Andrew Worsdale Movies of the week With more than 29 shorts and 30 features, the fifth gay and lesbian film festival is expanding with massive hard-on proportions. This is because the “queer” film industry is doing so well, and is regarded internationally as the vanguard of cutting edge independent cinema. As more than 15 000 […]

Ferial Haffajee `The owner needs the cow because of its milk. The cow needs the owner because he provides it with hay. But when the cow ceases to produce milk, the owner may well decide to slaughter it. The cow cannot do the same to the owner.” This is what Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano said […]

year David Shapshak Desmond Tutu’s personal story of the time he spent as head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has been sold to publishers Random House and is scheduled to be in print by late next year. The deal was confirmed this week by Stephen Johnson, the head of Random House in South […]

Ann Eveleth The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC)final report has found Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi responsible for all the gross human rights violations committed under his leadership of the party, the KwaZulu government and the KwaZulu police. “Chief MG Buthelezi served simultaneously as president of the IFP and as the chief minister of […]

Oral poetry has always played an important role in South African culture, write Richard Bowker and Peter Makurube When President Nelson Mandela entered his birthday bash at Gallagher Estate in July, he was led in by the boy-poet Samkhelo Mcandi, waxing lyrical about Madiba’s greatness. All in impeccable Xhosa. He was following in the footsteps […]

The TRC has found that torture and executions occurred in ANC camps in exile. Some of those targeted were killed as a result of bad leadership, jealousies and paranoia, writes Charlene Smith Chris Hani was once sentenced to death by Umkhonto weSizwe’s (MK) high command in Tanzania for putting forward the grievances of MK cadres. […]

Paul Farrely: SHARE WORLD The irony is delicious. The despair in markets the world over has just made Wall Street’s biggest optimist very, very rich indeed. Last week, Abby Joseph Cohen, cool- headed chief investment strategist at Goldman Sachs and the United States’s most influential market guru, finally claimed one of the biggest prizes on […]

Wally Mbhele Winnie Madikizela-Mandela stands accused of being central to the formation and activities of the Mandela United Football Club, whose members were involved in at least 18 cold-blooded murders. In a harsh judgment on her association with the football club, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) final report said most Mandela United operations were […]

enough Guy Oliver When Nomonde Calata speaks of the defining moment of her life – the death of her husband, activist Fort Calata, in 1985 – 13 years disappear as if they had never been. The moment has not been dulled by the grand designs of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In many ways, it […]

Thomas Olver THE MOMENT by Stefanus Stephanus Nel (Mortem Post) The realm of “experimental writing” is littered with the burnt-out corpses of many a poor volume of poetry or stories. So it is gratifying to discover new colour (albeit it black and white) in the local literary landscape. Stefanus Stephanus Nel’s booklet is such a […]