If a political party is intent on posing as a paragon of virtue it would be wise to behave like one. The Democratic Alliance has been prone to postures of this kind. Yet, for the second time in the six months since it took power in the city of Cape Town, it has been found […]

A handwriting expert has confirmed that some of the petition lists had been entirely composed by the same person Mungo Soggot The office of Peter Marais, the Democratic Alliance mayor of Cape Town, has been presiding over a vote-rigging exercise to have two prominent streets named after former presidents FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela. […]

Three days before the 1998 Tour de France a little-known team assistant, Willy Voet, was stopped by customs officials on the Franco-Belgian border. What they found in the back of his car stunned the world of professional cycling. This is his story Willy Voet was born in the Belgian town of Hofstade on July 4 […]

Garry Mulholland CD OFTHEWEEK The real clue to What the Manics Did Next had nothing to do with launching their sixth album in Cuba, nor their much-hyped return to a revolutionary punk-rock agenda. Nope, the real clue was tucked away on the B-side of last year’s limited-edition, back-to-basics, number one single Masses Against the Classes, […]

whipping boy The scintillating triumphs of three-year-olds Hoeberg and Badger’s Drift last weekend has consolidated their positions at the top of the betting boards for the Durban July, but another of their generation could stake a claim in the R500 000 Grade 1 Gold Challenge over a mile at Clairwood Park on Saturday. Victory for […]

A cash settlement worth more than R60-million puts paid to the public’s right to know if the third cellular licence was awarded fairly Stefaans Brmmer The out-of-court settlement between Cell C and Nextcom has resolved a tug-of-war that wreaked havoc on investor confidence but the deal has likely also deprived the public of the right […]

Microsoft’s operating system won the battle for the desktop. Now the software giant wants to remould the Internet to keep its dominant position. Jack Schofield reports Even if Microsoft’s Xbox games console flops, it should do at least one useful thing: it should stop people thinking of the company as merely a PC software firm. […]

Chiken Bizniz: The Whole Story is an award-winning film about a man who leaves his job at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to become a chicken mogul in Soweto. By all accounts it’s a regular crowd-pleaser. The Great Dance: A Hunter’s Story is a visually beautiful documentary about three San hunters tracking their prey while explaining […]

Tim Wood american notes When fauna and flora take precedence over humans, there is a serious problem that has nothing to do with the ugly face of capitalism. The United States is frothing about its energy vulnerability. California is suffering rolling blackouts that threaten its neighbours and petrol prices are higher than they have been […]

Kathryn Smith Fauna seems to be the order of the day at this year’s Standard Bank National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Two of the featured exhibitions on this year’s main programme revolve around the semantics of the animal world, whether it’s Walter Oltmann’s monumental insects fashioned from woven wire and tubing, or Willie Bester’s take […]