Bongani Siqoko World Cup fever has hit South Africa harder than the Sydney flu, and businesses are cashing in on the frenzy of fans. When Bafana Bafana open their World Cup campaign on June 12, they will be one of the best-dressed teams in the tournament, says Kappa South Africa marketing director Sthe Buthelezi. The […]

Robyn Alexander, who helped curate an exhibition on the reproductive body, explains the thinking behind the show The Bringing Up Baby exhibition is part of the main programme at the Standard Bank National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. It was first conceived (and, of course, that verb is used deliberately) by its curator Terry Kurgan, during […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer Bafana Bafana are just one week away from the greatest challenge of their seven-year existence. Next Friday evening in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, they face World Cup hosts France. It will be the opening Group C match for the countries and both realise that a victory would leave them well […]

FRIDAY, 4.30PM: A SHORTAGE shortage of cash for the maintenance of Eastern Cape schools has resulted in the loss this week of St Johns College Hostel by fire, and a second school being closed as a health hazard. The Daily Dispatch reported this week that the hostel was a result of the pupils having to […]

FRIDAY 4.30PM: THE African National Congress has welcomed the conviction of former Civil Co-operation Bureau assassin Ferdi Barnard, but has called his comments likening his cause to that of President Mandela “presumptious”. After being sentenced to two life terms and 63 years for murder, attempted murder and fraud, Barnard said: “When President Mandela got sentenced […]

Phillip Kakaza Jazz A brand-new Cosac Jazz Inn, in the heart of Yeoville, Johannesburg, promises to bring back some vibrancy to Rockey Street, an area doomed as a hideout for the “lost generation”. It’s a controversial street that, through the years, saw many such clubs fading away, leaving jazz enthusiasts floating around in search of […]

Tim Radford A heredity that helps some mountaineers breathe easily at Everest heights and keeps young soldiers at peak fitness could soon answer questions about heart disease and stroke. A team of British scientists revealed last week that in life’s genetic poker game, they may have identified the Ace hand for athletes. Ace stands for […]

Robert Kirby: Loose Cannon Say what you like, the African National Congress is proving itself a paragon of what many modern democratic governments should strive to become. No more so is this ranking emphasised than in the ANC’s great resilience and, with that, fortitude, vision, determination, tenacity, sheer nerve and, when all else fails, that […]

Ferial Haffajee The title might be A Grave Called Home if the homeless who make their shelters in city graveyards could sell their script to a movie-maker. Their stories range from the macabre and heart-wrenching to the downright comical – like that of the squatter couple who made headlines last week when they were spotted […]

Nedlac has come to the negotiation table with a proposal which could keep teachers in their classrooms, reports Sechaba ka’Nkosi A last-minute proposal tabled by the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) to the government and the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) could prevent the country’s biggest teacher strike next week. The strike […]