Simon Segal DESPITE the re-emergence of El Nino, the harbinger of drought in this region, there is still a reasonable chance that South Africa could have a favourable agricultural season. The rains over the past few days have done no harm, noticeably boosting the morale of farmers. With the vital February-March rains still to come, […]

Eddie Koch braved the generation gap and took his daughter to see Roxette IT’S Saturday night at Ellis Park and a swarm of adolescents hover around the turnstiles. The man at the gate eyes my receding hairline. “Tickets?” he asks, although the subtext of his query is written in the baffled look on his face: […]

Marketing Clive Simpkins THE “grey” market has always posed a problem for marketers of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) brands in South Africa, with notable wars between the likes of Panasonic and the sassy Western Bazaars with their “Hong Kong prices”. The impression has been created that the big guys simply want to milk every […]

Winnie Mandela stands accused of storming Contralesa’s headquarters in a struggle for control of the organisation, reports Mduduzi ka Harvey WINNIE MANDELA is at the centre of a new political controversy: a struggle for control of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa). She is accused of storming the organisation’s headquarters, changing the […]

CRICKET: Luke Alfred HANSIE CRONJE’S comments after the Mandela Cup victory at the Wanderers last Thursday night were noticeably cautious. Captain sensible he may be, but privately Cronje must fancy his chances against a side which has been playing cricket continuously now for almost 12 months. Another reason why cautious optimism might be the appropriate […]

CABARET: Justin Pearce On My Way to Here does itself an injustice by calling itself a tribute show. That term is the one used to describe what has become the staple diet of Cape Town live shows: an uninspired, if competent, band and/or singers gallumphing their way through a list of hummable tunes associated with […]

CINEMA: Stanley Peskin IF the subject matter of Alan Parker’s The Road to Wellville is Hitchcockian in its obsession with food and sex, the manner of the film is closer to Mack Sennett and The Keystone Cops, with injections of Dickensian types and humour. The film is not unlike a period musical comedy, but without […]

Adriaan Vlok, former minister of law and order, pays tribute to an old foe I WANT to express my sincere condolence to the Slovo family and friends. He was a prominent, valuable and influential member of the ANC/South African Communist Party and he will be sorely missed by them. From an ideological point of view, […]

THEATRE: Neville Josie A LARGE, rubbery balloon hovers over the performance space. It could be construed as a safe sex metaphor, if you’re into that kind of thing. Given the repressive times in which he lived, William Shakespeare was circumspect about most things, but not about sex. Take A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Plunging into his […]

GOLF: Jon Swift THERE was something like an aura of invincibility about the way Ernie Els strode to victory in the Bell’s Cup at Fancourt last weekend. It is the same invisible — yet recognisable — mantle of power which used to surround Gary Player on the South African circuit. Player, like Els, got his […]