censorship were over? Brenda Atkinson As the second Johannesburg Biennale limped into the early weeks of 1998, it seemed for a while that post- international-schmoozing stress disorder might have taken the tart out of art. Fatigued by working, networking, or just plain complaining, contemporary artists countrywide curled into introspection for the first half of the […]

Free State Matthew Krouse Some feelings cannot be explained, they just have to be absorbed. For a Jew, like me, to meander through a small town in quest of the Christmas spirit on a sweltering Sunday feels quite odd. Even if the town is called Bethlehem, and the Sunday happens to be five days before […]

A is for Artistic Atrocities against Humanity. Foremost on this year’s list must be the SABC-commissioned production Avenues that had such an unfathomable plot and such putrid camera work that, after much public outrage, it was shifted from its prime time slot on Mondays at 9pm to late on a Sunday night. B is for […]

I have been a regular reader of your newspaper since it began and many are the pages from it which have been stapled to the walls of my multicultural classrooms. You consistently present alternative positions to generate debate and discussion. Over time, though, questions arise for which we don’t appear to be able to find […]

The ugly: Corruption Andrew Muchineripi South Africa scaled new heights this year by competing in the World Cup for the first time and achieving results that compared favourably with those of previous debutants in the football showpiece. A heavy loss to hosts and eventual winners France in the opening Group C game on a cold, […]

Criminals are using the instability in some countries to build crime networks inside the state, write Stephen Ellis and Batrice Hibou What do Russia, India, Italy, Nigeria, Turkey and Colombia have in common, apart from the fact that they are all sovereign states with seats at the United Nations? All of them have allowed professional […]

At the age of 102, Sholipi Mbutu has outlived all but one of her children, writes Swapna Prabhakaran Not many people remember Sholipi Mbutu’s name. At 102, she’s been an old woman for so long, everyone calls her Gogo. Mbutu lives with her daughter in a tiny house 40km from the coastal town of Kwambonambi, […]

There is nothing like the stroke of a pen to lighten a presidential load. United States President Bill Clinton not only lit White House intern Monica Lewinsky’s fire, he was also every cartoonist’s dream come true. A plethora of phallic symbols was sketched, like Zapiro’s version of Airforce One. One US cartoonist went for the […]

Urban legends, made in the US of A, have a uniquely South African flavour, writes Arthur Goldstuck After the 1994 elections, South Africa began to resemble most other countries in the world of urban legends. In other words, people stopped believing everything they heard. Of course, that meant they could still believe half of everything […]

General Sani Abacha (54), brutal Nigerian strongman and kleptocrat who seized power in a military coup in 1993. Official cause of death was a heart attack. Chief Mashood Abiola (60), Nigerian businessman and winner of the annulled 1993 elections who was incarcerated by Abacha and died within days of the dictator when his release from […]