TRANSFER by Ingrid de Kok (Snailpress R42,50) One can only celebrate this triumph of delicate bleakness: One by one the small refusals add up to a life. Or this rich characterisation of complex love: Mouthing under water wetly jewelled words we are acrobatic aquanauts in a chest of swords. The first half of the book […]
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 […]
Wally Lambert If you’re thinking about trying your hand at the stock-market game – we’re not talking unit trusts here – you’ll be pleased to know it’s getting easier and cheaper for the man in the street to buy shares. Unlike shopping for bread in the supermarket, buying shares on the stock exchange requires the […]
A US-linked consultant offered to advise on the premier’s security, writes Stefaans Brmmer A private security adviser this year made a bizarre proposal to spy on be- half of Gauteng Premier Mathole Motshekga. The Mail & Guardian is in possession of a draft contract between the premier’s office and security consultant Bob Power – composed […]
Andy Capostagno Rugby Ian McIntosh is one of the nicest men I know. He has one Achilles heel. Rugby. He is so passionate about rugby it makes him ill. At King’s Park in Durban he sits two boxes down from the commentators with his brains trust of Hugh Reece-Edwards and Craig Jamieson. Thus ensconced he […]
James Wood A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR by John Irving (Bloomsbury, R130) Realism gives John Irving a good name: he is lucky to hitch his wagon to it. Since The World According to Garp (1978), Irving has been praised for the “realism” of his novels – for their tossed plots, for the fat suffusions of […]
Ferial Haffajee ‘We are not going to eradicate poverty in a decade,” says Minister of Welfare Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi. It’s a very new song she is singing. Fraser-Moleketi is the young minister responsible for breathing life into what used to be a “by-the-way” ministry run by the National Party’s Abie Williams. “This is a powerful ministry. […]
Ferial Haffajee ‘Steady as he goes.” The seafarer’s motto has served Don Ncube well, and next month this captain of industry steers his ship into new seas. In June he will list Real Africa Durolink, an investment bank of which he owns 37%. These banks are all the rage in this age of mergers, acquisitions […]
Tangeni Amupadhi Police are three times more likely to commit crime than ordinary members of the public, and that’s official. In its forthcoming monthly report, the Human Rights Committee says statistics provided by Minister of Safety and Security Sydney Mufamadi show the shocking extent of police involvement in criminal activities. Mufamadi told the National Assembly […]