Staff Reporter

Martin Gillingham With United States golfers apparently too scared to step on to a transatlantic jet and the world seemingly on the brink of war, what we’d give for a global superstar who could not only go under par at the Belfry but also, between times, broker peace in the Middle East. Step forward Wilson, […]

From feminist icon to championing the male … Doris Lessing is no stranger to controversy. On the eve of the publication of her 25th book, she sets Barbara Ellen straight about men and motherhood The interesting thing about Doris Lessing is not that she’s not a feminist, but how insistent she is that she’s not […]

Marianne Merten Cape Town Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane will assemble the city’s political leaders in a bid to halt a pattern of political intolerance in black areas that has resulted in a spate of deaths, injuries, intimidation and harassment. The United Democratic Movement maintains the killing of its councillor Mziwomntu Tutuka two weeks ago was […]

Jubie Matlou From simple beginnings as a telephone services division within the South African Post Office, Telkom’s 10 years of operation as a public utility in the information and communication technology industry is comparable to a growing lion cub that has to fend for itself. Telkom was corporatised on October 1 1991 and in 10 […]

Mboniso Sigonyela The rand’s weakness against the United States dollar is well documented, but the South African currency is also failing to hold its ground against other African currencies. The rand has recorded new lows against the pound and the dollar since the terror attacks on the US on September 11. On Thursday the currency […]

Ufrieda Ho Activists opposed to the genetic modification of food have slammed management at the Indaba Hotel in Johannesburg for being heavy-handed in trying to stop them from distributing information pamphlets at a conference on biotechnology for Africa. The South African Freeze Alliance on Genetic Engineering (SAFeAGE) held a parallel meeting to the AfricaBio conference […]

Stefaans Brmmer in London The fear of full-scale war in Afghanistan is threatening to unravel the fragile threads of democracy and stability in the Central Asian former Soviet republics to the north. Central Asia is dotted with small republics boasting the “-stan” suffix Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, Turkmenistan, Kirghizistan home to a bewildering array of ethnic […]

China, managed by a Serb, are favourites to qualify for the World Cup finals from Asia’s preliminary groups Amy Lawrence in Doha, Qatar The Arabian gulf: a scrum of Chinese photographers make the room flash like a disco, capturing the moment a Serb, who has been speaking Spanish because his wife lives in Mexico, and […]

The Buccaneers have been sailing stormy waters, dogged by on- and off-the-field problems mostly of their own making Ntuthuko Maphumulo “Once a pirate always a pirate” is a slogan that has finally caught up with reigning Premier Soccer League (PSL) champions Orlando Pirates. The Buccaneers have been dogged by controversy since the 2001/2002 season began. […]

Mail & Guardian Reporter It is no secret that international telecommunications deregulation has opened the door to a myriad expansion opportunities in other countries. The popular trend is for telecommunications operators to move into markets abroad, yet Telkom is continuing to position itself as a regional telecommunications leader and information technology powerhouse. Randall Seidl, Telkom’s […]

Linda Martindale Using a computer is daunting enough for beginners, especially if you are forced to do it in a language that is not your own. But last week South African firm Translate.org.za released the entire computing experience in Xhosa, covering the full desktop, Web browser, word processor, spreadsheet and e-mail application. The programmes have […]

PRIMEDIA on Friday announced that group EBITDA had declined by 12% to R244,8-million for the year to June 30, and that turnover had increased by 2% to R1 745 million. Primedia CEO William Kirsh said the integrated media group’s results were once again characterised by the resilience of the advertising businesses, but overall, were heavily […]

SOCCER Ntuthuko Maphumulo As the row over the omission of Kaizer Chiefs chair Kaizer Motaung from the three Premier Soccer League (PSL) representatives to the South African Football Association (Safa) executive simmers, further tensions have come to light in the national body. There have been allegations that president Molefi Oliphant and his deputy, Irvin Khoza, […]

Mail &Guardian reporter Telkom has co- engineered the SAP/ Commerce One Platform, unique in South Africa and one of just six in the world. The system allows com- panies to set up and run online trading. Telkom is a Cisco Gold Partner and has also achieved the Cisco powered network status for virtual private data […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The Eastern Cape legislature this week reacted with shock at a damning report showing horrific details of sexual abuse, rape and exploitation of teenage pupils at provincial schools. The report, which was compiled by the legislature’s standing committee on education, revealed how teachers at a number of provincial schools used their […]

Telkom plans to provide South Africa with direct telecommunication links to the rest of Africa in the near future Jubie Matlou Apartheid South Africa’s isolation was not confined to political, economic and cultural areas alone, but also extended to telecommunications links with the rest of the world. Before 1994 direct telecommunications links between South Africa […]

