Shaun de Waal BEELTENIS VERBODE by Hennie Aucamp (Human &Rousseau, R79,95) In this book, Hennie Aucamp, one of the leading prose-writers in Afrikaans, collects his reviews, done mostly for the magazine De Kat, of what he calls following the Dutch egodokumente. By that he means biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, collections of letters. Almost all the subjects […]
If youve ever perused the Johannesburg Stock Exchange share pages in search of potential shares and happened on the property section, youll have noticed that there are three separate sectors listed there: property companies, property trusts and property loan stocks. One of the least talked about and underrated of the three is the property loan […]
Phillip Kakaza Zimbabwean master drummer Jethro Shasha, well-known on the South African music scene, died at the age 46 last Sunday, having suffered for many years from diabetes. He played with many top musicians, including Malian Salif Keita. He was due to do a live recording with pianist Paul Hamner this weekend. Touched by Shashas […]
Christopher Reed in Los Angeles The self-proclaimed shaman and best- selling author Carlos Castaneda, who pioneered the New Age movement with stories about a Mexican sorcerer called Don Juan, has died as mysteriously as he lived. His demise in the fashionable Los Angeles district of Brentwood was disclosed by the Los Angeles Times, almost two […]
A black commercial farmer in the Free State claims to have been sabotaged by some of his white counterparts, writes Ann Eveleth The vultures started descending on Isaac Khumalo’s Vredefort farm soon after he took the plunge into commercial agriculture in December 1995. Thirty-one-year-old Khumalo, the Free State vice-chair of the Emerging Red Meat Producers […]
Ed Vulliamy Baseball Before he pitched his first ball from the mound at Yankee Stadium earlier this month, Orlando Hernandez paused and looked around at the crowd with an expression that mixed disbelief, joy, awe and a little pain. It was the end of a rainbow, and of a six- month journey, for the Cuban. […]
Wally Mbhele An African National Congress statement this week conceding that detained foreign affairs official Robert McBride was framed by agents of the former government came after weeks of differences in the party about its approach to the issue. It is understood the matter came to a head recently when a briefing document on McBride […]
Tangeni Amupadhi The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has decided that people responsible for human rights atrocities in African National Congress detention camps will not have to testify publicly about their deeds. Dumisa Ntsebeza, head of the commission’s investigative unit, said this week public hearings on Quatro and other camps will not fit into the commission’s […]
Richard Nelsson Sports watches used to be simple things: they contained a stopwatch and they glowed in the dark. Now they come equipped with altimeters, barometers, help signal transmitters and some are water resistant to a depth of more than 200m. Along with the fleece jacket and Timberland boots, the sports watch is now seen […]
fossils Ellen Barlett James Kitching is really retired now, he says his days in the field are over. As he says it, he looks across the room, toward his wife. They exchange glances in the accommodating way of the long- married, then she sighs. One gets the feeling neither believes it. Moments later – talking […]