Deborah Toler: A SECOND LOOK When Theodore Roosevelt visited sub-Saharan Africa in 1909, after he had already stepped down as United States president, he took an elephant gun and a team of taxidermists and brought home 512 animal specimens for the Smithsonian Institute. When President Bill Clinton – the first USpresident to visit this region […]

David Beresford At 10.12am on Thursday, President Nelson Mandela made constitutional history when he took the oath in Room 6E of the Pretoria High Court, submitting the executive to the scrutiny of the judiciary. Looking the epitomy of dignity in a charcoal suit, the president made a point of demonstrating his respect for the court […]

Shaun de Waal If the English shortlist of this year’s M-Net Book Prize (announced this week in Cape Town) is anything to go by, South African novelists are still dealing with this country’s history, its national narrative, whether recent or more distant. Ken Barris’s novel The Jailer’s Book portrays an apartheid-era South Africa through the […]

Lower interest rates and a consumer-friendly budget are sure to put extra money into the pockets of consumers – which should bring smiles to the country’s retailers and value to their shares. While some of the bigger South African stores have had a difficult time in the last year with low levels of consumer spending […]

Andy CapostagnoCricket If this is the beginning of a new age, then it’s particularly appropriate that South Africa will go into the Newlands Test against opponents who are, in the best sense of the word, old fashioned. Sri Lanka may be the world champions in one-day cricket, b ut their approach to Test cricket, if […]

Alet van Rensburg The new civilian caretakers of Vlakplaas – former base of the notorious police C-10 hit squad – are interested in buying the farm from the government and turning it into a rehabilitation centre for “lost souls”. The old farmhouse on Vlakplaas is now filled with Louis and Lucia Smit’s furniture. They’ve turned […]

Lynda Gledhill A recent study published in a medical journal suggests that DMF, the main chemical constituent of Virodene, may activate the HIV virus. South African medical experts who reviewed the article said it raises serious questions about Virodene and its potential affect on Aids patients. The study showed that several industrial solvents, including DMF […]

Shaun de Waal: International tour What does it all mean? Besides the obvious live band footage (treated or untreated), the series of images flashing past on the giant video screen that is arguably the most essential part of U2’s PopMart concert is an almost bewildering cornucopia of pop/ art iconicity. Perhaps it is unfair to […]

In less than 14 days the IBA will award the coveted free-to-air TV licence, writes Ferial Haffajee Most of the seven television bid companies were on tenterhooks this week. Many have invested millions of rands in the bid that will attract millions more in foreign investment. No matter who wins, the spin-off from the new […]

Marion Edmunds One of the world’s most respected human rights watchdogs has accused the South African government of committing serious human rights abuses against illegal immigrants, in a damning report that draws parallels with the apartheid regime’s treatment of blac ks. The Human Rights Watch report is the first significant attack from an international agency […]