Swapna Prabhakaran If tigers could speak, they’d sound just like Tim Modise and Ofeibea Quist-Arcton. Their laidback voices resonate around the studio in a half-purr, half-growl hinting at claws and teeth, and the very sharp intelligence of jungle cats. Modise – an old familiar on SAfm – has teamed up with the BBC’s Quist-Arcton to […]
South African and Mozambican investigators have failed to contact a potentially crucial witness in the McBride affair, writes Mungo Soggot A close associate of Robert McBride, who has offered information to counter allegations that the foreign affairs official was smuggling weapons in Mozambique, has still to be contacted by Mozambican and South African authorities. As […]
Once a vibrant part of the Soweto arts scene, the Funda Centre has had to adapt. Swapna Prabhakaran finds out how It is a sad fact that Soweto’s Funda Centre is better known internationally than it is in Johannesburg. The once-famous centre for literacy and the arts has transformed in the Nineties to become a […]
Lynda Gledhill Sitting in a luxury hotel dressed in brightly coloured clothes, Ester Mujawayo does not exude the air of a woman whose life has been destroyed. But this Tutsi from Rwanda is one of the few survivors in her family of the genocide that gripped her country in 1994. For a month, Mujawayo, her […]
Who was Trevor Huddleston? Eric James It is remarkable that it was a white bishop whom the African National Congress asked to open their first conference in freedom in 1991. His return to South Africa as a hero, after an absence of 35 years, was the measure of the stature of Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, who […]
Ferial Haffajee Here’s the dream: industrial development zones (IDZ) will bring prosperity to some of the country’s poorest areas, where new industries will fuel the renaissance of the economy as exports grow. An advanced labour relations system will solve disputes in record time as thousands of workers will be trained to service new industries. Here’s […]
Dave Chislett Sugardrive, leaders of the pack in the FNBSama Awards rock category, have been around for well over four years now. Probably best remembered as grunge masters who sounded uncomfortably like Pearl Jam, that is a phase that they would now rather forget. So far, they have released two albums, one EP and a […]
Angella Johnson Five-year-old Magriet is practising her ballet steps, twirling around the cane furniture in her living room, watched by loving parent Gertruida Greyling, and Hermien Oosthuizen. The Brakpan lesbian couple celebrated a historic court decision this week when a judge ruled that their sexual proclivities do not preclude them from bringing up a child. […]
The South African Law Commission is reviewing the marriage Act to develop legislation to protect domestic partnerships, whether same- sex relationships or heterosexual cohabitation. While its report will only be out in July, another report looking at the sharing of pension benefits after a relationship has ended is due soon. The pension-benefits discussion paper will […]
Mungo Soggot The taxpayer’s bill for Public Protector Selby Baqwa’s exploration of Minister of Minerals and Energy Penuell Maduna’s possible slander of the auditor general is on track to outstrip the corruption watchdog’s total annual budget of R7,5-million. At least five legal teams are due to appear before Baqwa’s investigation, which should run for at […]