Shaun de Waal obituary Sinclair Beiles, who died on November 3 at the age of 70 in Johannesburg hospital, was one of South Africa’s more unusual and often underrated poets. He was the first winner of the Ingrid Jonker Memorial Prize for poetry in 1970, but in later years was reduced to photocopying his poetry […]

Ntuthuko Maphumulo soccer Banyana Banyana top scorer Jo-Anne “Shibobo” Solomon, credited with 19 goals, promises local soccer lovers that “the title will remain here”, when the African Women’s Football Championships kick off in Vosloorus on Saturday. The early rounds will be played at Vosloorus and the Makhulong stadium in Tembisa, with all later matches at […]

Rob Kitson rugby It is not quite a case of “Will the last rugby player out of Sydney please turn off the lights” but right now it feels that way. When the Australian rugby union squad flew into Britain this week to join their Kang-aroo counterparts already there for the league World Cup, customs officers […]

Olive baboons are being ‘kidnapped’ for experimental xenotransplantation in the West Gregory Mthembu-Salter The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) has uncovered a grim trade in baboons from Tanzania. BUAV investigators in Tanzania have found that Olive baboons (Papio anubis) are being “kidnapped” in traps and sold for about R90 each to primate […]

Monarch’s nepotism on chieftaincies boosts pro-democracy groups Sechaba ka’Nkosi Rural communities in the tiny kingdom of Swaziland may – for the first time – join protests against their king’s rule. The country is bracing itself for confrontation between the government and the pro-democracy movement as tensions between the two sparked public protests this week. While […]

Charl Blignaut Thank heavens for soap stars and kwaito kids. It was they who usurped the politicians and beauty queens to put some fizz back into local pop culture. And so it was their night then, when SABC1’s Selimathunzi hired The Pyramid in Johannesburg to dish out the second annual Duku Duku Awards. From the […]

Barry Streek Financier George Soros’s Open Society Foundation (OSF) is to axe the board of its South African arm, which has been wracked by in-fighting. Soros has written to the board, which includes several government officials, informing them of his plans to replace them next month. The move follows several conflicts between board members – […]

Riaan Wolmarans CD OFTHEWEEK It must be really nice to be talented – if you’ve got it, flaunt it, and that’s exactly what Delenta is doing on her new album, simply called Delenta (Renegade). The Sudanese-born singer makes a welcome entry into South Africa’s ranks of solo female singers – an area where looks sometimes […]

Sudden plans by white councillors to privatise profitable municipal services have lifted the lid on racism in Hartebeespoort Thuli Nhlapo The conservative local council of a wealthy holiday town near Pretoria has quietly set up its own private company to take over municipal services ahead of the council’s imminent transfer to black hands. The Hartebeespoort […]

targets Khadija Magardie The thousands of undocumented migrants and asylum-seekers entering South Africa every year often bear the brunt of the police’s predilection towards violence. African migrants, especially, are randomly picked up by local police, and jailed for “being illegal” or on the basis of suspicion that they are involved in crime. The “Roll Back […]