Matthew Krouse Down the tube >From the outset one would think that Baby Fathers, showing on June 16 at 9pm on e.tv would be the most depressing documentary ever made. But actually it’s not. Take the subject matter: three teenage fathers living in the townships, who have had their offspring early. They’re poor, inexperienced and […]

Howard Barrell Over a Barrel Who said life beyond the Hex River Mountains was boring? Long the home of the best wine, the worst dagga (I’m told) and the most picturesque beaches, the Western Cape has just confirmed its place as the habitat of eccentricity. The rest of the country may choose to hand themselves […]

Aaron Nicodemus Thembi Nkosi is 20 years old, and manager of a print and coffee shop with dreams of owning his own printing business. He knows the nuts and bolts of how to run a business – balancing its books, ordering stock, keeping customers happy. He got the job by writing a business plan for […]

According to a recent study, the rape homicide rate in Cape Town is 12 times higher than in the United States. Charlene Smith reports In the photograph is a beautiful young woman sitting with her boyfriend. It is a 21st-birthday photograph. Six years before she was raped so violently with a sharp object in her […]

Aids myths? Myths, quasi-myths and questions about Aids abound. Donald McNeil Jnr attempts to demystify the epidemic in Southern Africa Donald G McNeil Jnr Despite its size, South Africa is number one in the world in several fields: rugby, cricket, tuberculosis and Aids. One hears too little about the last two. In 1990, a New […]

Several familiar faces are missing from the South African team to meet Italy on Saturday – and their replacements have the talent to keep them on the sidelines, writes Andy Capostagno Nine changes and four uncapped players on the bench. You could be forgiven for thinking that Nick Mallett has gone mad. But it is […]

Makhosini Nkosi and Wally Mbhele The ruling African National Congress celebrated its landslide victory in the country’s second democratic elections this week in grand style. The party forked out more than R180 000 to set up an election nerve centre and a celebration at Gallagher Estate in Midrand near Johannesburg. Even a bomb scare that […]

In 1918, at the age of 40, my maternal grandfather was stricken by a form of viral influenza, popularly known as the Spanish flu, which was decimating much of Europe. Within a week, despite the best efforts of three physicians, he died. In 1972, at the age of 40, I was stricken by a serious […]

Stephen Bierley in Paris Tennis Andre Agassi, the pigeon-toed, scrub-headed Las Vegas American they call “Mr Electricity”, among more derogatory names, staged the comeback of his life to win the French Open with a remarkable 1-6, 2-6, 6- 4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Andrei Medvedev. By doing so he became only the fifth man in […]

Jacques Rautenbach It’s the staple of countless science fiction comics and movies: a flying car. Just think of Mila Jovovich’s scantily clad body against a backdrop of flying cars in the Fifth Element. But, to the surprise of many sceptics who thought it a dream fit only for Steven Spielberg and other special effects fundis, […]