Carol McDaid finds a hideaway island a few miles from Zanzibar that trades on raw nature rather than spice On Zanzibar, the local TV station has been known to set up a camera on a street corner and leave it there for hours, broadcasting live: fragments of conversation; the odd car; women walking past in […]

Stephanie Theobald Body Language The French have always been good at sex as art. Like the best food, carnality is invested with intimations of the “au-del…” or the transcendental. Buggery, for instance, isn’t just buggery. Done in the correct poetic framework it becomes Faur”s requiem, Renoir’s umbrellas, the Versailles Hall of Mirrors, Last Tango in […]

Ted Leggett As of November 3, the substance Gamma- hydroxy butyrate (GHB) was banned, largely due to its alleged use as a date-rape drug. This is despite the fact that of the more than 50 000 cases of rape reported each year, not one has ever been linked to GHB in South Africa. If preventing […]

apartheid-era methods Khadija Magardie In July this year at Steelpoort Diesel Garage in Burgersfort, Mpumalanga, a South African Police Service (SAPS) inspector, with five civilians, overpowered Benjamin Mabelane and handcuffed him to a steel door. They switched on a nearby welding machine and turned it on Mabelane’s genitals. He died from his injuries. In Septembe, […]

David Le Page The government this week abruptly backed down from ruling on the R1,5-billion oil trading deal made by the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) with the Bahamas-based High Beam/Trafigura joint venture. Despite having already conducted its own internal investigation, the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs is now to appoint senior counsel to investigate […]

Dolina Dowling A second look The speculation and furore that has arisen about the ultimate cause of the death of Parks Mankahlana raises some interesting questions. No one doubts that the explanation given by his wife that he had acute anaemia, which brought about a massive heart attack, is correct. Why he had acute anaemia […]

The disparity in two libraries 2km apart has reemphasised the great divide between rich and poor that still exists in South Africa, writes Glenda Daniels Adorned with statues, paintings, cushions, couches, even rag dolls, the state-of-the- art Sandton library is spotlessly clean and air-conned, with colourful furniture, carpets and pot-plants galore. The soothing sounds of […]

News that a new British show includes an impression of Princess Diana caused a stir. Why? asks Michael Collins. It’s another sign that TV satire is tired and tame When television’s idea of transgression becomes that of dragging up a man as the ghost of a dead princess you know you’re in trouble, and for […]

resisted Glenda Daniels The government has introduced a slew of new policies and training programmes since 1994 to wean the police from their old habits. Policing experts say it has been easier to try and address the behaviour of police in specialised units. In general, however, it appears that the message that the police must […]

In the face of a Zimbabwean economic meltdown – inflation at 62%, the fuel crisis expected to worsen in December – haphazard land invasions continue Mercedes Sayagues A red combine is harvesting the last of David Jenkins’s winter wheat. At the harvested end of the field, settlers are digging holes to plant maize. Never mind […]