THE Democratic Party scooped the municipal by-election at the former National Party stronghold of Kraaifontein in the Western Cape on Thursday. DP candidate Fanie Jacobs stormed in 531 votes ahead of independent candidate Deon Basson with 364. The New National Party candidate Wilfred Hambly came in a distant third with 250 votes.

The collapse of Tollgate, the Cape- based conglomerate of which Julian Askin was chair and principal shareholder, and the subsequent examination into its failure have produced one of the most torrid, unpleasant and seamy corporate chapters in South Africa’s history. Formerly a South African resident, Askin mixed a career as a journalist with occasional stockbroking. […]

William Leith A MONK SWIMMING by Malachy McCourt (HarperCollins) In Angela’s Ashes, the bestselling autobiography by Frank McCourt, Frank’s younger brother Malachy appears first as a grimy urchin, and then as an older version of one. In A Monk Swimming, the younger brother’s memoir, Frank flits through the action in a correspondingly sensible, buttoned-up fashion. […]

force Belinda Beresford The furore surrounding a Hartebeespoort landowner who gave some of his land away has spurred on the local council, farmers and developers to undertake to provide 1 000 black families in the area with their own houses by the new millennium. Already 14 developers have promised to donate land for housing – […]

world stage Belinda Beresford Reminiscent of a blonde Benoni bombshell, Old Mutual is to export itself on to the international stage and have an image overhaul. Whether the change from a South African mutual society to an internationally listed company brings it the same success that moving to Hollywood has done for Charlize Theron remains […]

Chiara Carter The Democratic Party is anticipating further defections by New National Party politicians following its stunning defeat of the NNP in an area which for decades was a stronghold of the former National Party. The Kraaifontein municipal by-election on Wednesday saw DP candidate Fanie Jacobs win 531 votes, as opposed to 364 votes cast […]

The family of Scottish immigrants who set up jiu-jitsu in Brazil still dominate the world’s toughest fighting art, writes Alex Bellos >From Robert the Bruce to Trainspotting’s Frank Begbie, the Scots have earned a reputation for their terrier-like fierceness. So it comes as a comforting proof of the stereotype that the man who created the […]

Howard Barrell:OVER A BARREL The disintegration of a once great political party can be one of life’s less dignified sights. Old friends inexplicably become bitter enemies, and once deadly foes strangely firm friends. What once seemed like high political principle for party members is suddenly exposed as having been mere convenience. Political reputations that sparkled […]

Friday night: Ferial Haffajee It’s neither the hood nor high society. But a Friday night in Johannesburg’s suburbs of Mayfair and Fordsburg is an evening in a community. At the Fordsburg Square entire families are out at play. There is no strict age policy. The very old and the very young mingle with teens out […]

Chris Dunton ENCOUNTERS: AN ANTHOLOGYOFSOUTHAFRICANSHORTSTORIES selected and introduced by David Medalie (Wits University Press) It’s true, I guess, of many, many short stories that they revolve around some kind of encounter – for that brief span of telling, a meeting, a conjunction, a confrontation is ideal to get the stuff of the story moving. But […]