Tangeni Amupadhi Dan Mabote, accused of raping, abducting and then killing seven-year-old Mamokgethi Malebana, may soon get his just reward. But family and friends of Mamokgethi say people who aided her killing, albeit inadvertently, will get off scot-free. “I blame the people who granted him bail,” says Mamokgethi’s mother, Joyce Malebana. “I want something to […]
Ferial Haffajee Membership of The Network is coveted. It’s the hottest club in town and counts the country’s leading business, intellectual and political talents in its midst. The Network has reportedly come out of the closet, partying last week to celebrate the appointment of Tito Mboweni as Reserve Bank governor-designate. It was as much a […]
George Steiner EXPLAINING HITLER by Ron Rosenbaum (Macmillan) It may well be that I am not the right reviewer for this book. Ron Rosenbaum places me and my novel, The Portage to San Christobal of AH, among the principal players in his dark tale. Explaining Hitler, a highly personal study of those who have sought […]
Steve Gordon : A Second Look The Gift to the Nation concerts last weekend disappointed not so much in what they were, but in what they were not. Boasting South Africa’s biggest-ever artist billing, we squandered the opportunity to assert and affirm our nation, our voice, our identity. Mega-concerts are notoriously difficult to organise, and […]
Richmond There tends to be a false assumption that firm or tough government is conservative government and, as such, inimical to the liberal principles enshrined in our Bill of Rights. For that reason, perhaps, those who take pride in the foundations of the new South Africa contained in our Constitution would see a declaration of […]
Andrew Worsdale Two movies open this week that show and show-up middle-class values. They savage the bourgeoisie as comfortable claptrap who, ironically enough, will be the ones who go to the art movie houses (where both films are being released) to see themselves being represented and slagged off. The first is The Happy War, a […]
Tangeni Amupadhi The official police watchdog has obtained an affidavit from a person who claims to have seen two police officers coaching witnesses to finger people’s poet Mzwakhe Mbuli at an identity parade. At least two witnesses were shown photographs of Mbuli by policemen investigating a bank robbery in Waverley, north of Pretoria, last October, […]
Anne Holmes went on an unusual trip to get books to deprived rural schools in KwaZulu- Natal Red mud churned madly on a remote hillside in KwaZulu-Natal. Men shouted instructions at each other, and passing schoolgirls shrieked and giggled at the unusual spectacle. It was certainly not your typical rural scenario. A dilapidated minibus bogged […]
Roger Pratt This weekend Soul Trading, a new Johannesburg-based outfit trading in rare and exotic goods, will be holding the first in a series of weekend bazaars showcasing select ranges of handicrafts from around the world. This first show covers an eclectic range, from Moroccan lanterns to tooled Tuareg leather, Balinese wood, rattan and basketware […]
Looking at Ralph Steadman’s caustic caricatures you’d be forgiven for thinking that he is one of the world’s angriest men But, deep down, he tells Sally Vincent, that’s all because he’s only really angry with one thing: himself. Something terrible has happened. The air is full of inaudible squeaks of post-holocaust bats’ ghosts. I had […]