Steve Smith Live in Cape Town I once read this astute statement somewhere (Q magazine, I think): “A significant measure of a band’s ability is how they approach cover songs.” Witnessing a gig shared by Cape Town bands Fever Pussy and Blunt, the accuracy of that yardstick was once again confirmed. One band got it […]

Ann Eveleth Gauteng residents will have a “legal obligation” to care for their elderly parents, and could face fines of up to R50 000 or up to five years’ imprisonment if they are found to be “negligent”. This is one of the proposals of the Securing the Future for Gauteng’s Elderly Bill – one of […]

Mungo Soggot A respected arms expert, who was finance director for a South African company implicated in a massive weapons smuggling case in the United States, has been picked to run Armscor. Llewellyn Swan, who started as managing director of the weapons procurement company last week, has worked in the local arms industry for 22 […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 11.00am. ORLANDO Pirates signalled their aspirations to the Premiership soccer title when they beat Supersport United 1-0 at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday. The match started off at a pedestrian pace but quickly gathered momentum which led to Dumi Ngobe scoring a brilliant goal in the 23rd minute. Defender Gerald […]

Zwelithini ka Mvelase Uncompromising winter’s sun blasts its ultraviolet rays into my eyes as we swing into the Hector Petersen Square, Orlando West, for a presentation to Soweto of an art work titled Hector Petersen Mosaic, by the late activist/artist Theo Gerber’s wife, Susie. It’s Sunday in Soweto, Donny Hathaway’s soul classic Children of the […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer Premier Soccer League chief executive officer Trevor Phillips has tried and failed to reduce the size of the 18- club Castle Premiership, the richest national championship in Africa. This week, his South African Football Association counterpart, Danny Jordaan, tackled the same problem from a different angle, proposing that his organisation buy two […]

front David Hirst Last month an “important announcement” appeared on a website, , “in the name of God the merciful, the compassionate”. It consisted of a brief interview which the journal al- Murabitoun – mouthpiece of al-Gama’a al-Islamiya, Egypt’s largest underground organisation – had with one of the group’s exiled leaders, Sheikh Abu Yasser Rifai […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi South African Broadcast Corporation (SABC) television news editor-in-chief designate Phillip Molefe describes his whole life as a strange coincidence prescribed by fate: he was born in Sharpeville exactly two years before the famous massacre in 1960 when police killed more than 69 anti-pass law protesters in the sprawling Vaal Triangle township. He started […]

Alex Sudheim On exhibition in Durban Upon arrival at the NSA Gallery, each spectator/participant is given a sheet of paper bearing words: random fragments of random texts. Mine says: “The summer air”. The person next to me gets something in Zulu. Someone else’s says: “Why?” Shortly thereafter, German artist Angelika Flaig collects all the papers […]

Sechaba ka Nkosi A controversial deal brokered between the SABC and MultiChoice to alter satellite television in South Africa has been put on ice. The move follows a detailed protest memo to the broadcasting ministry from the SABC’s main signal distributor, Sentech, and a series of meetings among stakeholders. Questions have also been raised about […]