Andrew Muchineripi Soccer Bafana Bafana fly to Luanda on Saturday with about as much relish as turkeys welcome December. I warned last week that the pride of our nation were tired and the evidence was there for all to see at Soccer City in midweek. Perhaps the sole consolation for a squad that will lack […]

Jonathan Ancer talks to some of the `seditious’ students who were blamed for the 1976 Soweto riots Twenty-three years after the June 16 Soweto uprising, the “seditious” students convicted of inciting the rebellion are influential members of the new South Africa they helped to create. There’s an MP, a Department of Foreign Affairs official, a […]

George Kimball Golf The mythical designation – “Best Golfer Never to have Won a Major” – is less a title than a lifetime achievement award earned through years of exemplary frustration. It is one of those dubious honours to which nobody exactly aspires and, once won, can be shed in one of two ways, one […]

Charlene Smith President Thabo Mbeki is expected to provide an outline of his new government’s economic policy, and proposals for the implementation of an “African renaissance”, at next weekend’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Durban. The forum, according to briefing papers issued to delegates, is predicting a more flexible stance on inflation under Mbeki, more […]

Over the years I have often been a fierce critic of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), its administration and its method of operation. But I have to say that the concept underlying Strate (the acronym from share transactions totally electronic) and the way it is being introduced deserves unflinching support. Properly developed, Strate will ensure […]

Howard Barrell Over a Barrel One of the more remarkable pieces of reportage on the election just past was a Sunday newspaper story early in the campaign, written without a hint of irony, about Musibudi Mangena, president of the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo). Mangena was saying, again without a hint of irony, that whereas other […]

Sarah Bullen A week is all the time Old Mutual policyholders have to notify the company if they are going to hold on to their free demutualisation shares, or sell them for an instant injection of cash. The decision has to be made by June 25. The three choices of those facing a windfall have […]

When you’re a 21-year-old filmmaker with an audience of over a million, there’s no reason to be scared of the dark, writes Alex Dodd There’s not a hint of jadedness to be whiffed in the corridors of the South African School of Film, Television and Dramatic Art. When you talk about the new wave in […]

Shaun de Waal Not quite movie of the week British director Stephen Frears has often taken a notable interest in the particularities and peculiarities of human relationships, and his best films explore them from a number of angles and in different milieux. His 1986 feature My Beautiful Laundrette posited a gay love affair between a […]

Once upon a time, women in tennis meant short skirts and visible knickers. Now it’s all serious muscles and attitudes. But, Jim White asks, are women doing themselves a disservice? Four hundred and fifty-five thousand pounds: not bad for a fortnight’s work. That’s how much Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski will be straining (and, being […]