Mungo Soggot A Canadian mining company has accused De Beers of trying to hijack its rights to mine a lucrative diamond field in the Northern Province. The company, Southern Era Resources, also believes old-guard government officials have conspired against its bid for a mining permit at the Marsfontein field. De Beers apparently passed over the […]
The issue of child criminals has become a major source of embarrassment for the government, writes Andy Duffy The Western Cape is poised to scrap special schools for hundreds of child criminals, despite the growing number of children in jail. Provincial education department officials have told staff at several of the 15 reform schools and […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi A new wave of violence is threatening to uproot a fragile peace that has held together for more than four years in the East Rand squatter camp of Phola Park. The recent outbreak has been characterised by assassinations and taxi ambushes in the area, resulting in more than 20 deaths and scores of […]
The annual Loerie Awards acknowledge excellence in 18 advertising and marketing categories. But, asks Brenda Atkinson, do the ads actually work? Show me someone who hasn’t been seduced by an advert in their lifetime, and I’ll show you a badly cut pair of Levis. Much as we might hate to admit it, we are critical […]
Shaun de Waal CD of the week In the early Sixties, Ornette Coleman spearheaded a revolution in jazz, and this is the album that gave that new movement its name. Free Jazz is one of a handful of works re- released in deluxe (that is, fiddly sleeve-within- sleeve) packaging to celebrate the 50th birthday of […]
Andy Duffy The Ministry of Education wants to spend R200-million this year to boost leadership skills in the provinces – a plan that will also give national officials far greater control over the often chaotic management of provincial education. The plans include setting up a rapid response unit to defuse provincial crises in areas such […]
Christopher Reed in Los Angeles After an acrimonious debate, the San Francisco school board has become the first in the United States to require students to read books by “authors of colour”. The measure caused conflict when proposed by two black members, who initially insisted that seven of the 10 required books on high school […]
A song in honour of Bafana Bafana has sent Ronnie Kasrils’s son on the road to ragga success, writes Charl Blignaut Robert McBride may still be languishing in a Maputo prison, but his partner in promoting rap music, the Admiral, is about to release the first white ragga rap album on to the South African […]
Adam Haupt On show in Cape Town There are many truths out there which still have to be told. Some of these truths never make it through official channels and are lost forever. But District Six Museum’s organic connection with Cape Town is seeing to it that the tyranny of the master- narratives of history […]
Tangeni Amupadhi Superintendent Jan Brink religiously abides by the proverb that the early bird catches the worm. He says it is the only way he can catch crooked cops napping. So he was up before the crack of dawn on Wednesday morning, travelling to Soweto, Roodepoort and Krugersdorp. His team arrested police in a surprise […]