AN electric locomotive pulling 18 goods trucks derailed on Thursday at Rosenegal near Middelburg in Mpumalanga, causing damage of more than R100 million. Police said that the train driver and his assistant were missing. The train was on the way to deliver titanium slabs to Highveld Steel at Witbank when the accident happened at about […]
Friday night Mercedes Sayagues Zimbabwe has a Lost City, in the Great Zimbabwe ruins, and a Fun City, in Vic Falls. More than half a million tourists flock every year to Vic Falls to have fun, since that is what tourists are supposed to do. The town has caught the disease. Every day is a […]
Marianne Merten Candlelight vigils, marches and prayer meetings may seem insignificant gestures in the face of guns and violence, but for many residents in gang-ridden Hanover Park on the Cape Flats these are the first steps to finding the courage to speak out and act. Hanover Park residents are slowly finding their voice after a […]
Matthew Krouse Down the tube Across the world the myth about men is the same – apparently we’re out to get laid all the time. Well, yes and no. Yes, we’d like to be engaged in some form of sexual play our whole lives. But no, we don’t fall apart at the seams if it […]
John Sutherland George Lucas’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, which was released in South Africa this week, generated so much hype worldwide there was bound to be a backlash. One character, Jar Jar Binks, a computer-birthed frogboy, has been indicted of that most heinous culture crime: racist stereotyping. Jar Jar (created on screen by “animatics”) […]
Shaun Harris Taking Stock The latest, long-awaited interest rate cut should have us all ecstatic. The drop in prime and home-loan lending rates from 19% to 18% certainly seemed to please some people, typically those commentators who herald every rate cut, drop in inflation and rise in gross domestic product as the dawn of a […]
Loose cannon Robert Kirby There’s an ancient Australian proverb which runs: “By his piss-up mates shall you know your neighbour best.” Attributed to Dunny the Elder, the wisdom of the saying is self-evident. This appealing fragment of Antipodean social philosophy came rushing to mind when I read in last Sunday’s newspapers that among the host […]
Andrew Muchineripi Soccer It is just as well national soccer coach Trott Moloto is a reserved and very patient man otherwise he might be tempted to dish out a few “southern suburbs kisses” to certain members of the mainstream media. While this humble member of the Muchineripi clan is certainly not suggesting Bra Trott is […]
There is a political tradition followed in some parts of the world which has it that a newly elected political leader should be given 100 days – a “honeymoon” period – in which to find his or her feet in office before being subjected to media and opposition criticism. Thabo Mbeki has already been occupying […]
THURSDAY, 12.15PM: THE South Africans at Wimbledon had mixed fortunes on Wednesday, with ninth-seed Amanda Coetzer, David Nainkin and Grant Stafford being shut out of the tournament. Wayne Ferreira, Mariaan de Swardt and Surina de Beer managed to win their matches and go through to the second round. Coetzer was looking a tad dodgy on […]