Andrew O’Hagan CRIES UNHEARD by Gitta Sereny (Macmillan, R88) There is nothing more stupid and corrupt than the collective mind of Britain’s tabloid newspapers. In a spirit of moral outrage they set out to molest the very people who often require protection, sympathy, understanding. The cry of the mob is vicious and total. In full […]
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 […]
Helderberg claims to TRC Ann Eveleth A list of 30 former and current parastatal officials and employees who allegedly played a role in the Helderberg air disaster has been handed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Commission representative Christelle Terreblanche says the list came from the Friends of the Victims of the Helderberg, which has […]
Guy Butler If known at all, Sister Margaret of the Community of the Resurrection of Our Lord, Grahamstown, is known as the painter of one picture, the splendid mural in the apse of St Mary and All the Angels, the Chapel of Rhodes University. It was painted between 1924 to 1928. She painted mainly for […]
Ferial Haffajee One of the biggest problems with solving unemployment in South Africa is that the government does not know the scale of the crisis. Politicians and statisticians bicker about the real picture. Unemployment has not been costed to understand its impact on the bottom line. Neither have calculations been made to assess how people […]
Neil Manthorp Cricket Few tours begin with such mutual agreement on the key factors; the turning point, if you like, has been firmly decided upon, even though the tour-bus has hardly left its London garage. The four most talked-about men since South Africa arrived have been Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Alec Stewart and Michael Atherton. […]
For a few weeks in May ’68 in Paris, students and workers united in a wave of strikes and demonstrations that seemed poised to overturn the old order. Peter Lennon was in the thick of things I don’t remember the precise incident that made it clear to me that this time, this particular turmoil was […]
Martin Kettle in Washington The United States has discovered a fashionable new writer, and his name is Norman Mailer. Mailer was on the front pages of the New York Times and USA Today last week. He has done a television interview with American breakfast television’s flagship show. All this is because he has published a […]