Hazel Friedman The SABCs drama department is filled with intrigue, but not of the scripted variety. The mystery revolves around the criteria used to commission scripts for drama series and sitcom programmes. Independent film-makers claim they are being discriminated against as they are SABC outsiders, while the SABC drama department insists everything is being done […]

Some film-makers feel the SABC is not being fair and equitable to both in-house and independent producers, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy While the SABC is committed to independent production, some independent film-makers are frustrated and are accusing the corporation of foot-dragging its implementation of commissioning procedures. A commissioning procedures task group, with representatives from the SABC […]

Marion Edmunds The R-word hit the newspaper headlines with meaning for the first time this week, after ANC hard-liner MP Pravin Gordhan warned minority parties that if negotiations failed, a referendum would be a reality. At a time when parties are shaping up to negotiate the worst of the disputes in the final constitution, this […]

The SABC’s grand relaunch: Was it worth the money? Did anyone learn anything? Will advertisers support the new-look state television station? Jeff Zerbst found the SABC’s grand relaunch of its TV stations to be a spectacle loaded with symbolism for the new South Africa IT was in a spirit of awe and reverence that one […]

Thabo Mbeki has accused the print media of a go-slow on affirmative action. Jacquie Golding-Duffy surveys the industry to see if this is true On a head count, local newspapers have not done particularly well in furthering the cause of affirmative action. With more than 80% of the local media controlled by four players, namely: […]

An installation at the Johannesburg Art Gallery reveals surprising new dimensions to traditional African art and craft, reports RUTH SACK THE status of traditional African crafts and artefacts in Western museums has long been a question of unending debate. Over the years it has been possible to observe, in our museums and galleries, how versions […]

Stefaans Brmmer A late-night visit by Mpumalanga Premier Matthews Phosa has failed, for now, to steer Swaziland’s young monarch towards democracy, but diplomats believe the steady application of `friendly’ pressure from, among others, President Nelson Mandela, will bear fruit. South Africa’s Foreign Affairs Department remained adamant this week it would not `interfere’ in Swaziland’s domestic […]

A row has arisen over illegal funding to self-protection units, writes Anne Eveleth A departmental secretary in Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s former homeland office, Stan Armstrong, is being named as a key player in the illegal funding row in which R8,6-million in taxpayers’ money was paid to members of Inkatha’s paramilitary self-protection units (SPUs). KwaZulu-Natal administrative […]

Philippa Garson To pay or not to pay? That is the politically loaded question. Whether school fees should be compulsory is being hotly debated in government circles and is holding up the implementation of new education policy for schools. If the government goes for minimum free education for all it risks losing wealthier parents — […]

Andrew Worsdale VETERAN South African film-maker Jamie Uys, who died of a heart attack on Monday aged 76, was often berated by progressive film-makers and academics for being a paternalistic racist who trivialised both nature and black people in his movies. In reality, however, he was a true film fantasist who operated within the confines […]