The country offers an experience unsullied by commercial overtones and blessed by an absence of tourist coaches, writes Angus Begg Today Africa’s wildlife destination of choice, there was a time, only a few decades ago, when Zambia was best known for not much more than abundant copper deposits, Kenneth Kaunda and, by Southern African standards, […]

Mungo Soggot and Stefaans Brmmer Telkom has stepped up its purge of its security network, cancelling its contract with Royal Security, the company at the centre of a long-running investigation, and axing two more managers. The investigation initially targeted the parastatal’s former deputy chief operating officer, Bheki Langa, who resigned in July ahead of a […]

Existing laws could be used against people who fail to disclose their HIV-positive status while having unprotected sex Belinda Beresford The South African Law Commission has advised against laws to prosecute people who intentionally expose others to the HI virus, saying such legislation would be impossible to police or implement. Rather, the state should concentrate […]

The disgraced former cricket captain went to court to try to overturn his life ban from the game Khadija Magardie Given all the claims of impecuniosity from the gabled manors of Fancourt beforehand it should come as no surprise that when his day in court finally arrived this week, Hansie Cronje’s chief objective was to […]

Story and photographs by Fanie Jason The trigger for this photo essay was a news story. In December 2000 I covered a story about a family of three in Khayelitsha a young mother, father and their three-year-old daughter who died of Aids-related illnesses within 24 hours. At that stage, I was becoming aware of the […]

Thabo Mohlala Not so long ago, it was a rare sight to see a black person, let alone a woman, driving a train. This was because certain categories of jobs, including train drivers, were reserved for white people. However, as political change gains momentum, some black people have broken job barriers, but the beneficiaries are […]

analysis Richard Tomlinson When it comes to housing, the worst off are the worst served. Housing international best practice is based on delivery to a family, and so too is South Africa’s housing policy. In both, the conception of the family is that of a Western nuclear family. The consequences are to bar access to […]

Glenda Daniels More than 50 000 delegates from around the world are expected at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa next year making it a bigger event than the recent United Nations conference on racism. South Africans have begun to formulate their positions and representation for the summit, due to be staged […]

Shady, quiet streets featuring bougainvillea, backgammon, coffee and persecuted felines still exist on the Greek islands, writes Angus Begg It’s late May 1987. The time is somewhere around 8am down at the harbourside in Piraeus, Athens, and hundreds of backpackers and students are milling about, smoking, sitting on pavements, hassling for cheaper tickets … waiting. […]

Two professionals working in corporate social investments are clear about what it takes to make it effective. Jackie Mondi spoke to them You have to have the CEO or company chairperson committed to Corporate Social Investments (CSI) for it to be effective, say Lulu Letlape of Telkom Foundation and Mercia Maserumule of Murray & Roberts. […]

A 21-year-old rape survivor has decided to pursue her attackers in a civil court action Sizwe samaYende An angry Mpumalanga woman who believes she has been betrayed by the country’s justice system is quietly making history by suing the two men who allegedly raped and impregnated her. The 21-year-old teaching graduate decided to take up […]

Ngwako Modjadji It has taken five years for tertiary student organisations across South Africa to discuss and prepare to launch a national federation to unite students and their organisations. But now politics is threatening to derail the plans. The Pan African Students’ Movement Association (Pasma) and the Azanian Student Congress (Azasco) say the National Student […]

Michael Hartnack With the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Brisbane, Australia, scheduled to start on October 6, hopes are high in Zimbabwe that President Robert Mugabe will face censure from world leaders. Leaders of the 53-nation grouping will consider whether Mugabe’s regime is beyond the pale on human rights after nearly two years of […]

Mail & Guardian reporter After the success of its 2000 academic bridging programme, Gensec Bank has extended the programme and is now investing a further R817500 in upgrading the skills of promising formerly disadvantaged students. A year ago 20 young people who matriculated in 1999 were given the opportunity to improve their matric results to […]

Marianne Merten The banner at the New National Party’s final Western Cape provincial congress proclaimed: “NNP + DP = DA”. The elderly Cape Flats woman in the observer seats who enthusiastically waved her NNP scarf may not see things the same way. Coloured resentment of the NNP’s partner in the Democratic Alliance, the Democratic Party, […]

Justin Arenstein and Dumisane Lubisi Kruger National Park’s new intelligence unit has exposed and fired a “racist mole” accused of leaking damning evidence of corruption in the game reserve’s Satara Camp. Mariet Bodenstein allegedly stole and leaked a forensic report detailing corruption, mismanagement and theft by three black senior park officials that resulted in losses […]