FRIDAY, 6.30PM: A NATIONAL Party MP, Donald Lee, has defected to the Democratic Party, adding to the blows dealt this week and last week by by-election defeats in which the NP lost long-standing strongholds to the DP. Douglas Gibson of the DP said that Lee’s move reflects a dramatic shift of feeling in South African […]
Andrew Muchineripi Soccer Bafana Bafana coach Philippe Troussier is nothing if not unpredictable. While the media differed over which personnel he would deploy against Zambia at FNB Stadium on Wednesday night, there was consensus on a 3-5-2 formation. So what does the controversial “White Magician” do? He proves once again that he is le boss […]
Charlene Smith The National Party continued its string of humiliating local government by-election defeats this week, polling a paltry 22 votes in the mixed coloured and African council ward of Bloekombos in the Western Cape. And an NP councillor, Bill Schibbe, who defected to the Democratic Party on Thursday said it was time for the […]
South African art triumphed at a huge French show. Brenda Atkinson was there So there I was in Paris, filled with strawberries and red wine, mingling with a 2 000-odd crowd of the young, hip, gorgeous and powerful. If these people sweat, I thought, then they sweat pure CK-One. Let no one tell you that […]
Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week I didn’t have any hopes that Barry Levinson would ever make a good movie – or at least one I’d like. Everyone raved about Diner. I thought it was self-indulgent, adolescent crap. Rain Man won Oscars. I thought it sentimental, badly styled rubbish (why did everything, but everything, have […]
Say what you like, Jessie Duarte has further refined and developed the undervalued political art of giving the finger to the world. When it doesn’t suit her, Jessie tells entire commissions of inquiry to go stuff themselves. Just one of many swerves and skids she practised in a fast-lane career launched during the years of […]
The World Economic Forum’s Southern African economic summit in Windhoek this week provided an object lesson in what lies behind the woes of the continent. Like the arrival of Zambian President Frederick Chiluba – who has been appealing for debt relief from foreign donors – with retinue in a state-of-the-art Falcon 500 executive jet. Delegates […]
David Newnham Runny nose, annoying cough and a sore throat that won’t go away? Time was when your doctor would recommend a good holiday. But today, the question “When were you last on an aeroplane?” is more likely to pinpoint the source of an infection than suggest a cure. The practice of recirculating cabin air […]
Duncan Mackay Hassiba Boulmerka When Hassiba Boulmerka arrived home in Algiers after her 1E500m victory at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, she expected a heroine’s welcome. Instead she was booed and jeered by Islamic Fundamentalists who objected to her running in shorts and vest. “For Muslim women I symbolise freedom but, believe me, many people […]
Janet Smith A trample of running girls, sandals unbuttoned and skirts pleated around them, grin and point at the silver and blue machine. They’re caught in its shimmering breeze as they stop at the fence, put their hands to their brows and start chattering like birds. The firemen laugh lazily together at the corner of […]