The Arab and the Jew may never solve their problems, not because the problem is insoluble, but because they seem both to be terminally disabled by the disease of ideology, both religious and nationalist in character. Ideology makes impossible any objective debate. This is Laura Stovel’s point (“A debate long overdue”, August 17). Frog-marching these […]
Ntuthuko Maphumulo The under-23 South African squad will be taking part in a four- nations tournament in Angola from August 25 to 28. The squad will be coached by Shakes Mashaba, who did well with the previous Amaglug-glug squad that went to the Olympics last year. Mashaba now has many of the previous national under-20 […]
DUMISANE LUBISI, Pietersburg | Friday NORTHERN Province has selected 23 impoverished youths who leave for Cuba on Monday to train as doctors for the next six years. The youths, who come from poor rural families, responded to a provincial health department advert in March that sought matriculants who wanted to study medicine. Over 1 000 […]
Community Projects Award Finalist: Built Environment Support Group’s Msunduzi Project Niki Moore The “little boxes” springing up in their thousands as part of the government’s low-cost housing masterplan are often a major headache for municipalities.?Services and maintenance are expensive and very often the residents can’t, or won’t, pay. When services break down, the rows of […]
Urban Renewal Award Finalist: Hout Bay River Development Michelle Nel Cape Town’s Hout Bay river is the last remaining river system linking Table Mountain to the sea that’s worth conserving as a resource of international significance. With this in mind, and against the backdrop of much abuse to both river and valley over the past […]
The Green Trust Award’s judges Mail & Guardian reporter The Green Trust Awards 2001 were judged by an independent panel of environmentalists. We would like to thank them for volunteering their time and expertise. Arend Hoogervorst runs his own environmental consultancy, Eagle Environmental, and specialises in assisting industry with environmental impact assessments and environmental management […]
Isn’t it strange… (1) When any African National Congress officials/parliamentarians/Cabinet ministers are accused of corruption, inaccurate or downright false statements, the inevitable response is that the complaint is unjustified and racist regardless of who makes the accusation? (2) We have the most advanced Constitution in the world, we are told, which makes us the envy […]
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni 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 a $20?000 (about […]
Amanda Lane replies to Matthew Krouse’s accusation that the line-up of Another One Night Stand is too white It is with a heavy heart that I write this, for it is my belief that one’s actions speak one’s truth. However, in my capacity as creative director of Another One Night Stand, I have a duty […]
Congress Mahlangu A team of consultants will undertake a number of conservation and socio-economic assessments for the Greater Addo Elephant National Park to expand the park for its growing elephant population and to realise its conservation and development objectives. The survey results are intended to attract World Bank development funding. The project, divided into four […]
Alan Henry Giancarlo Fisichella will replace his compatriot Jarno Trulli in the Jordan-Honda team next season in a three-year deal designed to provide the British team with the continuity they require to improve competitiveness and establish themselves as a possible winning force. The 28-year-old Italian, who currently drives for the Benetton-Renault squad, decided to make […]
Mungo Soggot The government has reached the end of the road in a marathon legal effort to block a group of doctors in the Northern Province from opening a private hospital in Tzaneen. The judgement sets a precedent for what is likely to be a battle between the medical profession and the government. One of […]
Natural Resources Award Finalist: Ground Hornbill Reintroduction Project Hilton Hamann It took a former TV presenter from Winchester, England, to recognise that if nothing was done about South Africa’s ground hornbill population, these large birds wouldn’t be around much longer. Anne Turner came to this country on holiday in 1997 and decided to stay. She […]
BOXING Deon Potgieter When Anton Nel knocked out Jokkie Oberholtzer in 59 seconds of the first round on Sunday, he became only the third man to win the national heavyweight title twice. The big right uppercut followed by a crushing overarm right were among the finest blows thrown by any heavyweight boxer in recent years […]
Jim White talks to the universally respected commentator whose ability to dwell in the present has made him indispensable to TV companies At one point during his demolition of the England bowling attack recently, Adam Gilchrist leathered a ball delivered by Andrew Caddick with such venom you can only assume he had just caught it […]
Charlene Smith Half of all South African adults have a variety of worms huddling in their intestines, crawling under their skin, slithering into their brains and for the lack of a 60c treatment, these worms could render Aids vaccines useless. A failure to spend 60c to rid a person of worms can cost the state […]
