This year’s national Vita Awards for theatre celebrate the past, argues MATTHEW KROUSE THE FNB Vita National Theatre Awards, like any extended family gathering, pay homage to founding fathers, and stroke their fledglings, encouraging them to follow traditional paths. The 1994/1995 award-winners are testimony to a developing consensus between fundis, audiences and practitioners. Apparently, what […]

SWIMMING: Julian Drew WITH a series of brilliant performances this year 20-year-old swimmer Penny Heyns from Durban has swum herself into contention as one of the favourites to win gold at next year’s Olympic Games in Atlanta. As early as April at the national championships in Durban she showed her intentions for the year with […]

Supporting ‘smart’ mines ignores the international=20 landmine crisis, writes David Bruce=20 IT WAS a shock for the Ceasefire Campaign to hear=20 last week that the government had decided to=20 implement a ban on “dumb” or “long-life” mines=20 while adopting a position of support for the use of=20 “smart” or “short-life” mines.=20 While all landmines are […]

Artists are teaming up with designers for the Johannesburg Art Gallery’s Spring Fashion Show. HAZEL FRIEDMAN takes a peek behind the seams THE Friends of the Johannesburg Art Gallery can’t be accused of timidity. In fact, in their efforts to turn art into entertainment, they sometimes walk recklessly where purists fear to tread. A few […]

Despite the recent strikes, local industrial unrest is on the decline, reports Meshack Mabogoane Though the latest nurses’ and municipal workers’ strikes have unleashed intense emotions and caused public disturbances, this year’s figures show industrial unrest to be at its lowest in five years. “The impression of industrial chaos is more a reaction to the […]

Lynda Loxton In today’s world, competitiveness is everything but no company can hope to be in a world class competitive position unless its suppliers deliver on time — and in South Africa that can be a major problem. With 60 percent of its turnover based on exports, Epping-based marine and general engineering company Petrel Engineering […]

Rehana Rossouw=20 WHEN Chris Ball was Barclays Bank managing director=20 in the 198Os, he became the victim of a bizarre=20 witch-hunt where National Party commie-spotters=20 pronounced they had found a bunny resembling an=20 African National Congress symbol in the bank’s tree=20 Coupled with numerous accounts the bank attracted=20 from anti-apartheid groups, “evidence” surely=20 mounted that […]

A proposed French/South African accord could revitalise the SA film industry, reports TREVOR STEELE TAYLOR FIRST steps have been taken towards a collaboration which could be of resounding importance to South African film. At a symposium in Johannesburg last weekend, organised by the French Institute, plans were mooted for a film treaty between France and […]

For women to have any real power in society, they=20 need to be represented in the Budget, argues ANC MP=20 Pregs Govender=20 WHILE women have won initial victories by filling=20 positions of political power, economic power still=20 lies where it always has — with a few new black=20 faces — in the all-male white echelons […]

Ann Eveleth=20 Inkatha Freedom Party hardliners this week=20 succeeded in uniting the KwaZulu-Natal opposition=20 against their increasingly divided party.=20 Apparently straining under the weight of a=20 democracy which would have forced them to negotiate=20 a provincial constitution, the party’s hardline=20 cabal of national leaders wilfully burned its=20 bridges with the minority parties whose support is=20 […]