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 […]
Maureen Barnes Down the tube It’s probably age, but I got competely confused last week between the shots of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) invasion of Bophuthatswana and those of the South African National Defence Force marching into Lesotho. Scenes of the AWB fiasco were screened on TV in the wake of the truth commission hearing […]
Peter Dickson Battered by bureaucratic bungling, the Eastern Cape government discovered this week that its expenditure has been technically illegal for the past six months. Owing to an “oversight” by Premier Makhenkesi Stofile, its 1998/99 provincial budget remains unpublished in the provincial Government Gazette, which is in contravention of the Constitution, In reply to a […]
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 […]
English is globally dominant. But it is not always the Queen’s English, reports Anthea Garman A German businessman visits the Middle East and meets an Arab woman. He speaks no Arabic, she speaks no German, so they conduct their relationship in English. Eventually they have a child. This child is raised speaking second language English […]
CD of the week Adam Sweeting The idea that Brian Wilson could ever again approximate his own back- catalogue masterpieces has grown increasingly laughable. There was the critically-feted Orange Crate Art in 1995, but that was really a Van Dyke Parks project cunningly disguised as a Brian Wilson album. While it’s true that Wilson has […]
cellphone What to do before and after your phone is stolen: l Turn on your phone and type *#06# – you will see your 15-digit IMEI number. Record it. l If your cellphone is stolen, phone your service provider to cancel the SIM card so the thief cannot dial out. Get a case number from […]
Paul Brown Evolution is saving elephants in Africa by producing herds with tiny tusks or none at all – which provides no profit for poachers and thus ensures the survival of the species. The phenomenon has been noticed in all parts of Africa where hunting has been going on longest, with both trophy hunters and […]