Rehana Rossouw RECENTLY divorced President Nelson Mandela is not in the market for a first (or should it be third?) lady. He can cope perfectly well on his own, say his staff. But bachelor presidents are the exception rather than the rule, with most heads of state relying on their wives to lend a helping […]

FINE ART: Hazel Friedman SLEAZY hotel rooms belong to the “lay now, pay later” way of life. A conflation of private and public domains, with their starched sheets and lumpy mattresses, they are imbued with an air of erotic anonymity. And to the artists of Visible Traces (at the Market’s Rembrant van Rijn Gallery) — […]

Justin Pearce SUSPICIONS of the Vorster government’s complicity in the 1977 assassination of National Party election candidate Robert Smit and his wife Jeanne-Cora hardened this week following an announcement the police have reopened their investigation into the murders. The Smits were found dead with multiple stab and bullet wounds in their rented house in Springs […]

Bafana Khumalo ‘Ahm tellin’ ya, that’s one fahn hoe!” Fahn Hoe!? No children, I have not decided to make my column more relevant. Nor am I trying to write about the plight of white farmers and the scarcity of hoes. In fact, I am sitting in a downtown bus eavesdropping on a conversation between two […]

Serjeant AT THE BAR The Truth and Reconciliation Commission should not be treated like a court of law THE Truth and Reconciliation Commission kicked off, this week, in an appropriately dramatic and South African fashion — with threats of litigation and bombs at the first hearing. There will probably be plenty of both over the […]

Ann Eveleth When former Military Intelligence Sergeant Andre Cloete shifted from his rigid attention- like stand in the witness box on Tuesday morning, lifting his right arm to his face, it seemed as if he might offer an apologetic salute to the generals in the dock. The salute never materialised, but the impression of the […]

ATHLETICS: Julian Drew FEW of the 1 500 or so crowd who actually showed up for last Sunday’s Pepsi All Africa International Athletics Meeting were still in the stadium when the highlight of the afternoon’s proceedings took place. The 800m, which was the last track event of the meeting, had just finished and the spectators […]

As the first black consortium bids for TML, a charter is suddenly being drafted to safeguard editors and to preserve traditions in the group. Jacquie Golding-Duffy reports THE editors of Times Media Limited’s (TML) core publications say they do not fear losing their jobs under a new black stakeholder. However, on the eve of the […]

With the launch of the Sci-Fi Channel, JOHN O’REILLY ponders the irony of a station devoted to a genre that warns us so graphically of the evils of TV YOU arrive home after a hard day at the office. You flop into the sofa, press a button. Suddenly you are transformed into either a vicious […]

chance to gape? Artist Pippa Skotnes launched an exhibition about the oppression of Khoisan people — and found herself under attack for the same thing, reports Rehana Roussouw THIS century’s most representative gathering of Khoisan groups took place last Sunday — at the South African National Gallery, of all places. But the historic meeting was […]