Bongani Siqoko : Soccer The World Cup tournament is only six months away and the count-down to the most prestigious soccer extravaganza in the world has begun. Travel agencies, printers and ordinary township people are gearing up for the tournament. It is the first time that ordinary people have had so much interest in this […]

Desmond Tutu’s concept of a rainbow nation just doesn’t match up to reality, writes Lizeka Mda If ever there was any doubt that the notion of a rainbow nation is unravelling, President Nelson Mandela’s speech at the African National Congress’s 50th conference laid those doubts to rest. For almost four years as the president of […]

Julie Burchill For me there was only one book this year and=20that was Andrew Morton’s Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words. The transcripts of the tapes she made are heart-breaking; hearty Sloane clich=E9s interspersed with cries of agony like something out of Samuel Beckett. The first paragraph of the first tape — “My […]

The truth commission was confronted this year with bouts of amnesia, half-truths and outright lies — and scenes of humanity * “I am not in possession of any information that might be of use to you.” — Former president FW de Klerk, giving the National Party’s response to questions posed by the truth commission about […]

Hopes are high for a gradual rebirth of a South African film industry, writes Andrew Worsdale ‘Every year I seem to feel the film industry surging with renewed optimism, yet nothing seems to happen. It’s all a state of foreplay with no penetration. well, now I can finally say — or predict — that the […]

Against all odds, the ANC emerged from Mafikeng alive and kicking, report Wally Mbhele, Sechaba ka’Nkosi and Marion Edmunds The African National Congress emerged from its 50th national congress in Mafikeng last week invigorated and more united than it has been since taking the reins of government in 1994. This was all the more extraordinary […]

culture for 1997 Compiled by Charl Blignaut The Pop Art Award for punch-ups in the art world A steady stream of local celebrities has stepped into the limelight in 1997. Some, we have found, knock and wait for doors to be opened, while others simply moer them down. It is in honour of the latter […]

Neil Manthorp : Cricket The biggest day, the biggest Test. Friday is the start of the first Test at the MCG. Boxing Day in Melbourne, one of the biggest cricket days in the world. Seventy thousand people are expected to watch the start of the rest of Hansie Cronje’s life. Not just Hansie’s. For seven […]

Janet Smith If only the houses in which the Molois and the Dwyers lived in SABC2’s Suburban Bliss were on the property market, and someone with a lot of money came along and offered the families a bountiful pair of cheques. Perhaps then, with those irritating people and their tacky studio furniture out of the […]

TUESDAY, 10.30AM: NATIONAL 10km champion John Morapedi overcame jetlag, high temparatures and high altitude to produce one of his most impressive performances in winning the Cali 10,4km road race in Colombia on Sunday. The Pretoria runner clocked a speedy 29 minutes 34 seconds, less than a day after making the 45-hour flight from Johannesburg. In […]