Felicity Wood Censorship is alive and well in the Eastern Cape, as Hogsback artist Elaine Matthews recently discovered when she submitted her painting, The Sacred Marriage, to an exhibition in the Cuyler Street Gallery in Port Elizabeth. The painting features an angel and a woman making love in a field of flowers. Matthews states that […]

Babak Dehghanpisheh An Egyptianwriter who converted from Islam to Christianity and is resident in South Africa has come under fire from Muslims and is now under police protection. Known only as Mustafa, the name under which he writes, he is a scholar who fled persecution in Egypt -where conversion is illegal – making an incredible […]

Andrew Muchineripi: Soccer Arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates meet for the third time this season at FNB Stadium on Saturday, and after two drawn championship clashes there must be a result in the Bob Save Super Bowl second-round clash. The luck of the draw brought together at an early stage two teams the public […]

FRIDAY, 5.30PM: SOUTH Africa opened its campaign in the Hong Kong Sevens Championships with a 52-7 victory over Thailand on Friday. The Boks struggled at first with the pace and intensity of the Sevens festival, then pulled themselves together to score eight tries to one and set themselves on course for the play-off rounds on […]

Government has moved to clip the Independent Broadcasting Authority’s (IBA) wings. Its views are contained in a discussion paper released last week, which many believe is a sneak preview of a White Paper for the sector. The document, written by a task team appointed by Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting Jay Naidoo, also recommends […]

Lorraine Pace While out walking his dog one summer’s day John Payne met an angel. “It was an ethereal bright golden image, a bit like a shadow embossed on air,” says Payne of his encounter. “The angel was very tall, about 3m, and while no words were spoken I heard a message: ‘You are loved.’ […]

FRIDAY, 1.15PM: THE Central Energy Fund is considering streamlining its operation by ridding itself of non-core interests and establishing itself as an integrated energy company, to be listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. According to proposals made at a CEF bosberaad, the state will retain a 50% to 60% controlling interest in the listed company, […]

Robert Kirby: LOOSE CANNON Nigeria gets Pope John Paul II, we get Bill Clinton. From such respite we may hang conjecture. I believe the pope’s visit to Nigeria was so he could administer last rites. When an entire country is shuffling off its mortal coil, the Vatican likes to send the foreman along to murmur […]

David Beresford A LONG NIGHT’S DAMAGE: WORKING FOR THE APARTHEID STATE by Eugene de Kock as told to Jeremy Gordin (Contra Press, R89,95) The temptation is to recommend this book as required reading in South Africa’s schools, offering as it does an awful warning to future generations as to the consequences when society allows the […]

THURSDAY, 6.00PM: UNITED States President Bill Clinton told a joint sitting of the National Assembly on Thursday that the US is committed to developing closer ties through trade and co-operation, and that South Africa is an example to the world for its efforts in overcoming apartheid. He said the US will help South Africa overcome […]