Richard Williams: Movie of the week When Wim Wenders points to the change in the nature of violence in the mainstream cinema, he is stating the obvious. He says he made The End of Violence to get us thinking about how explicitly gruesome sights that would have been unthinkable 10 years ago appear to be […]
Marion Edmunds Former Denel chief executive Johan Alberts walked away from the arms parastatal with a whopping R18-million in pension and restraint-of-trade payments, according to a senior government source. Minister of Public Enterprises Stella Sicgau is sitting on an explosive forensic audit that exposes how Alberts and other top managers at Denel paid themselves huge […]
Craig Bishop: National Festival of the Arts The astonishing art of two-tone singing is practised by just three cultures: Tibetans, Mongolians and by a small group of Xhosa-speakers in the Lady Frere district of the Eastern Cape. Lady Frere’s Ngqoko Choir practises a singing art so special that it has been recorded and studied by […]
When the Minister of Minerals and Energy, Penuell Maduna, requested my resignation on March 10, it came as quite a surprise. The unceremonious manner in which my employment was terminated – “submit to me by fax your resignation with immediate effect and vacate the office you were occupying hitherto forthwith” – and the accusations levelled […]
Lower interest rates and a consumer-friendly budget are sure to put extra money into the pockets of consumers – which should bring smiles to the country’s retailers and value to their shares. While some of the bigger South African stores have had a difficult time in the last year with low levels of consumer spending […]
Charlene Smith As U2 “rattle and hum” their way through their second South African concert this weekend, a bitterly divided music industry argues for the crumbs from a financially squeezed R1-billion entertainment industry. While Computicket managing director Jeff Carel says big acts like U2 bring in small takings (but large credibility for concert promoters), Howard […]
David Beresford: Tribute to Basil Coetzee It’s hard to say a last goodbye to a musician; harder still when his gaunt face is in a coffin on a linoleum floor, his tenor saxophone – its silver patina worn through by his once-busy fingers – resolutely silent in its place of honour up on the stage. […]
Shopping mall development in the townships is about to undergo a revival – thanks to Richard Maponya, reports Charlene Smith Shopping mall developments have, in the past, failed in townships because they were targeted at a race group rather than people, says township retail guru Richard Maponya. That is set to change, he believes. In […]
Andy CapostagnoCricket If this is the beginning of a new age, then it’s particularly appropriate that South Africa will go into the Newlands Test against opponents who are, in the best sense of the word, old fashioned. Sri Lanka may be the world champions in one-day cricket, b ut their approach to Test cricket, if […]
Krisjan Lemmer The management at the Dorsbult Bar had to send out for fresh supplies of sickbags this week, what with all the heaving going on among patrons over the Robert McBride story. Our old friend “Suiker” Britz rushed to Maputo and announced it was his considere d and unbiased opinion that the young diplomat […]