Gavin Evans General Lothar Neethling has not had a particularly good year; nor such a hot decade either, come to think of it. Previous allegations that he was apartheid South Africa’s poisoner-in- chief have been confirmed at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and he has emerged as a key player in the former regime’s biological […]
The bullets that pierced the body of security guard Thembinkosi Alex Bera during an early morning robbery at the Spar supermarket was an act of violence which ripped through the heart of Parkview’s close-knit community. Before Bera’s slaying, the largely liberal residents of this genteel middle-class suburb had liked to believe theirs was a virtual […]
Matthew Krouse On stage in Johannesburg It’s not difficult to fathom why Andr the Hilarious Hypnotist is one of the biggest hits in town. Like Candid Camera and America’s Funniest Home Videos, his unselfconscious humour appeals to the lowest common denominator, showing the foibles of ordinary people in absurd situations. Andr’s spectacle parades as an […]
side of the moon There’s an ugly side to the fairest Cape, writes John Matshikiza There’s a startling image that always strikes you when you fly into Cape Town.The same thing must have struck Vasco da Gama and Jan van Riebeeck as they approached it from the sea; that extraordinary relationship between an immovable object, […]
Robert Kirby: Loose cannon I find myself quite amazed at the runaway spending of people who suddenly acquire a great deal of money. It’s quite baffling that someone who wins six or seven million tax-free quid on a lottery, can squander the entire bundle inside a couple of years. Sure, a fancy new car and […]
gets the chop Anton Marshall An old, decayed building in Wynberg is all that stands as a reminder of an entire era in film culture on the Cape Flats. From as far back as the Seventies and up until the late Eighties, features at cinemas like the Luxurama and Studio 1 donned a fairly uniform […]
South Africans are embroiled in both sides of the war in Congo. Khareen Pech, William Boot and Ann Eveleth report South African mercenaries and private military companies swooped into strife-torn Central Africa this week to clinch deals and sharpen the Angolan-led military front in support of the embattled Congolese leader, Laurent Kabila. A Mail & […]
superior? Carolize Jansen In research done by the Sports Information and Science Agency (Sisa) in South Africa, the following interesting statistics came to light: when asking women about obstacles they faced in sport: 10% of women between 18 and 24 years mentioned men’s physical strength advantage, compared to the average of 5% of older women. […]
fi Amelia Gentleman Music lovers could soon be free to dispense with cumbersome multi- stacking CD players in favour of pocket-sized devices smaller than credit cards, christened the My-fi. Promoted as the world’s smallest hi-fi, the British-designed machine can play music downloaded from a CD player or direct from the Internet. The music is stored […]
Black empowerment threatens to turn South Africa into another East Asia, writes Ben Turok President Nelson Mandela’s recent statement at the National Council of Provinces that he will root out of the government “those who betray the calling of the public service” and who enrich themselves, and his attack on the culture of entitlement, gives […]