Matthew Burbidge Food After a successful year WagaMama’s has changed its name to Kuchikomi and now – taking a deep breath – have launched their summer menu. Along with the name change, Kuchikomi, which is apparently Japanese for “word of mouth” has had to reinvent itself with a fresh coat of paint and new food. […]

Neil Williams SONGS OF THE WOMAN MIGRANTS: PERFORMANCE AND IDENTITY IN SOUTH AFRICA by Deborah James (Witwatersrand University Press) Music in the urban wasteland of the post- apartheid Witwatersrand townships is the subject of this book. It chronicles the emergence of artistic expression in the form of music and dance, created by women in male-dominated […]

Matthew Burbidge A Mouthful of Glass by Henk van Woerden (Jonathan Ball) The death of Dr HF Verwoerd was like that of John F Kennedy: everyone can remember exactly where they were when they heard the news. The reports on the morning of September 6 1966 said Dimitri Tsafendas, a parliamentary messenger, had walked the […]

THE African National Congress (ANC) this week accused authorities in neighbouring Swaziland of “gross violations of human rights” following unrest in the tiny kingdom. The party bemoaned the “land evictions, detentions, torture, harassment and the brutality of the Swazi police in response to peaceful demonstrations,” in a motion to the National Assembly. During two weeks […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday THE ruling African National Congress has launched a bitter attack on the press for reporting that President Thabo Mbeki’s late spokesman had died of Aids, with ANC Youth League president Malusi Gigaba telling the media “you must at least mimic humans.” At a memorial service in Johannesburg for Parks Mankahlana, […]

AFP and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday POLICE on Friday morning found and deactivated a bomb placed outside a pub in a suburb of Cape Town. The device was discovered shortly before 7:00 am and the police had information indicating that is was due to detonate around midday when people would be lunching at […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday THE South African Council of Churches is to address racism among its 26 member churches, focusing on “exorcising white attitudes”, gender issues and poverty alleviation. The declaration was contained in a plan of action released at a media conference following a three-day SACC conference in Kempton Park. The plan of […]

TANZANIA’S ruling party is heading for an expected landslide victory in the country’s second multiparty elections after winning all but four of the National Assembly seats. Electoral officials said Chama Cha Mapinduzi had won 64 of the 68 seats where votes have been counted in the 231-seat National Assembly. The Civic United Front – the […]

MUNGO SOGGOT, DAVID LE PAGE and EVIDENCE WA KA NGOBENI | Friday THE Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, is probing a R1,5bn secret deal at the state oil company which has effectively privatised the state’s oil trading operations without the knowledge of the government. The agreement strips the country of its strategic […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday NATIONAL telecommunications utility Telkom has lashed cellular operators MTN and Vodacom for what it calls “price discrimination”, saying this could have a significant impact on Telkom’s proposed rate increases next year. Chief operating officer Tom Barry said Telkom’s rates for services on which it had a monopoly were expected to […]