Xolela Mangcu:CROSSFIRE The political transformation of the past 10 years will no doubt go down in history as one of the most important events of the millennium – on par with the French, American, Indian, Chinese, and Russian revolutions. Some of our leading scholars have taken to talking about the “maturing” and “consolidation” of our […]
Until recently, the common fantasy of what sex would be like in the future borrowed from the spoof sci-fi movies of the 1960s. It would be solitary, robotic, it would probably involve a booth – Woody Allen’s orgasmatron springs to mind. These days, now we are closer to the future, technology’s impact on sex conjures […]
than many people think Telford Vice Cricket The fate of the Titanic may be the major single reason 1912 sticks in the minds of many who would otherwise have no cause to hang on to the events of 87 years ago. But another, almost as damp saga played out in the same year was the […]
The houses built for 680 000 families are the most tangible signs of change, writes Ferial Haffajee If there is one thing that has marked the landscape of delivery, it’s the HOP-huise. That’s the Afrikaans term for the houses built under the auspices of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (in Afrikaans, that’s the Heropbou en […]
David le Page Many would guess that the cheapest way to stop is to go cold turkey overnight. But in all but a rare few cases this approach is likely to take its toll in discarded friends left with their heads chewed off, kilograms gained and expanded grocery bills, chewed nails and kicked dogs. Some […]
Chris Gordon This decade has seen a major drop in De Beers’s Central Selling Organisation (CSO) share of the diamond market, and there are questions as to whether the cartel can survive in its current form. The diamond giant now controls an ever-decreasing share of the world’s diamond output. The Southern African diamond industry, traditionally […]
Pagad and the gangsters may at last find common ground – in a Christian church. Marianne Merten reports Reborn Christian Rashied Staggie has joined the Rhema Church. He has become the latest self-confessed gangster to turn to the Bible. It remains to be seen whether his conversion will see him abandoning his multimillion-rand vice network […]
Ann Eveleth Today’s farmworkers are a vocal bunch. Not only do they know that they are getting the short end of the stick, but also that the battery of new land and labour laws are supposed to protect them, and they have strong ideas on why these measures are falling short. Joining forces with about […]
Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is by no means a masterpiece, but it’s a well- crafted and ingeniously entertaining comedy-thriller. It is neat, to the point, with just the right doses of action and comedy. Simplistically, it’s a mixture of Danny Boyle’s Shallow Grave and Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp […]
Suddenly debt relief is all the rage. Everybody is trying to get in on the act, saying that not enough is being done to provide financial help to the poorest nations. From United States President Bill Clinton to International Monetary Fund (IMF) director Michel Camdessus: you name them, they’ve got a plan. Make no mistake, […]