Phillip Kakaza strolled down Yeoville’s Rockey Street and noticed it is ready for reinvigoration Rockey Street, in the heart of Yeoville, is probably South Africa’s most famous jolling street, lined with watering holes and clubs, rocking till dawn. Some say it has gone downhill in recent years, but it still draws the crowds at night. […]
Krisjan Lemmer Mrs H Bingham, a resident at a Johannesburg retirement village, would like it to be known that her name is Henrietta, not Hugh. And no – she does not know the whereabouts of that aristocratic desperado, Lord Lucan. Henrietta has been inundated with calls from investigative journalists convinced she is Hugh Bingham, the […]
Mark Tran When Kirk Kerkorian started buying shares in Chrysler in December 1990, his closest advisers feared that the famously reclusive corporate raider had gone senile. James Aljian, who had worked with him for 25 years, declared it was “the stupidest thing I ever heard” and Alex Yemenidjian, Kerkorian’s right-hand man, thought: “He’s finally lost […]
Greg Bowes CD of the week The titles of the three Ninja Cuts compilations from Britain’s inspired weird-beat label Ninja Tune, are always extraordinarily tongue-twisting. Funkjazztical Tricknology, Flexistentialism, and now Ninja Cuts III: Funkungfusion (Ninja Cuts), the latest round-up of revolutionary sounds from their roster. Headed up by sonic sorcerers Coldcut, who were once responsible […]
Janet Smith When SABC3 announced early this year that it was to screen a two-part South African documentary called Death, TV writers muttered darkly about a bleak society, an odious world view and the depths to which our national psyche had sunk. Then the documentary from writer-director Luiz DeBarros and producer Mark Schwinges won three […]
Ed O’Loughlin Despite lurid reports to the contrary, the pursuit of the civil war in Sierra Leone has had little to do with British mercenaries, illegally imported Bulgarian weapons, Executive Outcomes, Foreign Office intrigue or the crew of HMS Cornwall. Whatever the British government may or may not have known about the activities of the […]
William Makgoba: A SECOND LOOK “Freedom is not enough. You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: `Now you are free to go where you want, do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please.’ You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate […]
A bold new album deal and a minor national controversy have made it quite a week for top local band Boom Shaka. Charl Blignaut reports The mutterings began more than a fortnight ago, at the afterparty of the 1998 FNB South African Music Awards (Samas). It was evident, before the first glass of wine had […]
David Lewis and Jayendra Naidoo South Africa has chosen a path of social dialogue – but is it working? Social dialogue reflects the unique national pressures and circumstances of a state making a transition to democracy and introducing far-reaching economic reforms. A social partnership that is associated with a reduction in inequalities of wealth, income […]
Paul Wilson FA Cup Final If Arsenal against Newcastle United has the ring of a real cup final about it, for all the traditional reasons, then it is also a final in which neutral viewers would traditionally have known which side to support. But if a week is a long time in politics, a couple […]