‘Arts, science to go their separate ways," proclaimed Business Day. The Sunday Independent was more upbeat with "Arts and Culture to star in and run their own show". Whatever the spin, President Thabo Mbeki decreed that from August 1 the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (DACST) would split into two separate departments, each with its own director general, to "enable the departments to have a more focused approach". Both departments will remain accountable to the current political incumbents, Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Ben Ngubane, and his deputy, Brigitte Mabandla.
That most sought after of South Africa’s struggle-veterans, Dr The Honourable Allan Boesak, Archimandrate and Moderator of The First Church of Christian Self-Enrichment, has applied for presidential pardon.
The anti-globalisation lobby fired the first public salvo in its war on the World Summit at a series of demonstrations — and warned it was mobilising for a frontal assault. Hundreds of activists converged on Jeppe Regional Court to support comrades charged with public violence.
All that was missing was the Number Six on the back. The Green Bok jersey has gone full circle. Thanks to Pieter van Zyl it is now back where it was before Nelson Mandela stooped, gathered it from the gutter of world political opinion, and proudly wore it in the minutes before and after the Rugby World Cup final in 1995.
The raging river Vltava came close to submerging Prague’s historic city centre and two of the city’s districts as the rising torrent put hours of work and thousands of sandbags to the test. To the horror of art lovers, the art nouveau national theatre began to fill with water.
The daughter of one of the world’s most reviled men looks you straight in the eye when she speaks and you cannot help but remember the fuzzy TV pictures of her, wide-eyed and brandishing a gun. Marija Milosevic pulled out her pistol and fired wildly when her father was arrested.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development looms large over Johannesburg: tens of thousands of attendees are expected, including the greatest-ever gaggle of heads of state; talk-talk-talk is expected and, for ordinary citizens, traffic jams and talk-talk-talk is expected.
The hardest thing in sport is to lose when you know you should have won. This week Ernie Els is attempting to win his second major championship in a row, surfing on a wave of confidence. But what if he had lost the playoff for the Open Championship last month? He would be questioning life’s fundamentals like, is pursuing a small dimpled ball around a meadow a proper job for a grown man?
I’ve just read a yellowing copy of last season’s Premiership preview. You know, the one where some fool predicted Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season at Manchester United would end in tears.
Two teams from Pretoria and two from Johannesburg will battle for the last two berths in the semifinal of the R1-million BP Top 8 competition this weekend. The two quarterfinal games will be played in Pretoria to determine who will be joining Orlando Pirates and league champ-ions Santos in the semifinals.