John Matshikiza WITH THE LID OFF So my friend and colleague Phillip van Niekerk might find himself in jail in the next few weeks, if he isn’t careful. I have been telling him that if it does come to the worst-case scenario, and he defies the Human Rights Commission’s (HRC) summons to appear before it […]

Howard Barrell President Thabo Mbeki and Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel have thrust aside last-minute resistance from Cabinet colleagues and decided to launch on time what is likely to prove a silent revolution in the control of the state’s finances and its delivery of services. Manuel told Parliament in his budget speech on Wednesday that […]

Andrew Muchineripi SOCCER If the South African under-23 side defeat Cameroon in Yaounde on Saturday and Ghana at Vosloorus Stadium next month, cries of siyaya e Sydney will reverberate around our beautiful land. It is a big if, with the first hurdle particularly difficult, but what a prize lies in wait should we succeed. A […]

WISDEN editor Matthew Engel said on Thursday he is quitting the job at the cricket almanack for at least a year because he is tired of having to write about England’s “relentless failures.” “I have been obliged to edit Wisden against a background of failure. This is not failure on the part of the almanack […]

It wasn’t that long ago that patrons of bars and restuarants were requested to “please refrain from the smoking of pipes and cigars”. The traditional image of a cigar smoker was a leisurely fat cat in his fifties. A man with both time and money on his hands. Now it seems that most establishments carry […]

This was not the week to be jobless, poor and a sinner. In the moral schema that underlay Minister of Fiance Trevor Manuel’s budget, little charity was on offer for this category among us. It was those of us in work who got the tax breaks, the rich can afford to pay cunning accountants to […]

‘Frankenfoods’ Fiona Macleod Large shiploads of genetically engineered foodstuffs are quietly being imported into South Africa because a loophole in the law enables importers to fast-track such shipments without the public knowing anything about them. South African ports are receiving “an average of one large bulk shipment each month, mostly from Argentina and the United […]

ALTHOUGH Queen “Iyaya” Sesoka, lead vocalist of popular Kwaito group Abashante, is still missing after disappearing on Tuesday, police say while they are aware of it, no missing person’s case has been reported. The 25-year-old singer’s disappearance took a strange turn on Friday when the Sowetan newspaper reported that a caller claiming he was in […]

Polly Pattullo Visitors look at new places with eyes that are loaded with their perceptions about the world and where they come from. Depending on the “view”, we can be fascinated, bored or anguished. It can be unforgettable or mundane. Our hosts, who look at that same view every day, see things differently. Such confusion […]

Sasha Sanders I like the Seven Elevens. I really do. I like that I can walk up the road and buy milk or chocolates in the middle of the night. I like that I can buy a drinking yoghurt on my way to work early in the morning. And I like that they bake really […]