Robert Kitson Rugby England have a new captain, whatever the result of the Rugby Football Union’s (RFU) inquiry into allegations that Lawrence Dallaglio took and supplied illegal drugs may be. Martin Johnson, the captain of British club side Leicester, will lead his country on the forthcoming tour of Australia and the subsequent World Cup with […]

Rian Malan Crossfire Before we take off the gloves here, let us pay tribute to Piers Pigou for having the courage to defend the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s finding with regard to the infamous Boipatong massacre, or at least attempt to deflect attention from its real nature (A Second Look, May 21 to 27). It […]

movies Emir Kustirica talks to Fiachra Gibbons about politics, his art – and the war When he’s not brawling on the streets of Belgrade with men who make Arkan look like Mary Poppins, challenging people to duels, or playing in Serbian rock bands, Emir Kusturica is winning the Palme D’Or at Cannes. No other director […]

Haroon Bhorat One of the key dilemmas facing the government is to eradicate, or at least reduce, poverty. The first step is to understand which are the most affected groups. In the labour market there are three groups which together explain more than 80% of the poverty in South Africa. They are unemployed people, domestic […]

With its quirky approach Chris du Plessis’s programme But Is It Art? has offended the `intellectuals’ of the art world. For him that might be it’s greatest success. Alex Dodd reports Chris du Plessis is on a rampage. “I think the intellectual influence on the arts is getting a bit much. There’s this whole, esoteric […]

Moses Qomoyi Right to Reply It is not at all clear what Ted Baumann and Diana Mitlin are attempting to prove in “The unpleasant truth of housing delivery” (Letters, May 21 to 27). Although their article appears to be intended as a critique of housing delivery, it develops into a general attack on South Africa’s […]

DAVID SHAPSHAK, Johannesburg | Thursday 5.00pm. Gary Teichmann has retained his Springbok captaincy in a 32-man squad named by coach Nick Mallett on Thursday. The number eight and Natal skipper missed the last four weeks of the Super 12 with a knee injury – which precipitated a captaincy scare. Also named is another key player […]

Brenda Atkinson We’ve been driving past them for months now, rows of posters from which well-fed men beam at us, assuring us of political prosperity with a variety of tawdry one- liners. There’s the dubious double entendre of “The guts to fight back” (Democratic Party); the sheer poetry of “Die span met ‘n plan [the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 4.00pm. A FORMER leader of the Democratic Party and veteran of liberal politics in South Africa, Zach de Beer, died at age 70 in Cape Town on Thursday after suffering a stroke. De Beer died at his Cape Town home, long-time colleague Colin Eglin said. De Beer quit politics […]

By the time the next issue of this newspaper hits the streets our second general election will be over, Thabo Mbeki will be president-elect (as opposed to designate), the African National Congress will be the ruling party (probably with a two-thirds majority, as well as with KwaZulu-Natal) and many of our readers will no doubt […]