Tobias Schmitz CROSSFIRE There are currently strong signals in the media that the government intends to restructure Eskom into a holding company for a range of power generation, transmission and distribution agents. Things have changed since the 1960s and 1970s, when parastatals were an uncritically accepted vehicle of service delivery. During that period they were […]
Merryman Kunene In the aftermath of Bafana Bafana’s poor showing at the Nike Cup in the United States recently, the issue of finding a new national team – and coach – is back in the spotlight. By the end of the 2000 African Cup of Nations campaign in Ghana and Nigeria, South Africa had been […]
PALM STALKER by Rocco Bergh (Penguin) Naval architect Robert Arquette has had an interesting beginning – a father lost at sea, a mother who died giving birth on a Zululand beach, the child reared first by a hard-drinking Scot living a lonely life in the bush, then by a shady missionary. Found by his uncle […]
Melvyn Minnaar LIFESTYLE In 1874 Mark Twain wrote to his wife from London: “Livy, my darling, I want you to be sure to have in the bathroom, when I arrive, a bottle of scotch whisky, a lemon, some crushed sugar and a bottle of Angostura Bitters. Ever since I have been in London I have […]
That spirited agnostic Minister of Education Kader Asmal asked for prayer last week. Hundreds of people of every race, religion and background stopped the traffic outside 123 Schoeman Street, Pretoria, to rename the Ministry of Education building Sol Plaatje House. Zanile Mbeki unveiled the plaque, Boitemelo Plaatje-Molefe, the pioneer’s granddaughter, read a tribute, and the […]
history Ebrahim Harvey LEFT FIELD The recent re-emergence of the white Afrikaner taalstryd movement has generated heated debate in this and other papers. Unfortunately, there are some historical myths about Afrikaans and the “coloured” people it seeks to win over which have been perpetuated and need to be debunked. Much as language is the lifeblood […]
Whoever wins Zimbabwe’s election – and however flawed the poll is adjudged to have been – we can be sure of one thing: a massive effort will be needed to prevent our neighbour’s economic collapse and descent into worse anarchy. This will require an end to invasions of productive farmland and acceleration of land reform […]
John Young CRICKET Cricket’s transgressors and confessors probably haven’t noticed, but every morning as they pass through the portal of the Centre for the Book at 62 Queen Victoria Street, they are greeted with an impassive stare from one of South African cricket’s original sponsors. A bas-relief bust of Sir Donald Currie, owner of the […]
Paul Kirk The number of arrests in the Durban suburb of Chatsworth has soared since the entire management team at its police station was flushed out after they were accused of corruption, brutality and incompetence. In the two weeks since new management has been installed, the police station has arrested 355 criminals for crimes ranging […]
Neal Collins South African cricketers everywhere have been hit hard by the wild swinging of Cronjegate. You might have found an angry little knot of them at Lord’s last week, looking embarrassed while, in Cape Town, their game and their nation were being dragged through the mud at the King commission. While Cronje confessed to […]