Staff Reporter
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/ 17 April 1998

PW rage as trial postponed

THURSDAY, 5.15PM: FORMER state president PW Botha was itching for his trial to continue on Thursday afternoon, but it has been postponed to June 1 to allow his lawyers time to examine additional documents presented by the prosecution. Botha said: “This case was set for four days. Come let’s go on.” He told advocate Piet […]

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/ 17 April 1998

Not the Rubicon, part II

A decade ago the satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys portrayed a beer-paunched yob drunkenly staggering around the stage, yelling: “I’m a white South African – so fuck you all!” The audience would giggle nervously at their recognition of this familiar bully, the quintessential macho rugger-bugger, reckless, brainless and loud, flaunting his bigotry at all those unfortunate enough […]

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/ 17 April 1998

The judge who was too late

Who is . . . Vuka Tshabalala? Swapna Prabhakaran and Mungo Soggot Judges rarely open their mouths outside court. When they do, it is never about their cases. And it is almost never about themselves. It was therefore a surprising decision on the part of Judge Vuka Tshabalala to abandon the rule of silence outside […]

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/ 17 April 1998

Plastic heritage

John Hooper in Rome The job of safeguarding cultural treasures, said Eugenio La Rocca, picking his words with exquisite care, “needs to be carried out without clamour, though we never intended to turn it into a clandestine activity”. There again, anyone might proceed with caution if he were admitting to the world that he had […]

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/ 17 April 1998

To bite or not to bite?

Andy Capostagno Rugby The Coastal Sharks have got a bye this weekend. Time to relax at home instead of living out of a suitcase abroad. The whole squad will revel in their free time. Well, maybe not the whole squad. One man will have time on his hands that he could well do without. That […]

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/ 17 April 1998

The brighter side of Hillbrow

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 […]

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/ 17 April 1998

Prince of hearts

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 […]

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/ 17 April 1998

Nasty bytes in silicon blockbuster

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 […]

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/ 17 April 1998

The nightclub library

What is the appeal of sitting in a kind of bar, staring into a computer screen?Swapna Prabhakaran investigated Internet cafs Looking for a lounge where they serve real coffee, where the music alternatively spins between kwaito and techno? Or would you rather sip sherry at a nice cosy cabaret? You can do all that and […]