Inside Out, a new local film, seems to have got it the right way round in terms of financing and filming, writes Andrew Worsdale `This movie marks a turning point in the local industry.” This was the less- than-original prophecy on everybody’s lips at the recent bold and upbeat launch of the new SABC3/ African […]

Phillip Kakaza The morning sun glitters over Mount Mautse in the eastern Free State. Cocks crow from its majestic slopes and the jungle drums telegraph a mystic rhythm. Welcome to the holy mountains, where people since the early 1970s have been going in hundreds to pray to their ancestors and to God. Ideally situated in […]

It’s bonus time and the best place to put your cheque is in the bank. However, there are some romantic alternatives, writes Belinda Beresford Christmas is coming, and the credit card companies are getting fat, so please put your bonus into the bank. The sensible thing to do with your Christmas bonus is pay off […]

Tangeni Amupadhi A band of robbers and kill-ers is terrorising African immigrants in Johannesburg in what appears to be a systematic elimination of the foreign nationals. The latest casualty was Djo Ongonga Okamba from Brazzaville, the capital of Congo. He was shot dead last week, days before he was to leave for his home town. […]

Andrew Worsdale The Great Escape, a fascinating documentary airing on SABC1 at 6.30pm on Sunday December 20, tells the story of the famous Marshall Square jailbreak in 1963 where activists Arthur Goldreich, Mosie Moolla, Charlie Jasset and Harold Wolpe managed to persuade warder Johan Greef to let them out with the promise of payment. Greef […]

Wally Mbhele has been appointed assistant editor at the Mail & Guardian. Mbhele (35), who hails from Bethlehem in the Free State, has been a political correspondent at the M&G since August last year. Trained at The Weekly Mail, he has worked on a number of publications including Vrye Weekblad, New Nation and City Press […]

Fiona Macleod A deal being hammered out with the southern Kalahari Bushmen will entitle them to jointly own and manage more than 1 000km2 of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in the Northern Cape. It will also add about 500km2 on to the park. If the deal goes through – and there are indications it […]

David Shapshak Spending It In science fiction, functional technology has long been integrated into mainstream culture as fashion. Technology has often been reinvented as fashion, witness what Bang & Olafsson have done for the dour hi-fi or Apple’s iMac for the home personal computer. The cellphone, that once distinctive sign of a yuppie, is going […]

Wally Mbhele The commissioner of prisons, Khulekani Sithole, is apparently running a private soccer team out of his department, using its resources to finance the team. The first division team, called Spartak, allegedly uses Pretoria Central prison as a home ground, and its coach and some of its players are on the payroll of the […]

For organised crime in Asian betting scams, read artistocratic mega-punters in English sport 250 years ago. Gambling scandals are nothing new – especially in cricket, write Kevin Mitchell and Luke Tansey Any suspicion that there is a mole in the England cricket team leaking confidential information of varying quality and relevance to an illegal bookmaker […]