The violent Hillbrow vibe inspired South Africa’s first industrial CD, conceived and executed by Paul Riekert. He spoke to FRED DE VRIES TO reach Paul Riekert’s home, you used to have to shake off the skinny prostitutes who positioned themselves in front of his Berea flat. Riekert also advised one to avoid Soper Road, “because […]

OPERETTA AND CLASSICAL MUSIC: Coenraad Visser NOT even intelligent direction and two sterling individual performances can elevate Pact Opera’s production of Lehar’s The Merry Widow above the barely ordinary. Johan Spies directs the central characters with a sure hand to make their actions motivated and believable, a tall order in this often silly work. In […]

Shadley Nash The greasy details of rivalry between two take-away pizza traders emerged unwittingly in an unlikely place this week — the rape trial of a self-confessed The Port Elizabeth Supreme Court — sitting for the rape trial against satanist Frans du Toit who, in a third rape confession, admitted to raping a 20-year-old woman […]

A decision will soon be made on the fallout of the Greg Blank case, reports Jacques Magliolo THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) will decide within the next few weeks whether to charge stockbroking firms and individuals implicated in the well publicised 1991 R35- million scam, say two reliable sources within the exchange. These insiders say […]

Sam Ramsamy is likely to be invited to become a member of the IOC — a just reward for his long battle against racism in sport, writes Julian Drew ON a weekend when the Springboks and All Blacks will be battling it out for the right to face each other in next Saturday’s Rugby World […]

Jan Taljaard TRUE to his nickname, “Kaalvoet” Thysie de Villiers, the former Recce linked to the assassination of Professor Johan Heyns, appeared in court this week in a pair of shorts and bare feet. De Villiers, who had also been sought in connection with three other murders and a massive arms theft from a Voortrekkerhoogte […]

THEATRE: David le Page THE spirit of Roy Campbell currently haunts the Alexander Theatre, in writer and director Anthony Akerman’s play Dark Outsider. But it is not the robust and extravagant ghost we might expect. In the second act Uys Krige, played charmingly by Alex Ferns, hails in a splendid bon mot the experience of […]

SA’s Catholic bishops will not tolerate condom demonstrations in their Aids awareness programme, reports Mapula Sibanda An Aids awareness worker has been fired — for showing people how to use a condom. Chrys Matubatuba, 31, an Aids awareness co-ordinator for the South African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) says his demise began last year after he […]

Justin Pearce A CIVIL suit against the African National Congress, Nelson Mandela and Cyril Ramaphosa arising from last year’s Shell House shootings has been stalled on the grounds that the applicant’s arguments were too vague. Masele Ndlovu, whose husband was shot dead in Johannesburg on March 28 1994, has brought the suit to seek compensation […]

Jacques Magliolo reports on the latest two firms to come to Adding to this year’s spate of listings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange were German chemical giant Hoechst and Eastern Cape-based Sovereign Foods Investments. The market capitalisation — issued shares multiplied by the share price — amount to R322-million, boosting the R80-billion already added in […]