Staff Reporter
No image available
/ 9 July 1999

Discovering the universe in a small town

Alex Dodd Halfway up the main staircase of the Albany Museum, stuck to a bright red wall are the following words: “The universe is not to be narrowed down to the limits of the understanding which has been man’s practice up to now, but the understanding must be stretched and enlarged to take in the […]

No image available
/ 9 July 1999

Stargazer who spirited away a fortune

Ben Laurance and Ed Vulliamy In many ways it was a very 1990s crime. The suspected perpetrator was a loner who dressed in baggy jeans and T-shirts. He worked from home and rarely went out. The technologies of cable and satellite allowed him to surround himself with more than 100 TV sets and computer screens […]

No image available
/ 9 July 1999

A gathering of gurus

South African theatre appears to be in the doldrums of self- indulgence, even though play makers are finding plenty to say, writes Matthew Krouse The National Arts Festival has been a glorious gathering of gurus – all strutting about like peacocks. It’s their moment, a time to get what they deserve. A time for nonchalant […]

No image available
/ 9 July 1999

Freedom of the city

Matthew Krouse The latest incentive to bring culture to the inner city on a grand scale will probably be greeted with scepticism from suburban quarters. It’s winter again, and inner city culture suffers historically in the cold. Working against the weather, and metropolitan apathy, the French Institute kicks off its bold plan to stage a […]

No image available
/ 9 July 1999

Madiba’s signature `used fraudulently’

A top official at the University of the North has been accused by a commission of inquiry of forging former state president Nelson Mandela’s signature on a fundraising letter to raise more than R600-million. Documents that form part of the findings of a commission appointed by the university to probe irregularities show that John Wiltshire, […]

No image available
/ 9 July 1999

You can call him Al

He may be 53 and a man of God, but Al Green still gets marriage proposals every night. In a rare interview, he reflects on a life of sin, soul and stardom. Burhan Wazir reports The reverend slowly opens the door to his New York hotel room and dispenses his trademark smile. One stoutly jewelled […]

No image available
/ 9 July 1999

Crime on their hands

Loose cannon Robert Kirby Yet again poor Mr Thabo Mbeki has been sorely misconstrued. On this latest occasion it was his pugnacious refusal to free Mpumalanga of its Premier, Mr Ndaweni “Lies-Are-Cool” Mahlangu, which got everyone up in arms. Mr Mbeki said that he would not be prepared to “worsen things in Mpumalanga” by firing […]

No image available
/ 9 July 1999

Speculation fuels gold slump

The falling gold price is making money for traders around the world, writes Belinda Beresford Champagne corks were popping in New York this week as traders celebrated their winning bets that the gold price would fall. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic in Pretoria, miners demonstrated in a desperate attempt to draw international […]

No image available
/ 9 July 1999

A crafty cultural initiation

Matthew Krouse Down the tube Of all the images of South African culture identifiable to the outside world, the Ndebele homestead must stand out as the one most exoticised. In pictures of homely bliss, postcards and books have portrayed neat little Ndebele communities as organised as the geometric patterns that women paint on their houses. […]