A small ‘sacred city’ in the Karoo is South Africa’s window on to the universe, writes Ruben Mowskowski One gets to the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) at Sutherland by driving up the N1 from Cape Town until the ground becomes dry and flinty and the bushes sparse and then, after about three hours, you […]
Nicole Turner As the government battles to stem the brain-drain of professionals from rural areas to urban centres, South Africa’s youngest and fastest-growing university is improving the skills of thousands of rural teachers from disadvantaged backgrounds every year. Vista University’s Distance Education Campus (Vudec) in Pretoria enrolled 10 079 students last year, all of them […]
It was a brilliant idea for former featherweight champion of the world Barry McGuigan to teach Daniel Day-Lewis how to fight for The Boxer, reports Paul Hayward In Jim Sheridan’s new film, The Boxer, a Belfast boxing ring is torched and becomes a blazing symbol of Northern Ireland’s endless war. This latest movie to address […]
M-Net’s loud, irreverent youth music service Channel O could receive its biggest boost yet after ongoing but thus far disappointing negotiations with the SABC to take advantage of its free-to-air status. Channel O programming is said to be ready to headline the pay channel’s Open Time, which is changing its appearance radically from July. The […]
Belinda Beresford Sometimes it may seem that the government and taxpayers – not to mention accountants and lawyers – are all locked in a contest with the one side trying to avoid as much tax as possible and the other trying to collect it. For many people having a tax adviser is part of life […]
Mail & Guardian reporter An incident of ugly on-air sexism on the Afrikaans commercial radio station, Punt Geselsradio, has ended on a happy note. The manne at the station have agreed to write a gender policy and to take lessons from organisations that have offered to train them in gender sensitivity. “We subscribe to an […]
Ronald Suresh Roberts THE HOUSE GUN by Nadine Gordimer (David Philip, R99,95) PARADISE by Toni Morrison (Chatto & Windus, R110) ‘Little illegal niggers with guns and no home training need to be in jail,” says a black resident of a blacks-only town, in Toni Morrison’s Paradise. Conversely, in Nadine Gordimer’s The House Gun, young white […]
Gwen Ansell On Thursday March 19, the annual Windybrow Festival kicks off: the usual mix of dance, drama and music with a heavy emphasis on youth. As far as the music goes, opening night features singer Ringo Madlingozi, with material from his latest album Sondelani: an indication that this festival is following a slightly different […]
IN BRIEF LESOTHO PM IN HOSPITAL LESOTHO Prime Minister Ntsu Mokhehle, 79, was admitted to the Morningside clinic in Johannesburg on Thursday afternoon. The nature of his illness is unknown, but Mokhehle has been ill for some time. Mokhehle declared himself unavailable for Lesotho’s May 23 elections because of ill health and old age. He […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi and Bruno Willemse A diamond deal that went terribly wrong last week has shaken the inner circles of the African National Congress in the Northern Cape and cast doubts on the future of its Premier, Manne Dipico. Dean Snyders, a former activist and close friend of Dipico, was arrested last week on charges […]