Max Hamata Security guards at some Hillbrow hotels have been accused of murder, assault and torture of sex workers, demanding protection fees and sexual favours from them, and bribing police officers. In the past two weeks, at least 15 sex workers have left the Hillbrow Inn, Ambassador and Maxime hotels, claiming security guards expected sex […]
Ernest Hemingway was the world’s most graphic sports writer. Many tried to copy him but no one succeeded, writes Frank Keating Ernest Hemingway would have been 100 on Wednesday. He was born in 1899 in Oak Park, a respectable suburb of Chicago. Hemingway was bright at school and a keen sportsman, particularly relishing boxing and […]
the rag trade Marianne Merten Francis Hartley spent 35 years working in Cape Town’s clothing and textile factories. She has been unemployed for almost a year since her factory was liquidated because orders were being cancelled. She is one of the estimated 20 000 clothing and textile workers across South African who lost their jobs […]
John Matshikiza Review: Siemens S25 cellphone Happiness is a Siemens S25. I started my cellphone career about four years ago with a brand new S4 which I was very proud of, but which rapidly became a negative status symbol, not because of its quality, but because of its size. I was of course enraged when […]
Despite the plunging gold price some mines still have hope for the future. John Matshikiza reports from the Free State gold fields The small Free State town of Virginia has had its share of knocks in the roller-coaster ride of gold prices over the years. Like the neighbouring town of Welkom, it began its great […]
John Matshikiza With the Lid Off The great Caliph Haroun al-Rashid (peace and blessings be on his name) used to disguise himself as an ordinary citizen, and go about the streets of 14th-century Baghdad, checking to see if his citizens were Doing the Right Thing. In the course of these nocturnal wanderings, he not only […]
Howard Barrell Over a Barrel Nationalism can become an extraordinarily defensive frame of mind. It can be used to justify hostility to foreign views and innovations and, so, wielded to defend the most backward elements at home. It is this negative potential of nationalism that makes me suspicious of talk of an “African renaissance”. But […]
Shaun Harris Taking Stock In the strange social structure that is South Africa, domestic workers, along with non-unionised farm workers, probably remain the most neglected part of the labour force. The irony, particularly when it comes to the typical domestic maid or gardener, is that these workers often become long-time employees and integral, valued parts […]
Marianne Merten Ousted People against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) leader Farouk Jaffer was assisting intelligence services with their investigations into the vigilante group. Last Saturday he was found shot dead near his home. Said an intelligence official: “Jaffer started helping us a long time ago. But he also advertised his assistance. The hit could be […]
Peter Dickson Deep in a cave in the Eastern Cape’s forbidding Kouga Mountains lies the body of “Moses”, estimated to be about 2 000 years old. His is the first mummified human remains found in South Africa. The Egyptians and the Incas mummified the bodies of their god-kings for their journeys through the afterlife, and […]