ALMOST a third of women in Mpumalanga have at some point been physically abused by their partners, says a study published in the latest issue of the South African Medical Journal. The study, by the Medical Research Council’s gender and health group, also found that just over a quarter of women in the Eastern Cape […]
Lawrence Booth ‘Corruption report stuns cricket world,” announced one website this week. Remove cricket from that headline, and you might be closer to the truth. Because for those in the game who have followed developments closely since Cronjegate and have greeted each new revelation with less shock and horror than the last there is precious […]
Sizwe samaYende American fast food giant McDonald’s has been dubbed “McGreed” in Mpumalanga after refusing to supply anti-Aids drugs to a staff member who was raped after working a late shift. The transnational corporation refuses to supply transport for staff who knock off between midnight and 2am, and who are regularly ambushed by criminals. A […]
Mail & Guardian reporters Investigators in South Africa’s R50-billion arms deal have expressed serious reservations about the advisability of public hearings into the procurement scandal due to open on Monday. The concerns have divided officials of the three investigating bodies although there are indications that the final format the hearings will take has partly allayed […]
A TOTAL of 232 new cholera cases have been reported in KwaZulu-Natal since Wednesday afternoon. The provincial health department said no new deaths were reported. Most of the cases occurred in Eshowe/Nkandla (81), Ulundi (50), Lower Umfolozi districts (47) and New Castle/Nqutu (21). There are still 274 people being treated in provincial hospitals. A total […]
Charlene Smith Over one weekend recently 80% of patients admitted to Johannesburg hospital were HIV-positive. Sixty per cent of the hospital’s paediatric admissions are HIV-infected and at least half of all patients are HIV-positive. The hospital is ill-equipped to deal with the crisis, seriously lacking in both medical staff and drugs. In a letter to […]
The Mail &Guardian and the ANC faced each other in court this week over the allegation that a white editor wrote an article and put a black journalist’s name above it, Khadija Magardie reports The Johannesburg High Court looks miles away from a resolution of the dispute between the Mail & Guardian and the country’s […]
Glenda Daniels Almost two years after the promulgation of the Employment Equity Act only 10% of the total workforce has undergone training in accordance with the provisions of the Act. A Department of Labour progress report on equity indicates that 84% of companies have conducted employment equity training. The National Union of Metalworkers of South […]
OVERCROWDING in Moroccan prisons is a “bomb”, the Moroccan Prison Observatory (OMP) said this week, reporting appalling conditions in many of the country’s jails. “The overcrowding is a bomb that forces us to think about alternative solutions to incarceration,” said Abderrahim Jamai, a director of the Casablanca-based independent watchdog organisation. “Integrating minors into social life […]
Glenda Daniels Boiling oil was an everyday feature in the 22 years of loyal service in kitchen worker’s Peter Mudogwa’s life at Wimpy Cresta. But he didn’t know it would one day kill him. Mudogwa, a member of the South African Commercial and Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (Saccawu), was burnt by boiling oil while […]
Chris McGreal Malcolm Rifkind, leader of the Tories’ Scottish election campaign, chose to run around the old Zulu battlefields. David Frost wants to pursue elephants. Rory Bremner has yet to decide but he is probably one of those who wants to meet Nelson Mandela. The three are among an array of British celebrities, politicians and […]
Fiona Macleod While the world signed a landmark treaty this week outlawing 12 of the most dangerous chemical concoctions, a major South African company continues to trade openly in one of these toxins. Chlordane, a pesticide used mainly on building sites to get rid of termites underground, is one of the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) […]
The Pretoria High Court heard claims of conflicting interests in its review of the Cell C licence award, but the real conflict of interest was not aired at all. Stefaans Brmmer reports Within one week Lebanon’s prime minister visits Saudi Arabia, where his company Saudi Oger is based; South Africa awards its third cellular network […]
MILITANT pro-government war veterans have stoned and looted the home of opposition lawmaker Willias Madzimure, he said on Thursday. “Yesterday in parliament, I was phoned to be told the house was being stoned,” Madzimure, of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said. “By the time I arrived, they had been stoning the house without the police […]
Anthony Holiday It needs no sage to see that, while the letter of parliamentary democracy in South Africa remains perilously intact, the spirit of that institution is already ailing. The symptoms of the disease are manifest, not only in the frictive partisanship which has infected the functioning of the parliamentary portfolio and oversight committees or […]
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The Mozambican public prosecuting authorities on Tuesday charged six people for the assassination of Carlos Cardoso, the editor of the independent newssheet, Metical. The six, who include businessman Ayob Abdul Satar and former bank manager Vicente Ramaya, were arrested following a six-month investigation. According to the prosecution Satar and Ramaya, former […]
