Stephanie Merritt MARRYING THE MISTRESS by Joanna Trollope (Bloomsbury) What is the point of Joanna Trollope novels? The plot of her latest involves, as you might expect, extra-marital liaisons, fraught filial relationships and the minutiae of family life, renders them utterly banal and manages to stretch this banality to fill 311 pages. Do people find […]
Connie Selebogo To spot a vervet monkey on hospital grounds is a pretty rare sight, but not at the Ga-Rankuwa hospital, north of Pretoria. The hospital is under siege from a pack of vervet monkeys that descended on the grounds in search of leftover food and some amusement. Every day at dawn, these small primates […]
Another controversial finding by the truth commission is threatening the credibility of the amnesty process Piers Pigou The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)came to yet another controversial finding last week when it granted amnesty to 10 former security policemen for their role in the murder of Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape in June 1988. The decision […]
Mabel Banda would like to take her child back to Malawi, but the nine-year-old’s South African guardians are applying for custody Heather Hogan A Rhema pastor is embroiled in a custody battle over a nine-year-old girl, left in his care by her mother, an illegal Malawian immigrant, who now wants her back. To complicate matters, […]
survivors Khadija Magardie A joint venture between the private sector and the government to set up “one- stop”rape clinics across the country is floundering amid concerns that the government is not fulfilling its side of the deal. The clinics are supposed to offer rape survivors medical treatment, counselling and facilities to make a police statement […]
Africa Sechaba ka’Nkosi Angolan journalist Andre Domigos Mussamo went on trial this week, charged with revealing state secrets in an article that never appeared in his newspaper. Authorities described Mussamo’s critique of President Jos Eduardo dos Santos, based on a provincial governor’s letter, as containing “highly important information of a military nature”. Mussamo, who wrote […]
Claude Kabemba CROSSFIRE In his book, Africa works: Disorder as Political Instrument, Patrick Chabal gives an account of African leaders who orchestrate violence for political gain. This book gives a clear account of what is going on in Zimbabwe. While President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu- PF’s approach to land can be justified, it is also true […]
Air Gabon flies to Libreville from Johannesburg and back once a week on a Sunday. Tickets cost about R3 880, call (011) 289-8114. Before you leave, a yellow fever injection is a state requirement: your certificate will be checked at the airport on arrival in Libreville. You will also need to take malaria medication. We […]
Neil Thomas TAKING STOCK Behind the corporately correct “we support fuller disclosure” one could hear the wails of anguish from Sandton and the city centre when the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) published its new draft listing requirements last week. Too cynical? Perhaps, but the new regulations are certainly going to upset a lot of people […]
The Gabon experience takes you back to the Seventies. It’s costly but rewarding, if only for the expansive rainforests Savannah Sefor The hardest thing to find in Gabon are the Gabonese. It’s not the only strange contradiction in the tiny West African state where forests cover more of the land than people. It’s one of […]