Transforming human tragedy into humorous – or humane – entertainment is a daunting and, some may say, dubious task. It didn’t work when Anne Frank and her family were turned into a musical. But it did when Roberto Benigni took similar anti-Semitic subject matter and turned it into a mass- appeal movie. Perhaps the success […]
voters Marianne Merten It is going to be a tough choice for voters between the premier candidates of the Western Cape’s two largest political parties. Neither African National Congress chair Ebrahim Rasool nor New National Party provincial leader Gerald Morkel is regarded as charismatic or people able to sway the province’s large number of undecided […]
Charlotte Denny Uganda has added its voice to calls for an overhaul of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) heavily indebted poor countries initiative (HIPC). In a letter to British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, Ugandan Finance Minister Gerald Ssendaula called for speedier debt relief. Currently, countries must spend six years on […]
We talk of “subcultures” in a positive tone, expressing the potential of a kaleidoscope multi-culture to be vibrant and stimulating rather than its danger to come apart at the seams of its component parts. Difference does not equal opposition, and there’s a place in the sun for everyone. An intriguing visual microcosm of the complex […]
Matthew Krouse Down the tube It would be dangerous to flippantly dismiss Felicia Mabuza-Suttle’s current attack on evil as a crowd-pulling attempt at sensationalism. But in the way she presents herself, Mabuza-Suttle gives one no choice. The first part of her double show on child abuse, broadcast on SABC1 on May 24, was a case […]
Roger Ballen’s photographs are simple black and white images. The reactions they provoke are far more complex. Brenda Atkinson delves beneath the surface Arranging to interview Roger Ballen was becoming difficult. Not because he was difficult to get hold of, but because he insisted, holding me to the prospect like someone in a photograph, his […]
Graham Hayman Universities are heading for a crunch with the mainstay of the government’s policy on education, the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). Eventually, all tertiary institutions will have to meet the requirements of the South African Qualifications Authority, which created and administers the NQF. If they do not, they risk losing their government subsidies and […]
Makhosini Nkosi The Inkatha Freedom Party could suffer a serious setback in KwaZulu-Natal if the African National Congress presses ahead with efforts to have the election in the town of Nongoma declared not free and fair. Senior KwaZulu-Natal ANC sources said the party intends bringing an application to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)to have the […]
Brave Over the last year and a half, Jann Turner has visited Eugene de Kock in jail several times. She found him angry and haunted `Eugene wants to see you. He says he doesn’t bear any grudges.” The call came from a lawyer I’d met during my work on SABC’s Truth Commission Special Report. Eugene […]
RSI may be caused by confusing the brain’s electrical systems. To rewire it, your fingers need a discriminating sense of touch. So, Roger Dobson asks, anyone for a game of Braille poker? Forget painkillers, physiotherapy and surgery – playing poker with Braille playing cards may be the way to rid ourselves of the growing plague […]