Jeremy Cronin: CROSSFIRE Isn’t it time to get Crossfire cross-firing? I am going to take a few pot shots at my friend and comrade, Pallo Jordan – with whom, on most things, I mostly agree. But first some anecdotal background. At the gold summit at the end of February, I was sitting in a Braamfontein […]

Philippa Garson Thanks to technological innovation, distance education is now the most viable way of extending the reach of education to the country’s forgotten corners – and people. Ambitious initiatives like the Technology Enhanced Learning Initiative in Southern Africa (Telisa) and the SABC’s educational broadcasting venture may be the saving grace for a government thus […]

Gwen Ansell: CD of the week Reedman and composer Henry Threadgill is a graduate of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Music, and his work with the bands Air and Very Very Circus married open arrangements and dense textures in a way which often subverted expectations – all-brass ensembles, no-bass ensembles, Jelly Roll Morton-meets-Ornette […]

Obituary Taffy and David Adler Ray Harmel (n,e Adler), veteran anti-apartheid activist and a member of the South African Communist Party, the Garment Workers Union and the African National Congress died in London on March 11 at the age of 91. Known for her tenacious, unswerving and principled support for worker and human rights, she […]

Andy Capostagno: Rugby We’ve had two weeks of the Super 12 now and we’ve learnt a few things. We’ve learnt that the Wellington Hurricanes are the best team in the tournament, and the Western Stormers are about the worst. We’ve learnt that rumours of a resurgence of the game in Australia are unfounded, and that […]

Njongonkulu Ndungane: UBUNTU A cardinal value to be cherished by all is the sanctity of life. This entails creating conditions that enable people to enjoy a fully human life. As God’s stewards we are responsible for harnessing the resources of the earth to enhance humanity’s well-being. It is in this light that we must engage […]

Krisjan Lemmer Great excitement in the Dorsbult Bar when word circulated that the California multi-millionaire, Deepak Chopra, was in town. Deepak, as everyone knows, is guru to California and all its hangers-on, including Hillary Clinton, Michael Jackson, George Harrison, Liz Taylor and Demi Moore – the latter of whom announced, after consulting him, that she […]

Mungo Soggot The corruption crisis in South Africa’s state oil industry claimed its most important casualty so far when Minister of Minerals and Energy Penuell Maduna sacked his special adviser on energy this week. Maduna’s decision to axe his trusted aide Thulane Gcabashe, an African National Congress stalwart, has sent shock waves through the Department […]

Ronald Suresh Roberts THE HOUSE GUN by Nadine Gordimer (David Philip, R99,95) PARADISE by Toni Morrison (Chatto & Windus, R110) ‘Little illegal niggers with guns and no home training need to be in jail,” says a black resident of a blacks-only town, in Toni Morrison’s Paradise. Conversely, in Nadine Gordimer’s The House Gun, young white […]

Gwen Ansell On Thursday March 19, the annual Windybrow Festival kicks off: the usual mix of dance, drama and music with a heavy emphasis on youth. As far as the music goes, opening night features singer Ringo Madlingozi, with material from his latest album Sondelani: an indication that this festival is following a slightly different […]