NILE floods in Sudan have destroyed hundreds of homes and left thousands of families homeless this flood season. The worst affected area was River Nile State in northern Sudan where 1 102 families were left without shelter when floods tore down 577 homes in 55 villages and partially damaged 811 others, the civil defence report […]
Johannesburg | Monday THE row between the South African government and the country’s biggest trade union federation Cosatu grew on Sunday as the union rejected President Thabo Mbeki’s accusations that it was spreading lies about the state’s privatisation plan. The Congress of South African Trade Unions’ representative Patrick Craven told a press conference in Johannesburg: […]
AN epileptic man who suffered a fit while crossing a railway line on Friday narrowly escaped death when a train drove over him. Mndawe Simon Mkhabela (24) had fallen on the tracks at about 10am, 1km from the Kaapmuiden station near Malelane in Mpumalanga. Mkhabela, who lives in Matsulu, was on his way to a […]
A COLOUR calendar depicting the gruesome vigilante killing of a suspected armed robber hit the streets of Lagos on Thursday and was enjoying brisk sales, witnesses said. Shoppers at the popular Oshodi market jostled with each other to buy the calendar, bearing a picture of the killing on Wednesday last week, when vigilantes crucified and […]
London | Sunday PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe aims to expel all white farmers from Zimbabwe before next year’s elections, the Sunday Telegraph reported, citing a secret document which outlines the plans. The British broadsheet said a secret order from Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party to self-styled war veterans outlines the political goals of the campaign being waged against […]
Johannesburg | Saturday SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki accused the country’s main trade union federation on Friday of joining hands with rightists and using workers as cannon fodder. His comments in the Internet publication “ANC Today” follow a sharp attack by the cabinet on Thursday on plans by the Congress of South African Trade Unions […]
THE outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Zimbabwe could enter South Africa between the Sand River and Kruger National Park where the border fence was washed away during the 1999 floods, warned Northern Province premier Ngoako Ramathlodi. He said the large stretch of fence had never been repaired. “This is cause of concern because […]
A SOUTH African national was jailed for 10 years in Perth on Thursday for importing heroin worth a million dollars ($500_000), which he carried in body packs on a flight from Johannesburg. Zamokuhie Mpumelelo Mkwanazi, a 23-year-old data entry clerk for South African Airways’ (SAA) frequent flyer program, pleaded guilty to concealing almost one kilogram […]
SOUTH Africa is beefing up patrols on the northern border with Zimbabwe after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease there. Agriculture department chief director Emily Mogajane said troops and agriculture officials had been deployed. “We are concerned that the current turmoil in Zimbabwe would make it difficult to control the movement of infected livestock and contaminated […]
TALKS on Zimbabwe have been rescheduled for September 6 and 7, Nigeria’s ambassador to Harare said on Wednesday. Nigerian High Commissioner Wilberforce Juta, said the talks, to be hosted by Nigeria and initially planned for mid August, were delayed because of logistical hitches. The talks are aimed at seeking ways to heal strained relations between […]
PETER CUNLIFFE-JONES, Ibadan, Nigeria | Sunday THE borders of modern-day Africa were drawn up in Europe, creating states that were politically illegitimate from the start, political scientists here say. The history of the slave trade and the negative impact of colonialism — issues which Washington wants kept off the agenda of the UN racism conference […]
London | Saturday ZIMBABWE has decreed that most of its soldiers killed in fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) be buried in the jungle rather than come home in body bags, according to an officer quoted in a British newspaper on Saturday. “Top officers have instructed that a greater majority of those who […]
A WESTERN animal welfare body urged the Kenyan government on Wednesday to block a Canadian mining company from building a ship-loading facility on the Kenyan coast, warning it could endanger local marine life. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) cautioned that Tiomin Resources Inc. of Canada would cause serious environmental damage in Shimoni, a […]
The Mail & Guardian’s status as South Africa’s fastest-growing quality newspaper was confirmed this week with the release of the latest All Media Product Survey (Amps).The M&G now boasts 230 000 readers, according to Amps 2001A. This represents a 16,1% growth in readership over the previous survey. The M&G has shown a circulation growth of […]
NIGERIA plans to work with authorities in Africa and Europe to bring back home trafficked women and children, President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Wednesday. Obasanjo was speaking at meeting at the presidential villa here with a group of 32 young women, and one young man, who were returned to Nigeria last week from Guinea. Speaking […]
PROMOTERS have canned hip-hop megastar Lauryn Hill from a tour of South Africa later this month because she failed to show up for concerts in the United States and Jamaica. Eargasm Entertainment representative Melanie Ramjee said Hill did not appear at the New York leg of the Black August concert tour which took place on […]
