A tribute to a mother’s influence, Kate Turkington’s <i>Doing it with Doris</i> is a collection of tales about the journeys, adventures and encounters inspired by inspired by her mother’s philosophy of "make it happen". Shirley Kossick takes an armchair trip.
"A film like this, bizarrely, hasn’t been made before," Roodt says. Come to think of it, he’s right. Despite the pandemic in South Africa, can you recall ever seeing a full-length film featuring an HIV-positive protagonist? Nicole Temkin chats to director Darryl Roodt about <i>Yesterday</i>.
<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> It seems that documentaries are all the rage at the moment and <i>Touching the Void</i> will do much to continue the upsurge in interest. Compelling from start to finish, this is a true story of British mountain-climbing gone wrong, writes Shaun de Waal.
Hosted in Africa for the first time, the 29th World Congress of the International Board on Books for Young People is just around the corner. The event is an assembly of writers, illustrators, publishers, children’s book enthusiasts and more, reports Denise Rack Louw.
While no milestone album, Cowboy Junkies’ <i>One Soul Now</i> is damn nice. There are plenty sad bluesy guitar chords to be savoured on their 10th album. Riaan Wolmarans lends an ear.
Like so many others in search of the blinding truth behind a current news story, I had no success in making contact with anyone in Hertzogville who could give me more than vague details about the lengthy pre-burial afterlife of Oom Paul Meintjes. A few local residents were willing to talk about their feelings of shock and outrage at the incalculable harm the story has brought upon the Hertzogville Christian community.
Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni’s surprise rate cut last week jolted markets out of their slumber and provoked a noisy stir among financial journalists who had been lulled by a series of non-events at his media conferences. Much of the coverage has missed the central drama of the announcement.
Producer inflation for July grew more slowly than in June, while consumer inflation was lower than expected, Statistics South Africa figures showed this week. The figures point to a positive inflation outlook for the rest of this year. On Thursday, Statistics South Africa reported that the producer price index (PPI) grew by 0,7% for the year to July, down from 1,2% in June.
South Africa’s retail spending boom is likely to continue for at least the next 12 months — but could last longer if the economy enjoys broad-based, job-creating growth, say two leading analysts. Dennis Dykes, chief economist at Nedcor, and Evan Walker, retail analyst at Andisa Capital, also see the rapid depreciation of the rand as the greatest threat to the spending splurge.
Trade union and government negotiators in the public service remain light years away from a settlement, raising the real prospect of another pay strike involving up to a million public servants next week. "This is not a fight that we are going to end up losing," said Fikile Hugo. "It may take us the three years of the intended three-year agreement, but it’s something we will pursue."