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 […]

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 […]

clues The Karoo is the richest repository of therapsid fossils, the group that gave rise to early mammals, writes Ellen Bartlett To the average motorist passing through it, generally at an unconscionably high rate of speed, the Karoo is that barren bit of infinity that must be crossed to get to Cape Town or Johannesburg: […]

A new movie has put Julie Christie back in the spotlight she loathes. She tells Ian Hamilton about her amnesia In her latest film, Afterglow, which was released in South Africa this week, Julie Christie plays a character called Phyllis Mann, a one-time Hollywood film actress. Middle-aged and locked into a dire marriage to the […]

Brenda Atkinson Anybody who believes the local art world is without interest or innovation should immediately let the snap and crackle of their modems take them to two local websites worthy of some dedicated surfing. First let your art beat and do other surprising things at Artthrob.co.za. This one-woman online arts mag is the work […]

Much speculation at the Dorsbult Bar over how much luggage Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was carrying on that British Airways (BA) flight from London to Johannesburg to have been charged R9 000 for excess baggage on a first-class ticket. If BA stuck by the book she would been carrying nearly 100kg of luggage. But, as every seasoned […]

suicide Tangeni Amupadhi The bank robbery trial against Mzwakhe Mbuli got off to an inauspicious start this week when one of the officers who arrested the poet committed suicide and the probe into police actions surrounding Mbuli’s arrest continued. Prosecutor Johann Kok said this week he would not hold off until the Independent Complaints Directorate […]

Gregory Mills French President Jacques Chirac’s visit to South Africa this week occurs at a moment of transformation in France’s relationship with Africa. It also comes at a particularly bad time for Africa, with a number of states moving in status from “transition” to “upheaval”. Just four years ago, Paris’s compulsion to remain engaged with […]

Roy Collins World Cup As the Nigerians jump to the instructions of coach Bora Milutinovic in the shadow of their magnificent temporary home, the Chateau de Belinglise at Elincourt-Sainte Marguerite, 64km north of Paris, it is clear that one player is working in splendid isolation. The Nigerians being less happy campers than the Dutch or […]