David Shapshak Western Cape scientists, working with their counterparts in Texas, have discovered the gene that causes one of the most common forms of blindness. Now that they know where the gene is, scientists can begin work on a drug to act specifically on it. The scientists used Silicon Valley analysis techniques to mine the […]
Housing for the All Africa Games is being built within sight of the Alexandra offices where refugees from factional battles sheltered in 1992 … and still live, writes Thokozani Mtshali A young woman died of pneumonia in Alexandra this week. She had lived in the former muncipal offices, into which about 300 people have been […]
Net users used to say that “information wants to be free”, but the new trend is for websites that will pay you to read them. Frequent surfers can collect cash in the form of “ipoints” or beenz the way frequent flyers collect air miles, as website owners sign up for rewards schemes that encourage customers […]
The Springboks have never won at the House of Pain in Dunedin, but the return of Os du Randt to the scrum might just be the boost the team needs. Andy Capostagno reports Three weeks ago South Africa had never scored 100 points in a single Test match. Two weeks ago Wales had never beaten […]
Andrew Muchineripi Soccer No Premier Soccer League coach is under more pressure to deliver or die than Victor Bondarenko, the former Soviet Union international who occupies the extremely hot seat at Orlando Pirates. Buccaneers boss Irvin Khoza, who kept Bonders in suspense for several weeks before giving him the green light to continue, expects at […]
South African theatre appears to be in the doldrums of self- indulgence, even though play makers are finding plenty to say, writes Matthew Krouse The National Arts Festival has been a glorious gathering of gurus – all strutting about like peacocks. It’s their moment, a time to get what they deserve. A time for nonchalant […]
Matthew Krouse Down the tube Of all the images of South African culture identifiable to the outside world, the Ndebele homestead must stand out as the one most exoticised. In pictures of homely bliss, postcards and books have portrayed neat little Ndebele communities as organised as the geometric patterns that women paint on their houses. […]
Matthew Krouse The latest incentive to bring culture to the inner city on a grand scale will probably be greeted with scepticism from suburban quarters. It’s winter again, and inner city culture suffers historically in the cold. Working against the weather, and metropolitan apathy, the French Institute kicks off its bold plan to stage a […]
Newtown Some big projects, with big names, are being aired in yet another attempt to resuscitate the Newtown Cultural Precinct in Johannesburg, which first saw the light of day nearly a decade ago, writes Ricky Burnett Sometime in the early years of this decade Christopher Till, then director of culture for Johannesburg, described a future […]
Cameron Duodu Letter From The North The late Joshua Nkomo is the sort of personality to which the world is exposed only once in a thousand years. A familiar figure in Accra in the early Sixties, when President Kwame Nkrumah was helping Africans everywhere to organise resistance against white rule, Nkomo could easily have passed […]