Lizeka Mda: CITY LIMITS That Simone! She is a daredevil on wheels as she hurtles down the pavement along Clarendon Place on roller skates. When her cousin Illone points out a gentle slope on the premises of the Hillbrow police station as being ideal for a slide, Simone launches herself with all the force of […]
Metro fm’s new station manager, Romeo Khumalo, is broadcasting’s most eligible bachelor. Janet Smith met him at The Museum Store The Museum Store in Raedene, Johannesburg, is a sinful place. It inspires one to break at least three of the 10 commandments. Lying, stealing and taking the Lord’s name in vain are irresistible in this […]
Andrew Worsdale Switzerland has more banks than dentists. This is one of the trivia I picked up a fortnight ago when I joined a group of fellow South African film-makers to attend the Black Movie Film Festival in Geneva. Strangely, most of the participants where white. I hauled myself there with my old staple Shot […]
Alex Duval Smith Evidence of PW Botha’s personal role in ordering bomb attacks and killings to thwart anti- apartheid activity was revealed at this week’s trial of the former state president. The sensational minutes of top- secret meetings in the 1980s, obtained from the national archives by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, confirm claims that […]
Sexy Boys gang leader Michael Booysen has an uncanny gift for silencing witnesses and staying out of jail. Andy Duffy reports The investigation into the gang murder that triggered one of the most brutal conflicts on the Cape Flats is a case study in the many flaws in the state’s law enforcement armoury. The police […]
Andy Duffy The group behind the controversial Aids drug, Virodene PO58, has so far spent around R1- million on the drug, including paying its manager roughly R150 000 for three months’ part- time work. Cryopreservation Technologies (CPT) refuses to divulge its funding sources, beyond its 10 feuding shareholders. But the extent of the expenditure, which […]
Tim Radford Nobody would give the novelist points for style. In the latest blockbuster to astonish the literary world, green is verdant, clock towers are ivy-covered and PhD diplomas are framed. But Betrayal could end up framed in a hall of fame, anyway. It was written by a new and powerful piece of software. Brutus.1 […]
Education’s financial crisis is having a devastating impact on South Africa’s publishers of textbooks, writes Swapna Prabhakaran South African educational publishers face lean times as the Department of Education shifts gears, changing its approach to implementation of the new outcomes-based Curriculum 2005. While the new curriculum does require new textbooks, the department has sidestepped its […]
Jane Rosenthal WAY UP WAY OUT by Harold Strachan (David Philip, R42,99) It’s a strange practice this, of putting out a brand new novel, first print run of the first edition, with snippets of review-type comment already adorning the cover. Way Up Way Out has been done in this way. And it’s not just any […]
Ferial Haffajee When Deputy President Thabo Mbeki returns from his Asian jaunt this weekend, he will bring little tangible home with him. But his visit to China, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong has done an intangible good for Africa. “Mbeki’s visit has helped overcome the barrier of perception,” says Rafiek Bagus of Investment South […]