T he Natale Labia Museum in Muizenberg will be the venue for a further series of lectures on women’s writing by Shirley Kossick, professor emeritus of the University of South Africa and one of the Mail &Guardian’s leading book critics. The talks will take place at 10am on the first Saturday of every month, beginning […]

John Francis Lane More than two decades since his death, Pier Paolo Pasolini is still causing ructions in Italy. People are still fighting over his artistic and political legacy, but they are even more divided over the circumstances of his death. Was he killed by a rent-boy? Was he killed by a rent-boy in league […]

Are historical epics such as Amistad dishonest, or do they convey human truths that textbooks cannot? Stuart Jeffries and Simon Hattenstone report The historians are sharpening their quills. Academic bile is flying in all directions. And newspaper columnists are ransacking the good ship Amistad. We’ve seen it plenty of times before. In fact, we see […]

Stephen Bierley Tennis Korda the kick. Korda the cartwheel. Korda the Australian Open champion. There is no better story in any sport than when someone of obvious and undoubted talent finally achieves the major victory that his ability so richly deserves, particularly if it arrives as the minute hand on his career clock nudges towards […]

Robert Kirby: LOOSE CANNON No, I’m not trying to send her up when I offer the embattled Dr Nkosazana Zuma most sincere congratulations on her face-off with the tobacco industry. With uncanny vigilance, Zuma has seen the way things could go if tobacco barons aren’t beheaded more expeditiously. She’s clearly been watching how efficiently South […]

Shaun de Waal CD of the week As far as I’m concerned, they should all be given to Bob Dylan, but the Grammy awards are interesting because of what they say about the American music establishment, and BMG’s 1998 Grammy Nominees shows off the pop category. The women get more than their affirmative- action half, […]

Does the Pact crisis spell a larger problem with cultural policy? Charl Blignaut argues that implementation is the real problem ‘If I were to tell you everything that’s going on here at Pact I would be fired and you would receive a promotion,” said a Pact worker to the Mail & Guardian over the phone […]

Luis Bernardo Honwana, a founder of modern Mozambican literature, now works in South Africa, representing Unesco. He spoke to Stephen Gray Mr Honwana, please describe your job. I was despatched to this country by Unesco [the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation]after the 1994 elections, as their director here, to negotiate the re-entry of […]

Ferial Haffajee The government’s new information service buckles down this week to replace the moribund South African Communication Services (Sacs). The two men who will lead the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) are both senior African National Congress brains. Joel Netshitenzhe will head the new- look information system; he currently serves as deputy director-general […]

Janet Smith If you’re thinking of sharing your copies of Seymore Butts Meets the Pleasure Girls and Sluts and Angels in Budapest with your coterie of fellow porn-lovers, think twice. The South African Police Services (SAPS) in Port Elizabeth – which had obviously had enough of pornography being peddled with scant regard for the law […]