Steve Gordon South African musicians at home and abroad will be saddened to learn of the death last week of guitarist Russell Herman, who died in London, where he had been living since the early 1980s. Born in Cape Town in 1953, Herman grew up in District Six, and was an integral part of the […]

Wally Mbhele The African National Congress says the credibility of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report will be questioned if the commission continues to refuse to meet the party before it releases its findings. ANC officials are demanding a meeting with the commission to discuss the report’s implications for the party. The commission has […]

The Nobel laureate’s visit to Lagos is the embodiment of hope and as good as a permanent return, Alex Duval Smith reports from Lagos After four years in exile, Nigeria’s most high-profile campaigner against military rule, Wole Soyinka, came home on Wednesday night. All the men and women guarding Lagos airport made sure their fatigues […]

WL Webb ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN: A CENTURY IN HIS LIFE by DM Thomas (Little, Brown) Somewhere in her great biography of her murdered poet-husband, Nadezhda Mandelstam quotes a 19th-century sage to the effect that “Russia exists to teach the rest of the world a lesson”. Whatever Freudian glosses one adds to his motivation, there is no […]

Peter Makurube Pops Mohamed has been to the desert – again! Mohamed’s relationship with the desert people, the Khoi Khoi, has led to several important projects. One of these is the soundtrack for Zola Maseko’s documentary on Sara Baartman. Mohamed has long been a campaigner for the preservation of indigenous music, particularly that of the […]

Anew TV documentary seeks out the person behind the `freak’ Sara Baartman, writes Alex Dodd `Can you imagine? You’ve become a rented spectacle. You’re owned by a guy who sells you to an animal trainer who then hires you out to scientists. And you return home to stay with his animals. There’s probably a trained […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 9.30pm. THIRTY young elephants at the heart of a fierce row about animal cruelty are to stay with trainers accused of inhumane treatment for at least another week, an official said on Friday. The plight of the elephants has divided organisations dedicated to animal welfare, some of whose activists have […]

A peace monument in honour of those killed in conflict in Thokoza is to be unveiled, writes Thokozani Mtshali Four years ago the East Rand was the scene of widespread political violence between supporters of the African National Congress and the Inkatha Freedom Party. Open gun battles raged between IFP-aligned hostel dwellers and ANC-aligned township […]

Sharon Hammond Dispossessed villagers living near the Kruger National Park’s Numbi Gate may soon become partners in an R85-million Hilton International hotel. If the project is approved by Mpumalanga’s development tribunal and the Department of Environmental Affairs, impoverished members of the Mdluli tribe will be able to cash in on their heritage by having an […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Friday 4.15pm. THE Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, a parastatal meant to boost the country’s international tourist business, is to confront President Robert Mugabe on his tendency to commandeer state-owned Air Zimbabwe aircraft at short notice, leaving passengers stranded. A number of industry players, including the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and the Zimbabwe Tourism […]