Andy Capostagno Cricket The South African selectors must be breathing a sigh of relief. First Adam Bacher stuck his hand up and said, “Pick me”, by scoring a century and two 50s in successive SuperSport Series matches, then both Gary Kirsten and Mark Boucher made the three figure mark and finally Shaun Pollock got 30 […]

Benjamin Pogrund Laurence Gandar, who died in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, on November 14, was an unlikely South African hero. Appointed editor of the Rand Daily Mail in Johannesburg in October 1957, nothing out of the ordinary was expected of him. Yet he transformed the newspaper into a vehement opponent of apartheid and gave hope of change […]

Sutracide Cameron Duodu : Letter from the North Nigeria’s political lexicography is one of the most colourful in the world. This is because Nigerian politicians delight in showing off during public speeches what they consider to be the English “grammar” they learned at school. But since this grammar was taught to them by people who […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Thursday 5.45pm. THURSDAY brought a pleasant change to the directionless few days on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with all indices ending in positive territory. Dealers said the market responded well on news of a 0,1 percentage point drop in the Consumer Price Index to 9%, pleasantly surprising the market which had […]

Kelwyn Sole It is unfashionable these days to admit to any intention in one’s poetry. Yet, as a critic and teacher as well as a poet, I find it impossible to imagine my poems without thinking about their generation in the broader context of South African literature and its history. They grow out of this […]

Belinda Beresford People have been boring themselves silly for decades spotting trains, hunting autographs or lurking in bushes in the pursuit of rare birds. If they’re looking for new excitement they can always join the ranks of the telametrists – phonecard collectors to you and I. These are people who find more than simple utility […]

With a host of new releases, kwaito looks to be the holiday soundtrack this year, writes Phillip Kakaza Jingle Bells might be blaring through the malls, but this season it’s the latest kwaito and d’gong releases that are getting party animals geared for the hot nights ahead. If you ask anyone, from producers to DJs […]

Stuart Hess and Mukoni Rashitanga Peninsula Technikon (Pentech) has drawn a flurry of criticism following its extraordinary decision on Wednesday to expel student journalist Max Hamata. Hamata’s fallout with the institution comes in the wake of a report which was published in the Mail & Guardian and which this week led to him being booted […]

The first Ashes Test begins this Friday. Former England captain Mike Brearley recalls this specific kind of cricket animal Vulture Street, Brisbane: an aptly-named location for the start of an England tour. Wherever one finds it, a hostile sporting crowd embodies the stuff of nightmares. Batting or bowling, the player does his best. And what […]

CD of the week : Peter Makurube The great bull of South African jazz, Winston Mankunku Ngozi, has released a new album, Molo Africa (Nkomo). This is Mankunku at his very best, on an album which introduces him as a multi- instrumentalist. But the tenor sax is still there, bellowing fiercely and with conviction. Not […]