Nicky Barker Induna Jonathan Buthelezi lives with a small community in the tribal lands of the Buthelezi next to the Ngome Forest in KwaZulu-Natal. The clan occupies a piece of land on two timber farms adjacent to the Sapekoe Tea Plantation, where they all work. The farms run steeply down a mountain, with 80ha of […]

Lynda Gledhill Compassion, caring and commitment has kept a non-governmental organisation in Pietermaritzburg alive despite a severe shortage of donor funds. While other organisations close down when the funding tap is switched off or fail to report properly to funders when extraneous spending occurs, Winnie Kubayi has kept her project alive and manages to report […]

Feminist hero or sex-fantasy figure? An icon for our times or archetypal goddess? Richard Kelly Heft discusses Barbie’s appeal She’s disparaged by feminists, studied by academics and is a subject of artists. Two Barbie dolls are sold every second of every day and now she is a cultural icon of our times. Barbie can inspire […]

Moi Lucy Hannan in Nairobi Dismay at recent political killings overshadowed the opening session of the Kenyan Parliament this week. Both sides of the house stamped, shouted and jeered, and opposition MPs waved placards protesting at “genocide” and “a legacy of killing”. More than 100 people have been killed in Rift Valley province since January […]

James Wood Underworld seems to me an achieved failure, of a kind any novelist might have been proud to produce. It is so often well- written, so punctually intelligent, so serious and ambitious, that it almost produces its own antibodies and makes criticism a small germ. One faults this novel warily, because DeLillo is an […]

Stefaans Brummer Evidence against Gauteng Premier Mathole Motshekga mounted this week when it emerged that the United States embassy in Pretoria had serious reservations about his administration of donor money in 1989. The Mail & Guardian earlier reported that the Irish organisation Trocaire, a conduit for European Union donor money, severed links with Motshekga’s National […]

Dan Glaister in London All in all, Elton John should be feeling quite pleased. After all, just 250 for some curtains is not bad by any standards. But unfortunately the other items on his 280 050 weekly spending list are causing concern. Accountants have warned of a cashflow crisis for the singer whose Candle in […]

Andy Duffy African National Congress Western Cape leader Dullah Omar will resign this weekend, opening the door to a lively succession race and the possible dissolution of the party’s entire provincial leadership structure. The first public skirmish in the battle to fill Omar’s shoes broke out this week in two of the party’s most powerful […]

Charl Blignaut On stage in Johannesburg Three-quarters of the way through Kere Nyawo’s gritty prison comedy Hola Majita, a young male prisoner is forced to don a frock and perform the duties of a whore. Where is all this leading, I wonder. Another quaint, stereotypical comic device pretending to be something more than a handy […]