Nigeria Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka visited South Africa for a writers’ festival in Durban. He spoke to Suzy Bell A distinguished man in black sips a cold Amstel in the retro lounge of the Blue Waters Hotel in Durban. He’s Wole Soyinka, acclaimed playwright, essayist, novelist and memoirist. He’s the quietly spoken winner of the […]

Andrew Worsdale It’s a premium week for movies on television, especially on Friday with Thelma and Louise on SABC3 on Friday March 6 at 9pm. This exhilarating thriller is Ridley Scott’s best movie since Blade Runner. It stars Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, who set out on a holiday trip. A drunken dance- floor flirtation […]

Maria McCloy: CD of the week So you might be sick of the endless articles about spiritual, herbal tea-drinking and turbaned “Nu-Soul Queen” Erykah Badu. You might think that Baduizm Live (BMG), the live version of her beautiful 1997 album, Baduizm, is just the record company cashing in on her massive popularity. Maybe it is, […]

Craig Bishop A two-year-old agreement with Danish funders to fund community radio projects jointly has finally been honoured by the South African government. Dr Pallo Jordan, the former minister responsible for broadcasting, agreed in 1995 to match a two-year Danish contribution of over R3-million to develop community radio through an independent fund. The agreement stressed […]

Mukoni T Ratshitanga More than 200 striking farm workers, including 26 mothers and their babies, were arrested in the Northern Province for allegedly violated a high court ruling preventing them from intimidating colleagues. Their lawyer, Phillip Sebola, said the workers included three pregnant women, five of their visitors and 33 parents who had left children […]

Andy Capostagno: Rugby It has been an interesting couple of weeks for the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu). First came the good news; the Super 12 season would begin with four regional teams from South Africa who, at least on the surface, would all be happily putting aside provincial differences to raise the level […]

Michael Brooks At Nasa’s research labs in the heart of Silicon Valley, alchemy is back in fashion. But turning base metals into gold is an old dream; the new alchemists are trying to turn coal into diamond. Re-arranging carbon atoms to build diamond-based materials would release a range of powerful new technologies – from silicon […]

Angella Johnson The “general” who was given 1% of Virodene’s parent company for African National Congress “introductions work” claims he actually received the share as a gift from Ziggy and Olga Visser for helping them make contact with prominent black businesspeople. Documents used to attack the ANC this week for its alleged involvement in the […]

Mandy Collins Thankfully, the days when “living together” was considered a mortal sin are over. Today, many heterosexual couples choose not to get married, homosexual couples may not get married and many customary marriages are not recognised by South African law. All that adds up to quite a few couples who live within a committed, […]

Charl Blignaut: On stage in Johannesburg There’s a very cool moment in Ilse van Hemert’s Mallemeulwals when Sandra Prinsloo, playing a glamorous and world-weary leading lady in turn-of-the-century France, gazes lazily into space and proclaims, “Love does not exist.” It’s a point she gets to prove just moments later as she plunges into bed with […]