The David Gleason Column Gold, the precious metal most commonly associated with South Africa, is in the way of taking yet a further beating after the United Kingdom’s Chancellor, Gordon Brown, announced last week that Britain is to sell off about 415 tons over the next three years. An extraordinary aspect of the British announcement […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni Senior African National Congress leaders recently met leaders of the ANC-aligned South African Student Congress (Sasco) in a bid to end student opposition to the Rand Afrikaans University’s (RAU) offer of an honorary doctorate to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki. Sasco is insisting that Mbeki reject the honorary degree in law on […]

John Matshikiza To those of us stuck in the conservative groove of seeing politics in terms of the titanic struggle between the African National Congress and the National Party, the African Christian Democratic Party was one of those bizarre phenomena that crowded the ballot paper at the first representative election in 1994. Its success in […]

At four he became leader of his people. Twenty years later he fled the Chinese occupation of his country, Tibet. After 40 years in exile, the West sees him as the embodiment of the Buddhist values of compassion and tolerance. But is his goodness a weakness? Ed Douglas reports In a luxuriant garden shaded by […]

Chaos seems to follow Michael Rosenzweig, but this hasn’t affected his ability to make precisely formed, sublime music. Ruben Mowszowski reports I got the warning from a mutual friend: Rosenzweig is in town. Originally from Cape Town but now resident in London, this enfant terrible, our very own bad, brilliant boy of music, has a […]

Criminals fear the wrath of Mapogo far more than police officials and the law, report Mungo Soggot and Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The head of South Africa’s largest vigilante group seemed unperturbed by the news that some of his members had thrown two suspected chainsaw thieves to crocodiles. In fact, he considered the grisly tale […]

THE second of the three toll gates along the N4 highway between Witbank and Komatipoort in Mpumalanga will be opened next Tuesday. Motorists already paying R20 to pass through the Middelburg toll gate, can expect to pay an extra R30 to pass through the Machadodorp toll gate when it opens next week. This means a […]

Ian Clayton The National Council of Provices (NCOP) has released three reports that raise serious doubts about the functioning of the council and the involvement of the provinces in Parliament’s legislative programme. The fact that both the chair of the NCOP, Terror Lekota, and his deputy, Naledi Pandor, have been nominated by the African National […]

Maybe it’s just that I was sore because she didn’t ask me for a contribution, but I expected to find excessive and gratuitous use of bodily fluids in Veronique Malherbe’s exhibition, The Quest for Zero Defect, at the Joo Ferreira Fine Art gallery. Rumours and publicity about chocolate made from breast milk and a halo […]

Friday night Hlomla Dandala For a young black male looking for a beautiful partner to spend an afternoon with, and perhaps the night if you are lucky, Wits girls’ residence is the place to go. Arm yourself with a BMW, a cellphone and a Gold Card. First stop is Time Square in Rockey Street, Yeoville. […]