Fumane Diseko COLOURS OF THE MOUNTAIN by Da Chen (Random House) DAUGHTER OF THE RIVER by Hong Ying (Bloomsbury) Both these books are autobiographical texts dealing with life in China. Da Chen, born in 1962 into a “landlord’s family” during Mao Zedong’s rule, suffers for the sins of his family. The roller- coaster policies of […]

Ben Ngubane Elisabeth Lickindorf’s article “SA students are scientifically illiterate”(January 14 to 20) is based on the research results of a science literacy survey conducted on first-year university and technikon students in 1994. Dr Rudiger Laugksch and Professor Peter Spargo at the universities of the North and Cape Town published the results of the survey […]

Robert Colman Gregory Vuyani Maqoma is one of the young choreographers commissioned to do a piece for this year’s FNB Vita Dance Umbrella. I sat in on a rehearsal of his work, Rhythm Blues, at the Dance Factory. At first the dancers are self-conscious, pretending not to be, of the stranger in the rehearsal room. […]

Rhoda Kadalie A SECOND LOOK I call on the editors of the selected media to defy the subpoenas served on them by the Human Rights Commission (HRC) en bloc. By appearing before the HRC, they will give credence to a discredited organisation that has failed to carry out its mandate effectively since its inception in […]

Howard Barrell The government is seeking to avoid a political train smash with public service unions by overhauling the civil service pay structure that would automatically fix most annual increases at about the rate of inflation. But these government proposals – at the centre of its plans to improve the civil service while halting the […]

Four hours from the summit of Everest, Cathy O’Dowd came across a stricken climber. She faced a brutal choice: to risk her own life in a doomed rescue – or to push on to the top. Here she explains why she left the barely breathing body I stared at the body, blinking in disbelief. We […]

Christian Figenschou In what is likely to be one of the year’s most important new car launches, Italian car maker Fiat has marked an aggressive leap into the local market with the introduction of its 178 “world car” range, comprising the Fiat Palio hatchback, the Palio Weekend station wagon and the Siena sedan. Fiat, which […]

Graham Greene’s love affair with the mysterious ‘C’ is revealed obliquely in his books and private papers. Robert McCrum has read them Graham Greene was a novelist who understood the meaning and mechanics of mystery. He patrolled with impressive vigilance the perimeter fence of his privacy, while at the same time scattering tantalising clues about […]

Khadija Magardie The Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference has received a $5-million (R31- million) grant to fight the HIV/Aids pandemic in South Africa. The Catholic newspaper The Southern Cross reported last week that the grant is part of a R600-million package to various non- governmental and medical organisations, including churches. The money is the lifeline […]

Fiona Macleod Tigers may soon be roaming free in the foothills of the Drakensberg, like their sabre-toothed cousins did millions of years ago. Two seven-month-old pure-bred Bengal tigers are already in South Africa, waiting to become part of an ambitious scheme to breed these critically endangered cats on the African continent. Three tiger subspecies have […]