Professor Charles van Onselen, Wits University historian, in THE MARK GEVISSER PROFILE PERHAPS the problem Charles van Onselen has, I think as we sit together on a Sunday afternoon, is that he looks — ; and sometimes sounds — like the enemy: bulging eyes beneath a balding pate, ware-ding khaki shorts, blustering physicality, bombast and […]

CINEMA: Andrew Worsdale PAUL VERHOEVEN and Joe Eszterhas’ latest collaboration, Showgirls, is at once the tackiest movie ever made by a major Hollywood studio and a satisfyingly bitchy backstage melodrama overlaid with all the usual sexual peccadillos common to both men’s previous work. Verhoeven’s first major hit was the Dutch art film The Fourth Man, […]

THERE was a sense of deja vu as South Africa’s most litigated public servant, Winnie Mandela, failed to testify in her own defence this week. Mandela has frequently been unavailable when called on to face the consequences of legal proceedings. l President Nelson Mandela resorted to a supreme court order to serve a divorce summons […]

Bronwen Jones scours the Patent Journal for the latest weird and wonderful inventions THINK of inventions and up flash images of the first steam train, the first telephone, the hovercraft, Post-it pads, Sony’s Walkman — items little or large which have changed our lives. South Africans can take pride because there are great inventors and […]

Rupert Murdoch could become a partner in the SABC’s satellite venture in a deal involving the rights to southern hemisphere rugby. Niel Bierbaum reports THE SABC could be considering media mogul Rupert Murdoch as an international partner for its satellite venture. Such a deal could see the SABC exchanging an ownership share for exclusive rights […]

A new type of fraud has hit South Africa’s streets and is on the rise, reports Karen Harverson AUTOMATIC teller machine (ATM) crime in South Africa appears to be the worst in the world and it’s on the increase. Assistant general manager Stuart Grobler of the Council of Southern African Banks (Cosab) says thieves are […]

Discriminatory restaurateurs and club owners will have to watch out for the new Bill of Rights, argues Dennis Davis EQUALITY is a fundamental principle of the interim Constitution and is likely to retain this status in the final Constitution. In similiar fashion to the present Constitution, the draft for the final Constitution provides that, when […]

Biceps, butts _ and community spirit. HAZEL=20 FRIEDMAN finds out what makes Mr South Africa tick `HI, honey [the sweetener is optional]. Love your=20 pectorals. You must be a Taurus.” It may not be=20 the ideal opening gambit, but what else can you say=20 when you’re interviewing a hunk with wall-to-wall=20 muscles, whose baby blues […]

Without the skills, choosing a satellite system can=20 be a technological nightmare. Annicia Reddiar=20 guides you through the labyrinth MORE than a month after the MultiChoice satellite=20 launch, the equipment needed to access its system=20 is not widely available. Most retailers complain=20 that they have no stock of the two MultiChoice- compatible receivers, and people […]

Six unsigned bands on one CD … THERESE OWEN=20 discovers the joys of Aural Sex AURAL Sex _ or Soda Sex Fountain Part II _ is=20 finally available for public consumption. This=20 locally produced CD features six unsigned South=20 African bands _ who battled it out against at least=20 20 other groups at a competition […]