Barry Streek A Gauteng informal settlement is to be the site of a R5,6-million study on whether solar water heating of South African homes can be viable in low-income areas. Between 200 and 500 homes in Ivory Park in the Midrand area will be used in the two-and-a-half year project conducted by the Department of […]
David Macfarlane Size does count and that’s official. District councillors around the country have been seduced by the argument that because South Africans “are generally big people”, they are more susceptible to “deep vein thrombosis” if they fly economy class. Shortly before setting off on an investment mission to China in April, about 40 councillors […]
Schools Project Award Finalist: Weston Agricultural College Hilary Fine What started out as a simple geography class exercise for learners at Weston Agricultural College, ended up with the local town council being forced to acknowledge the huge problems caused by a municipal dumping site. The saga started in March this year, when the grade 11 […]
Sponsor’s Message The stage is set. It’s now up to the artists to showcase their talent. Since its inception, the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz circuit has showcased some of the world’s greatest artists, while developing young talent. The Johannesburg Joy of Jazz International Festival 2001 is no exception. This leg of our successful circuit […]
Q&A: Kevin brand Paul Edmunds Widely regarded as one of South Africa’s foremost artists, Kevin Brand is holding his second exhibition in three months. Balm of Banal, at the Bell-Roberts Contemporary in Cape Town in July, was a series of bronzes made from casts of everyday objects. Something Old, Something New is a collection of […]
As international investor confidence in emerging market economies such as our own declines sharply in the face of serious financial difficulties in Argentina and Brazil, we might expect prudence to be the watchword among South Africans. Clearly, however, it is not. The motor industry strike was continuing as we went to press, endangering significant export […]
No action has been taken against party members accused of factionalism Jaspreet Kindra The African National Congress’s Gauteng interim leadership core, which replaced the party’s faction-ridden leadership structures last year, has failed to take action against senior party members allegedly responsible for friction in the province. This claim is detailed in reports drafted since 1999 […]
Glenda Daniels The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is not only planning a national strike next week against the government’s privatisation policies it is proposing alternatives. Privatisation, Cosatu argues, is responsible for escalating job losses, a lack of service delivery, the rising cost of basic services and the further impoverishment of the poor. […]
Schools Project Award Finalist: Legaganeng Primary School Hilary Fine In the schoolyard of Legaganeng Primary School in arid Northern Province is a thin, green strip that stands out as a shining example of how knowledge gained from a small, agricultural project blossomed to benefit both learners and the community at large. Legaganeng began its permaculture […]
Investing in the Environment: Corporate Award Finalist: Cathay Pacific Niki Moore Take a group of youngsters from the crowded Philippines or high-rise Hong Kong, dump them in the vast African bush for a few days, and sit back.?Some kind of spiritual awakening is bound to happen.?And it does. “I’m from Manila,” says a bespectacled student.?”I’m […]
CRICKET Peter Robinson A poll conducted by the News24 website recently called for South Africa’s cricket tour to Zimbabwe next month to be cancelled and, what’s more, for a full range of sanctions to be slapped on Big, Bad Bob as quickly as possible. The first point, of course, is that Internet polls are famously […]
Fiona Macleod The future of conservation lies in the hands of communities and individuals like those involved in the Klipkop Conservancy, said the judges when they moved this project from the Natural Resources category to Overall Winner (Emerging) this year. The story of the Klipkop Conservancy started when the Loots family bought a farm about […]
This year’s South African Fashion Week provides an opportunity for designer shopping with a special runway open to the public Zaheda Mohamed The countdown has begun as the South African fashion industry gears up for what is believed to be the biggest fashion event of the year. Publicist Estelle Cooper says audiences at South African […]
‘The environment is us’ is Mentoor’s enviro-mantra Heather Dugmore “What is wrong with you that you want to cut down all these trees?” a 10-year-old girl from Chiawelo township in Soweto demands of a girl the same age. Between them stands a smaller child with her arms raised to resemble the branches of a tree. […]
Hello, and thanks for all the fish Niki Moore The dolphins of Plettenberg Bay are a remarkable group.?They have started a crche, a theatre and a vegetable garden in the local township.?They have trained tour guides, paid school fees and raised funds for ocean research. They’re now working on a restaurant, backpacker’s lodge, fish-packing factory, […]
Investing in the Environment: Individual Award Finalist: Kim Kieser Joy Webber When clothing manufacturer Kim Kieser saw a newspaper report about a murdered woman’s body dumped on a garbage heap a couple of years ago, she was galvanised into action. “The article seemed to be the answer I sought to an unexplained dream I had […]