Meaningless matches on second-rate pitches will not draw people back to first-class cricket Peter Robinson Last Friday Stephen Fleming’s New Zealand tourists piled themselves into their team bus at the crack of dawn and trundled off into the Eastern Cape hinterland to play perhaps the most pointless match of their South African tour a one-day […]

Jeremy Cronin Crossfire Cynicism about politics in general plays straight into the hands of the oligarchs. Cynicism is the great ally of those whose inordinate wealth flourishes best without an active citizenry, without organised communities and without an electoral politics with real substance. The farce that has been unfolding in the United States presidential election […]

Ishmael’s new album is about a youthful crooner who has finally grown up Charl Blignaut It seems that not even the impoverished outreaches of rural Wolmaransstad managed to dodge the Xanadu bullet of the Seventies. The spectacularly cheesy cover of Ishmael Morobe’s (the artist formerly known as E’Smile) latest album, Iskhathi sa Khona, features a […]

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time landed Sipho Madini in jail where he saw people pick their own stories up and look behind their bleak surroundings If you read Finding Mr Madini, or even if you didn’t, maybe the reviews caught you. I am Mr Madini, the guy who went missing. One […]

Thebe Mabanga Within two hours and about 5km of each other, Tony Leon and Thabo Mbeki sparred with each other in Johannesburg. The contest unfolded without the knowledge of either participant, taking place instead in the mind of the very few who had the opportunity to witness both events. The fighters never left their fancy […]

Marianne Merten Feathers are out. Sequins and multilayered dresses are in as couples as young as six years waltz, foxtrot, tango or strut their stuff doing the samba and pass-double under coloured spotlights before eagle-eyed judges. The glamour and easy grace on the dance floor belie the many hours of practice in dance studios in […]

Disillusionment among traditional supporters of the government is likely to spell gains for the official opposition party Howard Barrell and Barry Streek Voters look set to deliver a shrill wake-up call to the African National Congress in nationwide local government elections on Tuesday. The latest opinion polling and anecdotal evidence suggests that discord within the […]

It was not surprising to note the commentary by Grant Shimmin (“Ramsamy has tough questions to answer”, November 24 to 30) in which he attacked the president of the National Olympic Committee of South Africa (Nocsa), Sam Ramsamy. Shimmin has repeatedly worn his heart on his sleeve in being part of the lobby that seems […]

Neal Collins cricket Cricket has a problem. A dark secret. It has nothing to do with match-fixing, ball-tampering or rule-changing. Sadly, this is far more serious. The gentleman’s game has a suicide rate currently running at two and a half times England’s national rate. The latest professional to take his own life was former Nottinghamshire […]

Worldwide, corruption costs at least $80-billion a year. Attempts to end the corruption of foreign nationals have met with resistance. So how realistic is it to think we can put an end to the practice? Pierre Abramovici Everyone has a word for it: hongbao in China, baksheesh in Arab countries, matabiche in central Africa, propina […]