Marthali Brand Moveable feast Everyone knows the restorative qualities of a hearty soup. Even a cup of instant soup can revive me after a hard day in front of the computer, or a tough workout at the gym. And a hot vegetable concoction served with a slice of buttered wholewheat bread can warm up any […]
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 […]
John Grobler Angolan civilians began fleeing into Namibia this week as both the Luanda government and its Unita foes started forcibly recruiting soldiers. But both could find it hard to recruit willing soldiers to a new war, Angolan watchers said. Last Saturday June 20, about 100 Angolan civilians crossed into Namibia from southern Angola. The […]
David Shapshak Bill Gates meets Hugh Grant at a party and gets Divine Brown’s phone number from him, goes the joke doing the e-mail rounds this week. After a night-long romp with Brown, Gates says to her: ”Now I understand why you use the name Divine.” ”Having spent the night with you,” comes the response, […]
Steven Robins: CROSSFIRE Claudia Braude recently criticised Antjie Krog’s much acclaimed book Country of My Skull, for endorsing a postmodern sensibility that celebrates the slippery and subjective character of truth claims (Friday, June 12 to 18). The book, based on Krog’s personal experiences as an Afrikaans radio journalist covering the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, raises […]
THURSDAY, 1.30PM: ENVIRONMENTALISTS are worried that 17 lions being sold by Mpumalanga game owner Roy Plath may be destined for the “canned lion” industry in Mozambique. “Canned” hunting refers to the practice of confining or drugging lions to make shooting them easier for hunters who do not have the skill, strength or time to track […]
THURSDAY, 11.00AM: THE Ngobeni commission into corruption in the Mpumalanga government on Wednesday produced documentary evidence showing that suspended deputy speaker Cynthia Maropeng deposited legislature cheques worth over half a million rand into her own bank account, after requisitioning the funds for a consultancy. Maropeng was left dumbstruck when commission chairman David Ngobeni produced documents […]
TUESDAY, 4.00PM: FORMER Zimbabwean President Canaan Banana finally took the stand in his defence in the Harare High Court on Monday, and swore that he never sexually assaulted any men. Banana, who faces 11 counts of sodomy, attempted sodomy and indecent assault, told the court he has no explanation for why all nine complainants might […]
TUESDAY, 6.00PM: AFTER a two-week lull in fighting, Ethiopian troops are mobilising on the common border with Eritrea, possibly preparing for a resumption of the conflict that has marred the area since May 6. The Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front, the key faction of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, on Monday called on citizens […]