The truth commission has subpoenaed policeman `Lappies’ Labuschagne about his alleged involvement in the killing of ANC leaders, write Wally Mbhele and Stuart Hess The police detective connected to the arrest of foreign affairs official Robert McBride is allegedly implicated in an attempted assassination in exile of top African National Congress leaders, including Joe Slovo, […]
Charl Blignaut The simmering feud between top South African d’gong band Skeem and the local division of record company Sony Music Entertainment this week threatened to ignite and in so doing spark an all-out war between Sony and PolyGram South Africa, with whom Skeem’s label Ghetto Ruff has a distribution deal. The battle takes place […]
Africa David Shapshak A new generation of low-orbit communications satellites could be the boost African telecommunications is looking for. While South Africa’s fledgling techno- enthusiastic population has embraced cellular telephony, it has not established much else on the continent. However, satellite companies are expecting Africa to hop directly to satellite use. Communication by satellite has […]
Sydney Mathibe South Africa’s witch doctors have learned the power of advertising. A cursory look at the classified sections of newspapers reveals a kaleidoscope of attention- grabbing advertisements aimed at the superstitious and the millions of dedicated muti-users. The ads urge readers to send money, and promote dubious potions, herbal and chemical mixtures and powders […]
Alex Dodd Even a telephone conversation with gifted storyteller Antoinette Pienaar leaves you feeling like your blood’s flowing at a different pace through your veins. I’m in an office in the metropolis and she’s miles away on a farm drenched in winter sunlight, yet when we’ve finished speaking my heart is somehow beating at a […]
Community theatre is alive and well, and generating debate. Phillip Kakaza looks at two recent examples `South African theatre is floating on the waves of political change,” observes Johnny Loate, whose play, Cabbages and Bullets, 1998 winner of the Windybrow Arts Festival FNB Vita Award, is now at the Windybrow. “Protest theatre was based on […]
Dave Hill World Cup He may do the least running, but the man in the number one jersey has as critical a job as any of his (active) colleagues. While South Africa’s troubles may have been solved by the inclusion of Hans Vonk, the debate about what makes a good goalkeeper rages on. The English […]
Andy Duffy The University of the Western Cape (UWC) slapped a court order on its workers this week to snuff out an uprising sparked by its management’s cost-cutting proposals. The Labour Court in Johannesburg issued an urgent interdict against the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) and its UWC representatives, after dozens of […]
Pennywhistle master Big Voice Jack Lerole played on the streets of Alexandra township in the Fifties. Today he’s a star in New York. Peter Makurube takes a cruise down memory lane `Midway through the Dave Matthews Band’s sellout show at Giants Stadium [New Jersey],” writes Leita Tayler of Newsday, “the group brought a South African […]
Ground control of computers is child’s play when it comes to the capabilities of satellite constellations, reports Bill O’Neill Microsoft dominates the world of personal computers and, whatever the result of current action by the United States Justice Department, looks set to determine the future of the Internet, too. For Bill Gates, the company’s boss, […]