A caller to a local radio station last week suggested that the franchise be taken away from white people for a period so that the black majority can get on with the business of political contestation free from the bogey of race. Her reasoning is that after 10 years, once the playing fields have been […]
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 […]
war, grandad? A controversial new book claims that, far from hating war, soldiers thrive on the thrill of dispatching the enemy. Peter Kingston reports Since the end of conscription, the British army has tried a variety of tricks to lure young men and women to take the queen’s fivepence. See the world, get yourself a […]
Marianne Merten and Howard Barrell When the new Western Cape provincial legislature rises on Tuesday, little will have changed, despite the African National Congress having won the biggest share of votes in the election. This week, the ANC refused an offer of one seat in the 12-seat provincial cabinet. Opposition parties who have agreed on […]
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 […]
John Arlidge and Jamie Doward The Internet, once dubbed the Wild West of the 21st century, is getting its first taste of the law: an electronic sheriff is surfing cyberspace. Big firms, which are losing up to 3-million each a year as workers surf the Web looking for new jobs and downloading pornography, are set […]
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, […]
Catherine Knox Taking the gap left for literary arts, the National Arts Council-sponsored Wordfest springs fully armed (as it were) on to the Standard Bank National Arts Festival’s fringe programme with a range of events from performance poets to debates on the politics of prose (July 1 to 8). Envisaged as a place where readers, […]
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 […]