Thebe Mabanga IN YOUR EAR The community radio sector has received an impressive boost with the launch of the Coca-Cola Enjoy hour. The project was started in February as a six-week pilot project on Alex FM. The project then became national, incorporating a selection of drive-time presenters, including Alex FM and Voice of Soweto in […]

Kit Peel Don’t be fooled by the stoepville houses, the laid-back feel, the picture-book tranquillity. The fact that it was mostly Afrikaans civil servants until the 1970s and thereafter arty eccentrics. The oh-so- carefully maintained fib that says: “We’re this alternative little lamb in the commercial beast city of Africa.” The old Melville crowd will […]

Barry Streek LETTERS FROM ROBBEN ISLAND: A SELECTION OF AHMED KATHRADA’S PRISON CORRESPONDENCE, 1964-1989 edited by Robert D Vassen (Zebra) From prison, Ahmed Kathrada wrote thoughtful letters, initially twice a year and then once a month, to the outside world, knowing that they would first be censored by prison officials, then examined in detail by […]

Cameron Duodu LETTER FROM THE NORTH The term “senseless war” should be a contradiction in terms. Because humanity was given the power of reasoning by Mother Nature, war should not be in our vocabulary at all. But Mother Nature also gave us the power not to use our reason! And more often than not, we […]

Ups: Cheery Cape clone that’s Jo’burg’s current favourite. Colourful, clean, safe to walk around at night. Great restaurants, cafes, bars, clubs and some interesting shopping. Downs: The people. Rich hippies, media kids and ever-so-slightly-smug residents. More cool than culture ensures an empty- headed experience. What the Estate Agents say: “Melville’s looking good. High demand and […]

Barry Streek The government is pressing ahead with its plans to establish an independent Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA), which it hopes will start operating in the middle of next year. It also says considerable consensus about the basic principles of the new agency has already been achieved, ahead of the publication of a […]

Soundtracks are an integral part of movies and their promotion. Scott Hughes traces their track record They’d never done it before. But, with a screening of some rough footage, and, no doubt, a big white grin, Tom Cruise managed to persuade United States rock giants Metallica – for the first time in their two-decade career […]

Brenda Atkinson MARKETING THROUGH MUD AND DUST by Muzi Kuzwayo (Ink Inc) One would think that the advertising industry in South Africa would be at the frontier of research into selling products to black South Africans, the so- called “emerging market” of the post- apartheid era. But a pervasive cultural ignorance lingers and plays out, […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The South African Association of Youth Clubs (SAAYC), the national youth organisation that boasts four-million- strong membership, has refocused its course again – this time it is working on changing the attitudes of millions of young people and motivating them to take charge of their fortune. “Gone are the times of […]

The scenery in the Pilanesberg is exquisite: a mix of undulating granite hills and broad plains Angus Begg I’ve had an itch to go camping again for a good while now, thinking I might take my five-year-old nephew, Tadeu, away to one of the bigger game reserves, where he can have his first glimpse of […]