Howard Barrell: OVER A BARREL I was not alone in thinking it must be April 1. As I stared at the early morning sun – or was it my egg yoke? – my radio was telling me that Louis Luyt had formed a political party and expected us to support him in next year’s election. […]
to die Zanemvula (Zakes) Mda has happy memories of growing up among a community of South African exiles and Lesotho locals in the small town of Mafeteng. Last week he returned to find a smouldering ruin Chris Hani used to frequent this restaurant. His father, known to us only as Ntate Hani, owned it in […]
Chiara Carter Nomaindia Mfeketo, the new mayor of Cape Town, tackles the social side of her work with zest because she wants to make sure every function she hosts tackles the city’s “apartheid divisions”. Mfeketo, who became mayor last week, acknowledges the criticism often levelled at Cape Town: that little has changed since 1994 and […]
Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week The French have long fetishised the American detective genre in their films. Perhaps the greatest exponent of this was Jean-Pierre Melville who, in films like Bob le Flambeur and Le Deuxime Souffl, perfectly captured the trademarks of American gangster movies – wet night streets, raincoats with bulging pockets, gunmen […]
The men gain, while the rest of us take the pain – financially speaking, of course. Belinda Beresford wonders who’s going to pay for Viagra With fanfare and press coverage greater even than the latest Leonardo di Caprio appearance, Viagra is on its way to South Africa. Some say the latest star in the pharmaceutical […]
HRC David Beresford The Human Rights Commission (HRC) has suffered another body blow with the resignation of Helen Suzman, the fourth commissioner to walk out of the prestigious body headed by the controversial lawyer and theologian, Dr Barney Pityana. Suzman said on Thursday that her resignation would take effect at the end of the year. […]
These days, the Market Theatre management claims, people book tickets because they want to and not out of some obligation to the place that, once upon a time, changed South African culture. If you pop into the theatre now you’ll find a video monitor fixed to one of those pillars laden with brass plaques. The […]
Ann Eveleth: IN THE ACT T hree pieces of labour legislation working their way through the halls of Parliament promise dramatic changes in the workplace. But tight human and financial resources, coupled with the growth, employment and redistribution programme’s (Gear) industrial growth bias, raise questions about how effective these changes will be. The Basic Conditions […]
Alex Sudheim `Comedy is the new rock ‘n roll” goes the catchphrase of the moment. Young standups across the country are provoking audiences with a scabrous brand of humour that gleefully pokes and digs at society’s guilty secrets. As with the early days of rock ‘n roll, there is a spirit of anarchic, anti-establishment zeal; […]
Angella Johnson VIEW FROM A BROAD It is exceedingly rare that the president of Johannesburg’s Central Divorce Court refuses to dissolve a marriage. Yet that was exactly what Helen Lotriet did after questioning a young husband who claimed his wife regularly cheated on him. “Are you still living as husband and wife?” inquired Lotriet. It […]