Themba Khoza, who died on Sunday, was at the centre of some of the most brutal killings in living memory Ivor Powell When Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) firebrand Themba Khoza died of Aids- related illnesses on Sunday, so did many of the secrets of one of the darkest chapters in South Africa’s recent past. Khoza […]
AHM Scholtz published his first novel, Vatmaar, in 1995 at the age of 72. This acclaimed debut won the M-Net Prize, the Eugne Marais Prize and the CNA Literary Award. The panoramic tale of a small town in the Northern Cape has been translated into Dutch and German. Chris van Wyk’s new translation brings A […]
The latest Helderberg ‘exposures’ have sucked familiar roaches, and some new ones, out of the woodwork Robert Kirby Conspiracy theories are always constructed in reverse. First there’s the foregone conclusion. Once this is stated, suitable facts are rapidly gathered in support of it. Reams of other facts are left out lest these conflict with the […]
Angus Begg Born – October 4 1918, died – April 4 1994, Gregg Simons was one of the Riemvasmakers trucked in 1970, against his will, from his home in the northern Cape to the red and rocky hills of Damaraland in the former South West Africa. As far as family graveyards go, his resting place […]
Gregory Mthembu-Salter Rwanda played host this week to one of the largest and most ambitious cultural events ever seen in the country – a festival of “memory against forgetting”. The Fest’Africa – in Rwanda’s capi-tal Kigali, and the university town of Butare – brought together authors, artists and film- makers from all over the continent […]
Chris Roper REVIEW OFTHEWEEK Damn, that Brett Murray is a funny guy! The unveiling of his Africa sculpture in Cape Town last Friday was a delicious occasion, marked in equal parts by mirth and blank incomprehension. The 3-m high statue, an Ivorian curio figure with Bart Simpson heads growing out of it, occupies a space […]
Neal Collins RUGBY South Africans will probably be recoiling at the thought of Martin Johnson leading another group of tourists to the Rainbow Nation this month. Last time the huge Leicester lock captained a touring side against the Boks, he led the Lions to a shock victory over the then world champions in 1997. But […]
Thebe Mabanga IN YOUR EAR Johannesburg-based adult contemporary station Kaya fm 95.9 is steadily making inroads in winning over a fastidious and habit-driven audience – the black middle class – using retro sounds with a world music slant. Since its August 1997 launch, Kaya has entrenched its distinct sound. Its music selection is astute, yet […]
Riaan Wolmarans LIFESTYLE ‘Two Amstels, a double Archers and lemonade and a Coke, please.” You repeat your order twice, and the bartender scurries off. About five minutes later you have two Castles, Coke in a dirty glass and half the lemonade on the bar counter. Sound familiar? This is exactly what you won’t find at […]
David Gough in Nairobi On Wednesday the Ethiopian prime minister declared his country’s two-year border war with Eritrea over, saying that Ethiopia had recaptured all the disputed land which Eritrea occupied by force in May 1998. Meles Zenawi was quoted on Ethiopian state television as saying: “The war against Eritrea has been accomplished in victory.” […]