Angella Johnson No road signs mark the way to China Town. Unlike its wealthy neighbours which flaunt thatched-roof mansions to passing motorists, the impoverished township lies concealed behind a curtain of tall leafy trees. Also hidden in this dusty informal settlement – tucked between St Francis Bay and the Cape St Francis resort village in […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi and Bruno Willemse A diamond deal that went terribly wrong last week has shaken the inner circles of the African National Congress in the Northern Cape and cast doubts on the future of its Premier, Manne Dipico. Dean Snyders, a former activist and close friend of Dipico, was arrested last week on charges […]
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 […]
Your headline “White males face the chop” (March 6 to 12), and key elements of the accompanying article, give a completely misleading impression of our employment equity policy. I use this opportunity to re-emphasise a point that was almost lost in the presentation of the article: “No one at the University of Cape Town (UCT) […]
Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele: RIGHT TO REPLY Your article, “Whatever happened to the dream of low-cost housing”, February 20 to 26, was sensational and alarmist. My office has been co-operating with the media in making sure that their information needs are met on time. There is nothing sinister about verifying statistics and maintaining their integrity before releasing […]
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 […]
IN BRIEF LESOTHO PM IN HOSPITAL LESOTHO Prime Minister Ntsu Mokhehle, 79, was admitted to the Morningside clinic in Johannesburg on Thursday afternoon. The nature of his illness is unknown, but Mokhehle has been ill for some time. Mokhehle declared himself unavailable for Lesotho’s May 23 elections because of ill health and old age. He […]
Mail & Guardian reporter An incident of ugly on-air sexism on the Afrikaans commercial radio station, Punt Geselsradio, has ended on a happy note. The manne at the station have agreed to write a gender policy and to take lessons from organisations that have offered to train them in gender sensitivity. “We subscribe to an […]
Coenraad Visser: On stage in Pretoria Two productions, one traditional, the other innovative; one a confident affirmation of established opera values, the other an equally confident glance at the future of opera in this country. The productions are Rigoletto by the State Theatre Opera in Pretoria and Cape Town Opera’s La BohSme: Noir at the […]