The mielie-seller The mielie-seller is perhaps the most quintessential South African image. Resident of both urban and rural worlds, she is also symbolic of a growing informal economy. Thabi Chauke wakes up at 4.30am. Her day is simple: she dispatches her 14-year-old daughter into a packed minibus. These ferry the children of the newly enfranchised […]
In 1835, the Xhosa King Hintsa was killed at Nqabara, near Willowvale in the Eastern Cape. The amaXhosa say that the king was treacherously cut down while escaping from a British army camp, where he had been negotiating terms of surrender after half a century of continuous war against the invading power. The British side […]
Recommended l Renault Espace: Huge boot space, which can be enlarged by tipping the back seats down l London taxi:Available second-hand in the UK, they are roomy and comfortable enough for any manoeuvres l White van: Flagship of the lumpen proletariat, this is the nearest you can get to a motel room on wheels Don’t […]
A UNITED Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation report on the food outlook for Africa has described the situation in the Great Lakes region as “precarious”. Efforts to increase food production are hampered by “persistent insecurity, sporadic violence and bad weather,” FAO said in a news release on Wednesday. In Burundi, it said food difficulties are […]
Respected journalist Max du Preez was axed this week by the SABC. This is his version of the events of the past 10 days “He who is scared of a hyena’s howling, is he who has smeared himself with fat” – old Shona proverb. Forgive me, I have just discovered a book on Shona proverbial […]
Niki Barker The already cash-strapped KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service faces further financial stress, with the disclosure this week that a considerable sum of money deposited with the embattled New Republic Bank (NRB) in Durban has been frozen as a result of NRB being placed under receivership. It is claimed that the conservation service deposited R48- […]
Satellite technology has entered a new golden age, writes David Shapshak In the Seventies satellites -or “birds” as they are referred to in countless science fiction and spy movies – achieved a kind of cult status, linked to the glory of the space programme; then the spy satellite in the Cold War stand-off became the […]
Hunting’s ethical custodians caused unethical carnage in Mozambique, reports Dave Larsen Top officials of Safari Club International (SCI), the United States-based international hunting organisation which sets ethical standards for the industry, are being investigated after they allegedly took part in an illegal elephant hunt in northern Mozambique. The hunt took place in contravention of a […]
Phillip van Niekerk:FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK I received a phone call on Tuesday night from journalist Carlos Cordosa in Maputo. “How would you like to help stop the Yugoslavian war?” he raved at me. The suggestion: join an international call for the pope to take up residence in Belgrade. At first I thought he was […]
Deon Potgieter Boxing South African boxing administration, suffering from allegations of favouritism and vested interests, is failing to transform itself as ordered by the government – which stepped in to solve the infighting. Minister of Sport Steve Tshwete set up an interim boxing commission to restructure the sport’s administration when the South African National Boxing […]