have complained to the editor of the Mail & Guardian, although they have always been given the chance to respond. Things are getting worse. We only have funds for one more month in the […]

Ngwako Modjadji Although e.tv news has not been broadcasting for long, it has proved that age is not important by winning this year’s Arts & Culture Media of the Year Award in support of the arts. E.tv news beat other hopefuls such as Artslink, D’Arts Magazine and SAfm for the award. Roger Lucey of e.tv […]

Labour objects to the government’s ultimatum style of negotiations and want to return to the table Glenda Daniels and David Macfarlane A threat of retrenchments in the public service is at the heart of the dispute that has led to the acrimonious stand-off between labour and the government, unions say. Minister of Public Service and […]

Mail & Guardian reporters and agencies American warplanes were sighted over Kabul on Thursday as the United States launched its first daylight raid on the capital. Anti-aircraft fire rang out on the fifth day of military strikes on Afghanistan, a month on from the attacks on New York and Washington that prompted the “war on […]

Glenda Daniels Against the backdrop of a threatened 2385 job losses at Telkom by year-end and further job cuts in the public works department, the labour movement has slammed the government for not implementing its “social plan”. Union sources say the public works department is expected to shed about 10000 jobs, while another 10000 may […]