Jaspreet Kindra The lobbyist widely believed to have shaped President Thabo Mbeki’s off-beat views on HIV/Aids has now attached herself to another senior African National Congress Aids dissident MP Peter Mokaba. It emerged this week that Anita Allen, a former journalist at The Star, has been corresponding with Mokaba and sending him dissident literature. Mokaba […]
South Africa is home to many rare species of beetle that need special protection and conservation Sheree Russouw When asked what God’s design pattern for organic revolution revealed, biologist JBS Haldane, simply said: “An inordinate fondness for beetles.” One fifth of all macrofauna are beetles, and it is estimated that there are 200-million beetles for […]
State departments need to reconsider the use of foreign representatives analysis Greg Mills Sipho Pityana’s early departure as director general of the Department of Foreign Affairs created doubt about the well-being of senior-level relationships within the department and ministry. This has put the departmental reshaping he had worked over the past two years to establish […]
Shaun de Waal conducted an e-mail interview with Robert Kirby, who has just published his first novel Robert Kirby’s novel Songs of the Cockroach (Spearhead) was controversial even before it reached print. It was rejected by its original publisher, who feared retributive legal action; Kirby sees more sinister political implications in the decision. A war […]
Basic mathematical and scientific skills can be learned through the art of bell-ringing Pierre du Bois If you ever wanted to hear what mathematics sound like, listen closely the next time you hear church bells ring. The music made when ringing the bells is a string of different possible mathematical combinations called “changes”, which may […]
A Harare-based film company is using movies as a unique brand of social activism Julie Goodman It is early evening and thousands of people are gathered at an old bus stop in Dzivaresekwa, a congested township in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. Rap music pulses through large speakers, women stand with babies tied to their backs, teenagers […]
Something fishy about these Trout Marcus Low After three years the Cape Town-based Sons of Trout have released their third album, Odd Times, the first on the SAfm label. The album has a lively acoustic feel and a distinctly local sound. The music has a playful folk feel, at times reminiscent of the Dave Matthews […]
Sarah Duguid A third of children who leave school this year will have been the victims of some form of sexual abuse, according to an independent study published this week. If the child attends a school in the Western Cape or Gauteng, the figure is likely to be higher. “It is well into epidemic proportions,” […]
Campers stand in the way of the establishment of a national park Lyn Klemp Groenriviersmond is a jewel in the crown of the Namaqualand coastline. It is noted for its stark white beaches, crayfish catches and dream waves for surfers who brave the cold water and rocky ledges. The government would like to create a […]
David Shapshak South Africa’s all-important emergency lines are being flooded with hoax phone calls. The public’s first access to emergency services is through call centres, but many of these are clogged with a deluge of nuisance calls, largely from children who use public telephones and are therefore untraceable. Of the 2000 calls that Cape Town’s […]