theatre Matthew Krouse In the heart of Hillbrow, on Saturday June 20, the creme of Johannesburg’s gay intelligensia sat alongside their ordinary city counterparts, anticipating the first performance of a long-awaited play, emanating from unexpected quarters. The Harrison Reef Hotel, where the performance was to take place, is legendary. Home to Johannesburg’s oldest gay bar, […]

Adam Haupt spoke to Moses Molelekwa about the exotic ingredients on his new album, Spirits and Genes Moses Taiwa Molelekwa recently captivated Cape Town audiences at West End with the launch of his second album, Genes and Spirits. The show was broadcast live to P4 Radio’s ever- smooth constituency and the West End crowd itself […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 5.00pm. DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo rebel leader Ernest Wamba dia Wamba on Friday said he is considering his movement’s participation in the all-party peace talks called on Thursday by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Wamba admitted, however, that the rebel movement has not yet received an invitation to the talks. Announcing […]

CHRISTIAN FIGENSCHOU, Johannesburg | Thursday 5.00PM. LATEST new vehicle sales figures released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that sales of new passenger cars slumped in August to the lowest level this year. The only good news came in the heavy commercial sector, where sales held their own in spite of declining business […]

victory Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The spirit of the rainbow nation came to haunt black student organisations at Pretoria Technikon this week when the Freedom Front won the Student Representative Council (SRC) elections. A number of the FF’s 756 winning votes were cast by black students. The party has only been organising on the campus […]

Jonathan Freedland and Ferial Haffajee There was a telling moment in 1994. World leaders trooped into the grounds of the Union Buildings to watch Nelson Mandela’s inauguration. Polite applause greeted each one. When Fidel Castro arrived, the newly elected young members of Parliament went ballistic. Applause turned to wild clapping and then to a toyi-toyi […]

Charl Blignaut On stage in Johannesburg It seemed like it was never going to happen; the eagerly-awaited moment when Johannesburg’s performance underground would raise itself from latex-clad haunches and step into the mainstream clubland spotlight. The first public suspension in a Johannesburg nightclub; theatre for 2000. Two boys, 40 hooks, a metre off the ground […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Freetown | Friday 8.30PM. THE rebel leader who instigated Sierra Leone’s civil war in 1991 has been charged with treason in Freetown. Foday Sankoh, head of the Revolutionary United Front, was led into a Freetown courtroom under heavy guard on Friday. He made no plea, and his case has been adjourned to September […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday 9.15pm. MINERAL and Energy Minister Penuell Maduna on Friday apologised to Parliament for inappropriately accusing Auditor-General Henri Kluever of covering up losses of R170-million in the Strategic Fuel Fund in Parliament in June 1997. Maduna’s apology comes after a multi-party parliamentary committee probing the subject for over a year […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday 7.00pm. THERE are still two South Africas and they should not be termed white and black, but rich and poor, Cuban President Fidel Castro told Parliament to thunderous applause on Friday. The one South Africa, Castro continued, receives 12 times the income of the other; in the one 100% […]