Yearly Archives: 2000

Shaun de Waal MOVIE OFTHEWEEK Inevitably, once Leonardo DiCaprio got involved, the making of The Beach became a major gossip-fest. Allegations flew about the film-makers’ ecological destruction of the beach where it was being filmed in Thailand; and Leo had allegedly hired an entire island nearby to house his current girlfriend. The rumours that impinge […]

peace’ Stefaans Brmmer A Johannesburg-based “arms dealer” and South Africa’s top spy have locked horns in a court contest involving claims that the dealer is a threat to world peace and confirmation that South African intelligence collaborates with the United States CIA. Affidavits lodged by both sides pending a Pretoria High Court hearing reveal details […]

Fiona Macleod Tigers may soon be roaming free in the foothills of the Drakensberg, like their sabre-toothed cousins did millions of years ago. Two seven-month-old pure-bred Bengal tigers are already in South Africa, waiting to become part of an ambitious scheme to breed these critically endangered cats on the African continent. Three tiger subspecies have […]

Government plans to stiffen immigration legislation follow warnings by Western intelligence services that illegal immigrants have turned South Africa into a top drug conduit Paul Kirk The British intelligence service, MI5, has singled out South Africa as one of the “most important” conduits for South American drugs into Western Europe in a confidential report submitted […]

Matthew Krouse REVIEW OFTHEWEEK William Wharton’s Birdy – widely known as a bestselling novel and an Alan Parker movie – makes for an intermittently moving piece of stage drama, even though Naomi Wallace’s adaptation is in a writing style that’s somewhat out of date. Like Peter Schaffer’s Equus, it’s about a youth who develops an […]

Deon Potgieter BOXING One of the highlights of the most intriguing boxing bill in recent memory will be the presence at ringside of Irichelle Duran, daughter of the legendary Roberto Duran. Irichelle Duran has signed with Golden Gloves, the promoters of the tournament, and will be making her professional boxing debut in South Africa on […]

Ivor Powell The Pretoria High Court will next week consider a case that could result in the removal of Judge Willem Heath from his embattled special investigating unit and the reversal of all the unit’s state asset retrievals. This could mean that the state would have to return the millions of rand it has reclaimed […]

Thebe Mabanga Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe is a man clearly peaking in his career as a dancer and choreographer. The 28-year-old associate artistic director of Moving into Dance exudes an air of quiet confidence that belies his stature as one of South Africa’s leading dance practitioners. He has come a long way from his Diepkloof upbringing […]

As a rule, journalists prefer reporting the news to making it. Yet the press itself is making the headlines in South Africa just now. The editors of the Johannesburg Sunday Times, the Mail & Guardian and two other Cape Town papers have been threatened with jail if they refuse a summons to appear before the […]

Bell Hooks BODY LANGUAGE In her first book, The Bluest Eye, novelist Toni Morrison identifies the idea of romantic love as one ”of the most destructive ideas in the history of modern thought”. Its destructiveness resides in the notion that we come to love with no will and no capacity to choose. This illusion, perpetuated […]