Alex Brummer In an eloquent gesture, designed to underpin development in Uganda – the first of the poorest countries to receive some debt forgiveness – the World Bank advanced the government of President Yoweri Museveni a grant of $75-million this month to support universal primary education across the country. The move demonstrates just how far […]
Ferial Haffajee ‘Steady as he goes.” The seafarer’s motto has served Don Ncube well, and next month this captain of industry steers his ship into new seas. In June he will list Real Africa Durolink, an investment bank of which he owns 37%. These banks are all the rage in this age of mergers, acquisitions […]
Noam Chomsky The current call for international debt cancellation is welcome, but debt does not just go away. Someone pays, and history confirms that risks tend to be socialised in the system mislabelled “free enterprise capitalism”. The old-fashioned idea is that responsibility falls upon the borrowers and lenders. Money was not borrowed by assembly plant […]
Phillip Kakaza African music The sound of a marimba drifts out of Guguletu’s St Gabriel’s church in Cape Town where Ayanda Hollow, a budding musician, is conducting music lessons. The tinkling sound is just a hint of what is happening behind the concrete walls. Hollow’s vision of a vibrant mobile school of African music has […]
Ferial Haffajee They have been living together for just a year and now they’re getting married. The happy couple tying a R70-million knot are the advertising agencies Azaguys and Meintjes-Parker. It’s something of a cross-cultural affair. Meintjes-Parker is a distinguished old Afrikaans firm with a client list to match. They count Saambou, CTM, Clover, Subaru […]
Johnny Masilela BLACK PERSPECTIVE(S) ON TERTIARY INSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATION edited by Sipho Seepe (Vivlia/ University of Venda, R39,90) Once upon a time a young university student lamented that as the only African (except for menial workers) he was regarded at best as a curiosity, and at worst as an interloper. The institution was Wits University, the […]
`I’m riding high upon a deep depression,’ sings Garbage’s Shirley Manson. But the band’s tunes are exhilarating, cutting-edge rock. Caroline Sullivan reports The Brit Award for best female artist always goes to some pleasant dullard (Gabrielle, Eddi Reader and this year’s winner, Shola Ama, spring to mind) who barely impinges on one’s consciousness the other […]
Adam Haupt On stage in Cape Town Charles J Fourie’s Jobias takes biblical symbolism into the Karoo landscape, where it has long been at home in Afrikaner minds. The play deals with the life of a farm worker, Jobias (Andre Roothman), who has been a loyal employer of Oubaas. Jobias, blessed with an abundance of […]
Kuseni Dlamini: CROSSFIRE Is the left in South Africa and the rest of the world facing a ”mysterious decline” (Crossfire, May 8 to 14), or is it having a ”facelift” (Crossfire, May 15 to 21)? The left has never been held in lower esteem than it is today. At best, it is seen as impotent […]
Thulo Hoeane The tranquillity of a late autumn morning is suddenly broken by a deafening voice blaring out of a 3 000-watt sound system. Maseru suddenly comes to life as an off-white bakkie which has seen better days passes by, winding its way down Kingsway, the capital’s main street. At the wheel of the bakkie […]