BRONWEN ROBERTS, Durban | Friday 8.00pm TWELVE schoolchildren died and five were seriously injured in a stampede in a crowded disco in Chatsworth, Durban on Friday afternoon. The stampede was apparently caused when a canister of gas — thought to have been teargas — was released in the early afternoon in the Throb nightclub — […]
With the help of a few visionaries, the apartheid struggle’s ‘young lions’ are learning how to come to terms with their past and move on with their lives Charlene Smith ‘How many people have you killed?” Jabulani and Max look at each other and shake their heads. Jabu answers: “It’s impossible to know. Some you […]
Period pieces have dominated the Oscars for a decade. Will the pattern be broken this year? Mark Morris Over the next few days people will eagerly tell you American Beauty has the best picture Oscar in the bag. After all, it’s hard to think of a film that has ever come out to such a […]
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The Northern Province Department of Health has challenged a group of white doctors to prove that their application to start a new private hospital is not racially motivated. The challenge comes amid simmering racial tension in the province’s state hospitals, with some white patients refusing to be treated by black hospital […]
Jubie Matlou There could not have been a better place than The Netherlands, with its intricate system of dykes and canals to protect the country from floods, to host the Second World Water Security Forum this week. The conference was not meant to be an ambitious exercise to get 4E000 delegates to find consensus, according […]
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni It could be bubbles in the paint on the wall, or lights that won’t go off. When you lie awake at night and wonder what that strange scratching sound is, it might be a good idea to call a pest control company in the morning. Termites are in town once again […]
The South African political landscape has changed dramatically in the six years since the first democratic elections, writes Howard Barrell Former apartheid salesman Pik Botha announces he wants to join the African National Congress. Thirty Afrikaner businessmen, many once funders of the apartheid National Party, cosy up to Thabo Mbeki by endorsing his presidency. And […]
The people of the Karoo may soon find themselves even more isolated Lynda Gilfillan Karoo dorps – Burgersdorp, Jansenville, Murraysburg – may seem like one-horse towns to tourists speeding past the road markers on the N1, but a glance at a local weekly newspaper reveals deep undercurrents of tragedy and frivolity, politics, life and death. […]
Vikram Dodd November 1978 In the largest cult-inspired mass suicide of recent times, 914 followers of the Reverend Jim Jones’s People’s Temple died at Jonestown, Guyana. Most drank a grape punch that was laced with cyanide. Those who refused to drink it were shot. A sign over Jones’s altar read: “Those who forget the past […]
Steve Outing In the days of yore (pre-Internet, that is), news media and corporations had clearly defined boundaries. Magazines and newspapers gave readers news and objective information. Companies tried to sell goods and services, and placed ads in magazines, newspapers and on TV as a way to sell more. Ah, life was simple then. The […]