Dale McKinley CROSSFIRE South Africa is a strange place to be if you count yourself as a political activist and/or commentator. It often seems as if this sizeable sector of our population is caught in a linguistic time warp, what with echoes of vain, glorious, nationalist verbiage ringing in our Southern African ears, resistant strains […]

Brett Davidson LIFESTYLE At 5pm, Jo Stein heads for De Waal Park, with her dog, Lola – a cute cross- Staffie-Jack Russell. “Lola likes the park best,” she says. “More than the beach, more than the mountain. This is where all her friends are.” The park, nestled on the lower slopes of Table Mountain, is […]

Jazz artist Errol Dyers has a new album, which he says is about who he is and how he speaks to people Thebe Mabanga The Cape is renowned for its laid-back splendour. It provides a perfect setting for artistic inspiration. It also possesses a rich musical heritage honed by generations of Khoisan communities over a […]

Robert Potts BOSS CUPID by Thom Gunn (Faber &Faber) Thom Gunn’s poetry has always been celebratory. In the Fifties, as an English poet of the Movement generation, his icons were leather-clad bikers, Elvis Presley, soldiers – the rough, tough men of action – and he famously wrote “I praise the overdog, from Alexander/ To those […]

An agreement by opposition parties to co- operate against the ANC in the local government elections in November appears to be part of a three-phase process of creating a stronger opposition entity Howard Barrell This week’s defection to the Democratic Party of 65 public representatives from other parties suggests a long-awaited and far-reaching realignment of […]

Barry Streek In its tough battle against crime, the police are battling with a chronic shortage of vehicles in South African cities, particularly in Cape Town and Johannesburg. The South African Police Service (SAPS) has estimated that the optimal number of vehicles it needs in Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, East London, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and […]

Paul Kirk The Pietermaritzburg Regional Court heard sensational evidence this week about the involvement of National Intelligence Agency (NIA) operatives in political violence in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. The head of the NIA in KwaZulu-Natal, Desiree Vasloo, testified after a number of her agents admitted to involvement in irregular activities linked to violence in the Midlands […]

NEWS IN BRIEF The African National Congress this week sought to deny claims that controversial National Intelligence Agency (NIA) operative Thabo Kubu has been working at the party’s headquarters. Kubu, who is facing a prosecution by a closed board of inquiry for irregular activities while in the employ of the NIA, appears to have been […]

In Africa today the suffering is caused from within. Wole Soyinka laments the loss of post-apartheid confidence and calls for stronger UN intervention A wave of anomie, even a breakdown of humanity, is sweeping across the continent that must be particularly galling to those who so confidently trumpeted an “African renaissance”. What we see today […]

Moving beyond play readings, the Kultcha Klub takes on Gladiators, sex and life after death Robert Colman Anyone who’s looking for an intelligent, stimulating and safe one-night stand should try the Wits Downstairs Theatre in Braamfontein – you’ll find a tireless group of artists, who are launching a festival of 10 original South African plays […]