book of success Thebe Mabanga The secret of Kenya’s success in long- distance running is centred on comparative advantage. The East African road running powerhouse’s rise in middle- and long- distance competition has been carefully plotted over the past decade and a half. It has been brought about by a combination of ideal weather, intensive […]

Pule waga Mabe The vice-chancellor of the University of the North, former Truth and Reconciliation Commission commissioner Biki Minyuku, has filed a review application in the Pretoria High Court against his suspension. Minyuku was suspended last December without knowing the charges against him, or a disciplinary hearing. Minyuku’s attorney, Solly Manamela, says the university disregarded […]

Brenda Atkinson review OFTHEWEEK Since coming back to Johannesburg in 1996 after an absence of more than 20 years, Rodney Place’s work has been characterised by lacerating irony, his perspective that of the city’s prodigal son, returned from his adventures only to find that he can’t get to the fatted calf for the security gates […]

experiments Fiona Macleod South Africa is earmarked for experiments on animals that have already seen thousands of them dying agonising deaths. The experiments involve pumping human genes into days-old piglets and then transplanting their hearts into baboons and monkeys. Top-secret documents by scientists researching the process, called xenotransplantation, show that thousands of animals have died […]

Barry Streek South Africa’s tougher new gun control regime is rapidly taking shape in Parliament in Cape Town. Prospective gun- owners will have to be older than in the past, demonstrate that they are competent to have a firearm and will hold a licence for a fixed period only, rather than for life. It seems […]

Mike Berger A SECOND LOOK The issues of race and racism in our public life seem inescapable. Yet ordinary South Africans manifest an amazing ability to relate to one another as members of the same human family; often much more so than would be suggested from the content of the media. Nevertheless, it is clear […]

Valentine Cascarino FOOD Anyone who has cruised Africa extensively would agree that Ethiopian food comes with an unbelieveable sucker punch. Instead of the humdrum and gruesome starch that is the standard formula in many African restaurants, Ethiopian delicacies, on the contrary, are deliciously spicy. Probably because, like coffee, some of the world’s famous spices originated […]

David Beresford Another Country During my peregrinations in search of a diagnosis – for the cramped handwriting and touch-typing blunders that were eventually diagnosed as Parkinson’s – I consulted an orthopaedic specialist. After tapping various joints and peering at me suspiciously, he pronounced the problem to be “writer’s cramp”. I asked him whether it was […]

Riaan Wolmarans Every little thing he did was magic. Or at least a crafty illusion, but it really appeared as if he didn’t mind singing Every Breath You Take for the umpteenth time. The audience certainly didn’t mind – Sting’s performance at the MTN Sundome on September 24 was anything but tedious. It makes a […]