Ed Vulliamy Baseball Before he pitched his first ball from the mound at Yankee Stadium earlier this month, Orlando Hernandez paused and looked around at the crowd with an expression that mixed disbelief, joy, awe and a little pain. It was the end of a rainbow, and of a six- month journey, for the Cuban. […]
Tangeni Amupadhi The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has decided that people responsible for human rights atrocities in African National Congress detention camps will not have to testify publicly about their deeds. Dumisa Ntsebeza, head of the commission’s investigative unit, said this week public hearings on Quatro and other camps will not fit into the commission’s […]
Tony Twine A tailpiece to a news bulletin a few years ago reported that a young child had lost his first milk tooth and had been instructed on how to liquidate his asset via the tooth fairy market. Much to his delight, the tooth disappeared overnight, to be replaced by a shining R5 coin it […]
David Shapshak Bill Gates meets Hugh Grant at a party and gets Divine Brown’s phone number from him, goes the joke doing the e-mail rounds this week. After a night-long romp with Brown, Gates says to her: ”Now I understand why you use the name Divine.” ”Having spent the night with you,” comes the response, […]
Steven Robins: CROSSFIRE Claudia Braude recently criticised Antjie Krog’s much acclaimed book Country of My Skull, for endorsing a postmodern sensibility that celebrates the slippery and subjective character of truth claims (Friday, June 12 to 18). The book, based on Krog’s personal experiences as an Afrikaans radio journalist covering the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, raises […]
THURSDAY, 11.00AM: THE Ngobeni commission into corruption in the Mpumalanga government on Wednesday produced documentary evidence showing that suspended deputy speaker Cynthia Maropeng deposited legislature cheques worth over half a million rand into her own bank account, after requisitioning the funds for a consultancy. Maropeng was left dumbstruck when commission chairman David Ngobeni produced documents […]
THURSDAY, 1.30PM: ENVIRONMENTALISTS are worried that 17 lions being sold by Mpumalanga game owner Roy Plath may be destined for the “canned lion” industry in Mozambique. “Canned” hunting refers to the practice of confining or drugging lions to make shooting them easier for hunters who do not have the skill, strength or time to track […]
TUESDAY, 6.00PM: AFTER a two-week lull in fighting, Ethiopian troops are mobilising on the common border with Eritrea, possibly preparing for a resumption of the conflict that has marred the area since May 6. The Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front, the key faction of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, on Monday called on citizens […]
TUESDAY, 4.00PM: FORMER Zimbabwean President Canaan Banana finally took the stand in his defence in the Harare High Court on Monday, and swore that he never sexually assaulted any men. Banana, who faces 11 counts of sodomy, attempted sodomy and indecent assault, told the court he has no explanation for why all nine complainants might […]
MONDAY, 5.00PM: A CAMPAIGN to collect signatures on the Internet opposing the capture of three wild dolphins by the Port Elizabeth Oceanarium has been launched by an organisation called Protect Our Dolphins, based in Port Elizabeth. Besides protesting the restriction of wild animals to a tiny pool, Pod claims the Oceanarium staff are not properly […]