The SABC pulled a documentary on circumcision hours before it was due to be aired in response to a complaint from a member of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa who had not seen the programme. The decision to stop the showing of the documentary was made unilaterally by SABC head Dali Mpofu.
After his race-related outburst from the stage of the Naledi theatre awards ceremony last Monday, Lebo M (Morake), co-producer of The Lion King, is standing firm in his belief that local theatre is in dire need of transformation. ”To pretend we have a healthy, fully representative industry is a fallacy,” he says.
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/ 22 February 2008
It is with glee that the organisers of the Design Indaba 2008 announced on their website that the event has been sold out for the fourth year in a row. Tickets for a “young designers” simulcast, however, were available late this week. (Strangely enough young participants include anyone over 25.)
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/ 21 February 2008
The dance establishment is benefiting from some new recruits. Matthew Krouse reports on the FNB Dance Umbrella’s 20th birthday bash.
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/ 8 February 2008
Senior members of staff at the Market Theatre in Newtown, Johannesburg, have accused the Department of Arts and Culture of mismanagement after the department failed to replace the theatre’s governing body. The tenure of the council that oversees the running of the theatre expired at the end of December.
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/ 25 January 2008
A recent book by an international photographer takes a fashionable look at township life, writes Matthew Krouse.
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/ 22 January 2008
Local knowledge of the eating habits of faraway cultures, and their adaptability, reflects suburban South Africa’s inadequate knowledge of its own indigenous eating culture, writes Matthew Krouse.
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/ 21 December 2007
The Family Life Centre in Parkwood, a stone’s throw from Zoo Lake, Johannesburg, was once a sprawling suburban home. Today its immaculate garden is still intact, but it has a street-facing notice board that at times boldly advertises “Divorce Recovery” or “Effective Parenting”. The place has an air of sadness, writes Matthew Krouse.
The announcement last week that the Department of Arts and Culture has received a qualified audit report from Auditor General Terence Nombembe has been met with alarm from the parliamentary opposition and silence from within the department itself. In the first qualified audit finding in five years, the Auditor General has written: ”An unexplained difference of R13 415 189 exists between the asset register and the amount disclosed in the financial statements.”
First the gay and lesbian community got its own red carpet movie bash. Then every embassy in Pretoria wanted theirs. Then serious nonÂfiction film buffs got the Encounters film festival and hard-line political activists followed suit with the Tri-Continental festival and its focus on the countries of the South.