Barry Streek LETTERS FROM ROBBEN ISLAND: A SELECTION OF AHMED KATHRADA’S PRISON CORRESPONDENCE, 1964-1989 edited by Robert D Vassen (Zebra) From prison, Ahmed Kathrada wrote thoughtful letters, initially twice a year and then once a month, to the outside world, knowing that they would first be censored by prison officials, then examined in detail by […]

Jason Venter SQUASH This week’s South African squash open national championship, staged first at Johannesburg suburban courts and later on a portable glass court in the middle of Sandton Square, is no doubt one of the premier events on the South African sport calendar – as if anyone cared in this era of Hansiegate and […]

Ivor Powell went in search of some of the ogres of the past to find out what they’re up to in the new South Africa The extension of amnesty to “superspy” Craig Williamson for the remote- controlled murders of Ruth First, Jeanette Schoon and her daughter Katryn, put into sharp focus the extent to which […]

cards Glenda Daniels About 400 businesses, involving approximately 400 000 workers, have applied for exemptions from the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA). This includes South African Airways (SAA), the South African Chamber of Mines, Eskom, and welfare institutions and small businesses. About 21 000 workers are affected at the Chamber of Mines, more than […]

SOUTH African pet lovers have started an air bridge for cats and dogs caught up in the violence in neighbouring Zimbabwe. Spurred by television footage in April of farm pets being beaten to death or maimed by war veterans invading white-owned farms, the Johannesburg-based Wet Nose Animal Rescue Centre stepped in. The centre’s spokeswoman, Elmine […]

Valentine Cascarino Iboh ART Painting in watercolour is frowned upon – the victim of a disturbing myth, mostly harboured by critical modernists who believed watercolour is Victorian and amateurish. Those critics don’t even consider the fact that painting in watercolour presents a direct link to the development of romantic painting in the 19th century. Neither […]

Jubie Matlou previews issues to be tabled before the SADC Economic Summit next week If Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries were to go to war, it would be over a piece of a fabric. Belligerents would consist of South Africa and its Southern African Customs Union (SACU) partners of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland […]

Mary Dover LIFESTYLE For all the coffee snobs out there, the latest place to hang out is the Illy Boutique in Sandton Square, a new venture launched by House of Coffees. And no, its not true that House of Coffees is closing down – the group is still going strong with more than 30 stores […]

Thebe Mabanga The British rock guitarist Brian May once noted how “we live in interesting times. But we also live in dangerous times.” He may very well have been talking to South Africa’s youth. For although some of South Africa’s 16- to 30-year-olds are justifiably despondent in the face of rising unemployment, those who have […]

Henry Gee looks at the surprising secrets of one of nature’s stickiest surfaces – the gecko’s atom-powered feet Robert Full’s laboratory is more than usually full of gizmos, even for a modern biologist. Full is a biological engineer. Like an industrial espionage outfit, he and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, look at nature […]