South African music hit some highs and sank to some lows in 1997. Our reviewers do a round-up of the local music scene Maria McCloy Kwaito/D’gong Kwaito/d’gong fans know how to get down and go crazy on dance floors — and there were a few songs that reached national anthem status in clubs and at […]

TUESDAY, 12.30PM Deputy President Thabo Mbeki’s spokesman, Thami Nthentheni, may face culpable homicide and drunken driving charges after a woman died of burns and three others were critically injured in a highway road accident. Nthentheni’s car, a BMW, appears to have struck a Volkswagen Passat in Midrand, between Johannesburg and Pretoria, on Monday night. The […]

MONDAY, 12.30PM: SOUTH African manufactured exports are on a roll, according to the Industrial Development Corporation, as local exporters take advantage of new markets. Latest figures released by the IDC show that manufactured exports rose 22% in the first three quarters of the year, against the same period the previous year. The increase in manufactured […]

HOLIDAY ROAD DEATHS TOP 414 The road death toll since the beginning of Christmas holdiays on December 1 had climbed to 414 by Monday morning, according to Arrive Alive. Although the figure is lower than for the corresponding period last year, it is expected to climb further, with most fatalities expected between Christmas and New […]

MONDAY, 11.30AM: FREE State consolidated their chances of qualifying for the final stages of the Standard Bank Cup when they hammered Boland by five wickets at Paarl on Sunday. Boland won the toss and elected to bat first. They put together 236 for four in their 45 overs. Then the visitors contributed 240 for five […]

Swapna Prabhakaran Despite efforts at affirmative action, a large number of the country’s black graduates still find themselves unemployed, unlike their white counterparts. Recent statistics supplied by the Human Sciences Research Council and Central Statistical Service show that almost a quarter of the country’s black graduates in 1996 are now jobless, while almost 98% of […]

Robert Kirby : Loose cannon I would like to be among the first to rocket to the rescue of the reputation of Witwatersrand deputy judge president, HCJ Flemming. Talk about an irresponsible, a flagitious press, radio and television – never mind Raymond Louw. This last week or so poor Monas Flemming has had more scorn […]

David Beresford talks to Desmond Tutu and finds the former archbishop is still a believer in the power of truth and redemption Desmond Tutu is a busy man. He has, after all, been agonising over whether to press the button which could send a former state president to prison. He is being bombarded with demands […]

Nicky Barker The government has unveiled an ambitious plan to develop the Lake St Lucia area on the northern KwaZulu-Natal coast as a major international tourist attraction. Minister of Environment Affairs and Tourism Pallo Jordan describes the project as “one of the biggest tourism investment initiatives the country has ever seen”. The announcement is a […]

Howard W French in Abidjan When Madeleine Albright began her first tour of Africa as United States secretary of state, the aim was to open a new era in relations by embracing a “new generation” of leaders that Washington has cited as examples for others to follow. But by the time Albright flew out on […]