The battle for Kindu is crucial to the course of the Congo war, writes Ann Eveleth and Howard Barrell This week’s battle for the mid-eastern town of Kindu in the Democratic Republic of Congo marks a turning point for the two-month-old civil war. A victory for the rebels would open the way for them to […]
David Beresford Racism, it seems, is the bane of even the most civilised police forces. That, at least, is the experience of the man many would regard as the world’s top cop, who landed up in South Africa this week on something of a holiday from a race row which is threatening his job. Sir […]
Andrew Muchineripi Soccer One of the reasons forwarded for the poor attendance when Bafana Bafana opened their African Nations Cup campaign against Angola at FNB Stadium last weekend was the clash between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates on Saturday. Word from the far-from-full stands was that supporters with limited pocket money wanted to retain it […]
Wonder Hlongwa Selling human body parts is a lucrative business in South Africa. Prices for eyes, breasts, brains or genitals range from R1 000 to R10 000 – depending on the body part up for sale. The macabre practice is shrouded in mystery. Most traditional healers are afraid to talk about this thriving bloody commerce. […]
Howard Barrell: OVER A BARREL I was not alone in thinking it must be April 1. As I stared at the early morning sun – or was it my egg yoke? – my radio was telling me that Louis Luyt had formed a political party and expected us to support him in next year’s election. […]
Ferial Haffajee South Africa’s delegation to the annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings in Washington this week jet home on a buoyant note. Certainly they are more buoyant than their East Asian and Latin American counterparts, who return to economies more damaged by the quakes in the world system than South Africa […]
Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week The French have long fetishised the American detective genre in their films. Perhaps the greatest exponent of this was Jean-Pierre Melville who, in films like Bob le Flambeur and Le Deuxime Souffl, perfectly captured the trademarks of American gangster movies – wet night streets, raincoats with bulging pockets, gunmen […]
The men gain, while the rest of us take the pain – financially speaking, of course. Belinda Beresford wonders who’s going to pay for Viagra With fanfare and press coverage greater even than the latest Leonardo di Caprio appearance, Viagra is on its way to South Africa. Some say the latest star in the pharmaceutical […]
Robert Kirby: Loose cannon Reading last Monday’s editorial in the Cape Times, I felt a cloak of nostalgia envelop me. At the best of times a second-hand emotion, nostalgia does, however, have its uses. On this occasion it took me all the way back to 1966 and to a brief appointment I had with broadcasting […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, New York | Friday 9.00pm. THE United Nations said on Friday that an ”immediate re-adjustment” of the its observer mission in Angola will start in early December if all hopes for peace have collapsed by then. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the 1,100-strong UN force would pull back to six main regional […]