apartheid Lungisile Ntsebeza and Fred Hendricks CROSSFIRE Patekile Holomisa’s article ”Ubukhosi the bedrock of African democracy” (February 11 to 17) raised a number of critical issues about the nature of democracy and the future of traditional authorities in South Africa. We feel it is necessary to correct some of the distortions, half-truths and sweeping statements […]

Ivor Powell The Pretoria High Court will next week consider a case that could result in the removal of Judge Willem Heath from his embattled special investigating unit and the reversal of all the unit’s state asset retrievals. This could mean that the state would have to return the millions of rand it has reclaimed […]

Thebe Mabanga Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe is a man clearly peaking in his career as a dancer and choreographer. The 28-year-old associate artistic director of Moving into Dance exudes an air of quiet confidence that belies his stature as one of South Africa’s leading dance practitioners. He has come a long way from his Diepkloof upbringing […]

As a rule, journalists prefer reporting the news to making it. Yet the press itself is making the headlines in South Africa just now. The editors of the Johannesburg Sunday Times, the Mail & Guardian and two other Cape Town papers have been threatened with jail if they refuse a summons to appear before the […]

Bell Hooks BODY LANGUAGE In her first book, The Bluest Eye, novelist Toni Morrison identifies the idea of romantic love as one ”of the most destructive ideas in the history of modern thought”. Its destructiveness resides in the notion that we come to love with no will and no capacity to choose. This illusion, perpetuated […]

Matthew Krouse REVIEW OFTHEWEEK William Wharton’s Birdy – widely known as a bestselling novel and an Alan Parker movie – makes for an intermittently moving piece of stage drama, even though Naomi Wallace’s adaptation is in a writing style that’s somewhat out of date. Like Peter Schaffer’s Equus, it’s about a youth who develops an […]

SPRINGBOK winger Breyton Paulse showed electrifying form by scoring three tries in the Stormers’ 60-14 thrashing of Western Province in a pre-season match on Wednesday. The Stormers looked rusty at the start of the match, but soon got the rhythm going and scored eight tries, seven of which were converted by Braam van Straaten, whose […]

NAMIBIAN WBO junior middleweight champion Harry Simon finds himself more in demand than any boxer from Southern Africa in recent years. Ahead of his title defence on Saturday night in Dagenham, England against Enrique Areco, ShowTime television has signed him to be on the under-card for the next Mike Tyson fight. Although a date has […]

THE Shoprite Group has entered into a joint venture with the Egyptian-Kuwaiti Holding Company, which will open up investment opportunities for the supermarket group in Egypt and the Middle East, the company announced on Tuesday. Shoprite holds the majority share in the new company Shoprite Egypt. Said MD Whitey Basson: “Our decision for the business […]

ALBIE Morkel, Easterns’ 19-year-old opening bowler, led his team to a 39-run victory over Free State with a match-winning performance in their limited-overs day-night match in Bloemfontein. After choosing to bat, Easterns scored 163/9, to which Free State replied with a paltry 124-all out. Morkel was the bane of the Free State batting and produced […]