The Congolese war is rehabilitating previously unpopular heads of state, while muddying the reputations of the popular and virtuous, writes Gregory Mthembu-Salter War in the Democratic Republic of Congo is having curious consequences. There are the unholy alliances, like Congolese President Laurent-Desir Kabila’s courting of the same Rwandan Hutu interahamwe militia that his troops helped […]
Anton Karstel’s Pol- aesthetic is an ambitious exploration of formal, aesthetic, spatial and temporal contingencies. The exhibition’s title puns tenuously on the aesthetic dimensions of socially and politically loaded iconography: the markings on police vehicles. These vehicles are represented through the “initial” spatio-temporal zone of this exhibition: the gallery space of Johannesburg’s Civic Theatre. Relinquishing […]
handouts Jacqui Boulle Since 1994 there has been much talk about developmental social welfare and the need to move away from grants and handouts to more sustainable programmes. While this approach – which underpins the Department of Welfare’s campaign during welfare month – has had some success, its impact is limited: nearly half the poor […]
Alexander Chancellor REMIND ME WHO I AM, AGAIN by Linda Grant (Granta) It is told in this book how Frankie Vaughan, the handsome crooner once thought to be England’s answer to Frank Sinatra, came to acquire his surname. His real name was Francis Abelson, and he lived as a child with his sister, his mother […]
The `African renaissance’ will be a central pillar of Thabo Mbeki’s presidency, writes Ferial Haffajee `The rich king of Timbuktu … keeps a magnificent and well-furnished court … Here are great store of doctors, judges, priests and other learned men …” This was Moorish writer Leo Africanus writing in the 16th century and quoted by […]
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni Black students at Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) in Johannesburg are being subjected to vicious assaults and humiliating harassment by white students. Black students also say some “no go” areas for them at the university include white residences at the university. A document handed to black students early this year by university […]
Dan Jellinek Have you ever stayed up all night on the Internet? Do you live to go online? Is your partner threatening divorce? Internet addiction affects around one in 10 regular Internet users, reports what is claimed to be one of the most extensive reviews of the field. The paper, by Janet Morahan-Martin, psychology professor […]
Has Narcissus taken over London’s art world? Adrian Searle reports Top TV prof Jonathan Miller, the gangling polymath, does it again: how can a mind be so full without exploding? His latest project, the exhibition Mirror Image: Jonathan Miller on Reflection, at the National Gallery in London, is a great idea. If you want to […]
unit busted Chiara Carter Several senior National Intelligence Agency (NIA) members face suspension and possible prosecution following a preliminary investigation into claims of missing money and misconduct. They were members of a special unit set up to find apartheid’s missing millions. Instead the unit, headed by former Umkhonto weSizwe commander Thabo Kubu, became embroiled in […]
cricket season Andy Capostagno Cricket It may have escaped your attention, given the number of series and tournaments going on around the world, but the cricket season begins this week. The national side have just returned from a gold medal performance at the Commonwealth Games, of course, and not long before that they were ending […]