Turn on, tune in, feel nothing. Has pop culture finally eaten itself? Charles Shaar Murray reports ‘Bloodbath,” whispers the voice on the phone from Manhattan. “It’s a killing field out there. And they’re dropping like flies.” Not junkies, crackheads, gangstas in the projects; not Aids sufferers; not even Ethiopian immigrants who’ve fallen foul of the […]
Barry Streek The move towards the payment of a monthly R100 basic income grant gained momentum this week when 12 non-government and religious organisations handed over a memorandum to Vivienne Taylor, the chairperson of the Department of Social Development committee investigating the issue. The principle of a basic income was endorsed in a government White […]
David Macfarlane Divisions and infighting in the NGO sector have deepened with the recent break-up of the Non-Profit Partnership (NPP), which was established only three years ago to strengthen non-profit organisations. And the World Conference Against Racism, to be held in August in Durban, has been touched by the fallout. Mismanagement, weak leadership and internal […]
Legislation drafted in January gives authorities the means to crack down on organised crime Judith February A new Bill to combat money laundering, the Financial Intelligence Centre Bill, is a subject of deliberations in the portfolio committees of finance, justice and constitutional development. The Bill seeks to address administrative and procedural defaults in the The […]
Zambia was host to a crowd of sun worshippers gathered for a celebration of shallow hedonism Joel Pollak As the last slivers of sunlight disappeared behind the dark silhouette of the moon, an ecstatic roar went up from the motley crowd of revellers, more than 7000 strong, who had gathered from around the world on […]
The five best performers on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in the second quarter of the year were all relatively small cap stocks Shirley Kemp Major price moves in the June quarter (April to June) illustrate that companies with relatively small market values are the riskiest investments. Figures show that investors with large enough exposure either […]
Before Night Falls celebrates a rebel Cuban writer. Gaby Wood looks at the man behind the film In 1970, two novelists shared a literary prize. Gabriel Garca Mrquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and Hallucinations by Reinaldo Arenas won joint first prize for best foreign novel published in France. The first of these people, a […]
Stephen Gray Malagasy writer Michle Rakotoson visited South Africa for the Time of the Writer Festival in Durban. She has written plays for her own theatre troupe, a novel and Dadab et Autres Nouvelles (1984), a collection of autobiographical and erotic pieces. You were representing Malagasy literature at the festival in Durban. Yes, and I […]
Fiona Macleod’s article entitled “Zulus take up spears for wildlife” (June 22 to 28) is a welcome look at some of the issues surrounding the growing involvement of rural people in wildlife conservation and tourism. The article contains a basic flaw, along with omissions and inaccuracies that need to be noted. It argues that the […]
As more recipients of luxury cars from arms contractors are being exposed, a corruption-busting ANC MP writes about his experience on Parliament’s public accounts committee comment Andrew Feinstein In late 1998 the South African government concluded the procurement of armaments from a variety of European arms manufacturers to the value of just more than R30-billion. […]