Jean Redpath crossfire The trial of those accused of Rashaad Staggie’s murder began on Monday. The state was criticised for subpoenaing journalists. The press said the subpoenas were an infringement of press freedom and would have a “chilling effect” on media ability to gather news. But is the issue that clear cut? And who is […]
The Soweto stars clinched their first league title since 1994 Ntuthuko Maphumulo It took Orlando Pirates seven years, five different coaches, 90 minutes and three beautiful goals to clinch the Premier Soccer League (PSL) championship. Gordon Igesund became the second coach to win the championship twice and the first to win it with two different […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday LIZEKA Mda, a former Mail & Guardian reporter who wrote an opinion piece in 1998 critical of then-deputy president Thabo Mbeki may have lied to then presidential representative Parks Mankahlana about the author of the article, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Wednesday. Advocate George Bizos SC, representing Public Enterprises […]
Fred Esbend Despite the fact that Port Elizabeth is on the brink of financial collapse with municipal service arrears standing at a staggering R600-million, the Nelson Mandela metropolitan municipality has upgraded its executive mayor’s flying status from economy to business class. Nceba Faku’s upgrade comes at a time when the metropolitan council, which incorporates Uitenhage […]
No complaints as South Africa’s hopes prepare to take on Brumbies Andy Capostagno There are many factors that have propelled the Sharks to the Super 12 final, but four words are as important as any: “No complaints on tour.” That was the motto Rudolf Straeuli chose at the start of his first season as a […]
Matthew Burbidge food Carlton Food Network (DStv, channel 54) is a strangely compelling place to visit. The studios have a warm tint, a homely feel; it’s inviting, it’s all about sizzling food, lovely smells, tastes but none of it seems real. The portions are huge and steaming, polished. “Here’s one we made earlier,” the chefs […]
The flamboyant cleric has shown he still evokes fierce loyalty among many in the Western Cape Marianne Merten On Tuesday morning Elna Boesak wore a purple suit, a pink turtleneck sweater, pale pink lipstick and a radiant smile. “I feel like a bride today,” she beamed. She had worn only widow’s black while her husband […]
A KENYAN minister has predicted the imminent collapse of the country’s motor industry due to the influx of cheap imports. Labour Minister, Joseph Ngutu made the predictions at the 13th International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) conference at Mbagathi near Nairobi on Thursday. He said the flooding of the local market with cheap cars, […]
Barry Streek South African statistics officials are determined that this year’s census will be the most accurate in the country’s history but it won’t include questions about whether people are HIV-positive or have Aids. More than 40-million South Africans will be asked 69 questions based on where they sleep on the night of October 9, […]
Alec Hogg boardroom talk If the way one handles money is the measure of a man, Bellville’s IT whizz-kid Mark Shuttleworth ranks right down there with former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje. The manner in which greenbacks corrupted his spirit may have been subtler, but like the disgraced cricketer, it’s been effective. Many people […]
The company’s new mining division will be attractive fare for global mining majors hungry for bigger exposure to iron ore Stewart Bailey Iscor’s soon-to-be-created mining division has been tipped as a star performer on the JSE Securities Exchange, but it is unlikely to grace the bourse’s resource board for very long. The division, to be […]
Alex Sudheim theatre In Seeing Red the first “fully-fledged” theatrical production by South Africa’s most famous “white man with a weapon” writer/director Greig Coetzee has essentially compressed two plays into one. One is a sharp, acerbic satire of life in a student digs in Pietermaritzburg in the 1980s. Loaded with biting humour and classic farce, […]
ONE of at least 20 foreigners being held captive by a Mai Mai tribal militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has warned that the use of force to secure their release would endanger their lives, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said. The New York-based advocacy group said in statement it had listened to a […]
Nona Cummings Body Language ‘A fib,” granny taught me, “is never a good thing.” Especially those epics that require sustaining like boasting at a party that you once climbed Everest when it was a koppie near Ficksburg. But despite the risk of exposure involved, I, like many others, still lie, flatter, exaggerate and outright deceive. […]
Scotch Tagwireyi and Nicolas Dieltiens The South African Reserve Bank has managed to hide alleged evidence of maladministration that is in the hands of its former employee Nicolaas Alant by reaching an out of court settlement with him. Wednesday’s agreement forces Alant to return all documents he obtained from the bank while working there. He […]
Barry Streek After shock findings of widespread financial mismanagement and lack of controls, the Office of the Auditor General refused to approve a financial audit of the statements for the now- defunct Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) for the 1999/2000 financial year. Because of the significance of these findings, “I do not express an opinion of […]