NIGERIAN police have arrested the outlaw leader of a banned militant organisation 20 months after he was declared wanted following bloody riots in which hundreds of people died. Police arrested Ganiyu Adams, the leader of the most hard line faction of the banned Odua People’s Congress (OPC) on Tuesday. Adams was arrested as he led […]
EVIDENCE WA KA NGOBENI, Johannesburg | Friday MINISTER of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota this week backtracked on his decision to appoint Seth Phalatse as the new chairperson of the Armscor, the state arms procurement company, and withdrew the appointment. His turnabout followed the Mail & Guardian report last week revealing how Phalatse had admitted to taking […]
Serjeant at the bAR In 1995, 28-year-old Alix Carmichele was viciously attacked in the secluded beauty of Noetzie, a village known to the thousands of people who make their way to Plettenberg Bay and Knysna during the December holiday period. Her attacker was arrested, convicted and sentenced to an effective 12 and a half years. […]
Barry Streek Judgement day for the Democratic Alliance is approaching as tensions within the party largely between former New National Party and the Democratic Party members reach boiling point. Next week advocate Willem Heath will release his report into “streetgate”, the saga surrounding fraudulent votes collected in support of Cape Town mayor Peter Marais’s bid […]
Winner: Treverton School and Wildlife Area Prize: R15 000, sponsored by Nedbank and The Green Trust Judges’ comments: “Treverton was the founder of environmental education in Southern Africa. Over the past 22 years, it has been at the cutting edge of environmental education, changing with the dictates of the times. “Its programmes have grown out […]
The return of prop Cobus Visagie has made all the difference, argues Andy Capostagno Familiarity may have bred a little contempt, but one thing about having only three teams contesting a tournament is that each match materially affects the outcome of the Tri-Nations. Even last week’s 14-14 draw between Australia and South Africa significantly advanced […]
Orlando Pirates must put their off-the-field problems behind them when they play arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs this weekend Ntuthuko Maphumulo Kaizer Chiefs are determined to replace Orlando Pirates as league champions this season, and new signing Josias Macamo has started where Siyabonga Nomvete left off in scoring goals for Chiefs. The young Mozambican does all his […]
Hilton Hamman When Treverton School recently released four new zebras into its wildlife area, it was the culmination of more than 20 years of environmental work at the school and a day the pupils say they will never forget. “That afternoon our lone zebra, which until then seemed to believe it was a horse, joined […]
Stop water going down the drain Water Awareness Award Finalist: Rand Water’s Water Wise Living Campaign Michelle Nel In many Gauteng communities more than half the water used each day literally goes down the drain without achieving anything of value. This is what spurred Gauteng water utility Rand Water to develop its Water Wise Living […]
A report has found that the criminal justice system fails to uphold the rights of farm labourers Marianne Merten “That Sunday the farmer called him to the farm. When he got there, the boer got out of his bakkie and hit him. When he was finished hitting him, he had to help the farmer.” Hendrik […]
Winner: Klipkop Conservancy Prize: R15 000, sponsored by Nedbank and The Green Trust Judges’ comments: “A remarkable project that has brought together a community in a shared responsibility for natural resources. They are putting passion and their own resources into conserving biodiversity and rehabilitating animals. It is a new project, but it promises to be […]
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The government in partnership with the Post Office has concluded a multi-faceted, R21-million telecommunications project to help the poor and the illiterate to access government services on-line. Dubbed the Public Information Terminal (PiT), the government hopes the multimillion-rand initiative will help bridge the digital divide by providing the public, particularly those […]
Mail & Guardian reporter When Gottfried Chmelar started taking pictures professionally he could not have realised he was documenting an important era in the history of black South Africans. During this period black musicians played a major role in the fight against apartheid. They helped destroy boundaries between black and white and build cross-cultural bridges. […]
The Earth Summit in 2002 is coming home. When hundreds of heads of state and tens of thousands of delegates descend on Johannesburg in September next year for what is officially called the World Summit on Sustainable Development, they will be coming to a country that cares deeply about environmental issues and where people are […]
MUNGO SOGGOT, Johannesburg | Friday THE Ministry of Justice says it will forge ahead with an amendment to the Constitution that will give Constitutional Court judges the same “life” tenure as the rest of the judiciary – despite opposition from some key judges. Cape judges are now preparing a memorandum on the amendment, which has […]
RUGBY Grant Shimmin in Wellington It sounded for all the world like the DJ on a Wellington radio station was clutching at straws. “I like to think of it as both Australia and South Africa losing,” he said of the Tri-Nations draw in Perth last weekend. All a little desperate, but for New Zealanders the […]