David Beresford ANOTHER COUNTRY There is a curious document identified as “MC/M353” in the Oliver Tambo collection of papers at the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape. The document, it should be said at the outset, is undoubtedly a fake. It is written as a “memorandum” in the form of minutes of a […]
Steven Friedman WORM’S EYE VIEW There is nothing like the fall of a national figure to bring on an orgy of moral hand-wringing. So it is with the Hansie Cronje saga. Public commentators have rushed to bemoan how the apparent fall of a pious, clean-living sportsman shows how debased we have become. The usual suspects […]
anyway Michael Finch ROADRUNNING A Two Oceans Marathon without Chapman’s Peak? That’s a bit like having a one-day cricket international without a ball. The famous 10km stretch, regarded as one of the most scenic roads in the world, is as much a part of the Two Oceans as the fish horn that signals the start. […]
Robert Kirby CHANNELVISION I had intended to write about this matter a couple of weeks ago but, of course, the Cronje saga got in the way. What I wanted to say was how profoundly impressed I was by forthright statements made a fortnight or so ago by the redoubtable Mr Kader Asmal. It seemed that […]
Telford Vice CRICKET A fortnight ago there would have been no shortage of schoolchildren able and willing to reel off a list of their South African cricketing heroes. That is no longer the case, because at least one former hero has been exposed as anything but. And because it is by no means clear how […]
of poor Khadija Magardie Prominent South African researchers and medical ethics specialists are alarmed that proposed amendments to research protocols could open the door for researchers to use patients in poor countries as human guinea pigs in global medical research. In a series of open letters challenging the values of the medical fraternity, the group […]
The farm invasions are having a negative effect on the economy of the entire region, exerting pressure on SAto act Howard Barrell, Donna Block and Iden Wetherell President Thabo Mbeki is to jet into Harare on Friday for an urgent meeting with Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe. As the situation in Zimbabwe threatens to spin completely […]
Jubie Matlou Lesotho is the focus of intense diplomatic activity as foreign powers search for ways of kickstarting the stalled democratic process in the mountainous kingdom, to beat the expiry of an 18-month deadline for the holding of fresh elections. The agreement was brokered in late 1998 under the auspices of the Southern African Development […]
Over the next fortnight, the countryside will rock to South Africa’s best musicians when cultural nomads migrate to Splashy Fen and Oppikoppi Alex Sudheim Though initiated as a pure celebration of folk music in 1990, the Splashy Fen festival’s popularity grew so rapidly its identity morphed yearly to reflect the changing audience profile. With rock […]
Donna Block SHAREWORLD After last week’s blood- letting in the stock markets I didn’t know whether to reach for the phone or some serious mind-altering drugs. But why was I surprised? All of us who take more than passing interest in share prices knew that it had to happen sooner or later – the dreaded […]