Andrew Worsdale Movies of the week I once worked at Film Fun, renting out 16mm movies. With a host of films to choose from, my favourite was Norman Jewison’s The Cincinnati Kid with Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson. A gambling movie set in New Orleans in the 1930s, I must have watched it five […]

Ratanga Junction – `the first full- scale theme park in Africa’ – opened its doors to a fun-hungry public this week. Dave Chislett dared to ride the Cobra roller-coaster As one approaches the main gates to Cape Town’s Ratanga Junction the first feelings of unreality begin to set in. I mean, how many people do […]

Loose cannon: Robert Kirby When, in 1990, FW de Klerk made that watershed speech in Parliament, I wonder if he realised how, in doing so, he was snatching the rug from beneath the feet of innumerable and worthy white liberals, those long snuffled ranks of good souls who had been living so well for many […]

Captain Euro Donna Block: SHARE WORLD Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a banker in blue tights. No it’s Captain Euro, defender of truth, justice and a stable European exchange rate. Armed with a currency converter and calculator-like brain, the latest costumed cutie to hit the streets of Paris, London, Milan, Cologne […]

doubts Sechaba ka’Nkosi Former Transvaal attorney general Jan d’Oliveira confessed his doubts about the state’s case against the Eikenhof Three to the Chief Justice Ismail Mahomed as early as last September. However, exactly six weeks later, D’Oliveira surprisingly revoked his earlier stance, citing “certain consultations” and said he would oppose any application for remittal D’Oliveira […]

Ken Barris, who won the M-Net Book Prize for The Jailer’s Book, has just published a new novel. Shaun de Waal interviewed him via e-mail Your new novel, Evolution (Zebra) is not nearly as dense as The Jailer’s Book, either on the level of the prose and metaphor, or on the level of the narrative […]

jail? If ever there was a case which exposed the shortcomings of the police, the prosecution service and the judiciary, it is that of the Eikenhof Three. The facts in support of their innocence have yet to be tested in court but, to the reasonable man, appear overwhelming. Their fingerprints were never found on the […]

strength stuns MPLA Unita’s improved military strength is of growing concern to Angola and its neighbours, write Chris Gordon and Howard Barrell Unita military pressure on the government has escalated dangerously over the past week, prompting deep concern among neighbouring governments. A powerful Unita offensive, including tanks and heavy artillery, on forces at Kuito and […]

Sanctions against Burundi are falling away, writes Gregory Mthembu-Salter Sanctions imposed by East African countries against Burundi in the wake of the military coup in July 1996 are nearing their end. Of the six original participants, Kenya, Ethiopia and Zambia abandoned sanctions months ago and the Rwandan government believes their usefulness is over, leaving only […]

Twenty-five years after William Plomer’s death, Stephen Gray searched out more of his literary remains A quarter of a century ago William Plomer died in England unexpectedly. His revision of his two memoirs into one Autobiography was not yet complete. His Collected Poems of 1973 – including all of his best South African items – […]