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 […]
Rupert Neethling A new United States phenomenon called “account aggregation” may well become the web’s next big thing. According to a recent report, account aggregation enables users to monitor their insurance balances, credit cards, bank or brokerage statements and even e-mail accounts at the same time and in the same place. However, before such services […]
Parks Mankahlana CROSSFIRE On Friday June 2, the Mail & Guardian published what was perhaps intended to be a review of the presidency of Thabo Mbeki. The article had nothing to do with Mbeki’s presidency but was rather a graphic display of the deep personal hatred that Howard Barrell has for Thabo Mbeki, the man. […]
Paul Kirk and Jaspreet Kindra The mayor of KwaNongoma, who was slain this week, had been running a protection racket in which he and his associates allegedly beat residents of the KwaZulu- Natal town if they did not pay him R50 a month. The assassination of mayor Bhekuyise Sikhonde, an Inkatha Freedom Party strongman, instantly […]
Howard Barrell OVER A BARREL If you want to risk feeling profoundly depressed – and some people do enjoy a state of hopelessness – then I have a suggestion for you. Go the African National Congress’s website (www.anc.org.za) and read the discussion documents for a meeting of its national general council due to be held […]
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 […]
Andrew Benson Monaco is an event that delights and maddens in equal measure. For all that Formula One revels in the picture- postcard perfection of the boats floating in its harbour under a cloudless blue sky, there are constant grumbles about the problems caused by holding a race in a place that has more vertical […]
From semi-arid regions to thick mists and lush forests, the Soutpansberg area has it all Bridget Hilton-Barber No one can accuse the Soutpansberg of being namby-pamby. Out here, in the north of the Northern Province, the spaces are big, the scenery dramatic and the history suitably torrid. There are still unspoiled wilderness areas, the destinations […]
Howard Barrell replies I have difficulty in viewing Parks Mankahlana’s article on my review of Thabo Mbeki’s first year as president as the response of a reasonable person. What criticisms my review contained fell comfortably within the norms of political commentary and debate. The review hardly warranted a response beyond recognition of it as one […]