Duncan Mackay When Josiah Thugwane lined up on Blackheath last Sunday for the London Marathon, he did so free from the worry that dogged his every footstep through the streets of Britain’s capital 12 months ago. Then the Olympic champion was racked with concern about the safety of his family in South Africa, fearing that […]
Andrew Worsdale : Movie of the week Love and Death on Long Island, a wryly observed romantic comedy, stars John Hurt as fuddy-duddy writer Giles De’ath. He works with a fountain pen; eats his meals at the same time every day; doesn’t have a television; hasn’t seen a movie in 20 years (he calls them […]
People used to go to there just to collect the postmark, but now art dealers go to plunder the region’s priceless heritage, reports Alex Duval Smith ‘The trouble with Timbuktu,” says Mohamed Galla Dicko, “is that most people think it does not really exist. The world behaves as though it were just a mythical place.” […]
John Pilger : CROSSFIRE In his fine book, The Mind of South Africa, Allister Sparks wrote: “South Africa has the widest gap between rich and poor of any country in the world for which data are available. Eighty-seven per cent of its land and 95% of its industrial holdings are in white hands. That degree […]
Tim Radford Stone Age people built the first astronomical observatory centuries before anyone had thought they did. Scientists working in the Sahara have identified a series of megaliths that predate Stonehenge in Britain and other sites by more than 1 000 years. Around 6 500 years ago, an unknown people living in Nabta, southern Egypt, […]
Andrew Muchineripi : Soccer National soccer coach Philippe Troussier spent this month shifting through the local and foreign-based talent available to him and now has a list of 30 World Cup hopefuls. One of the most eagerly awaited national squads since the birth of Bafana Bafana is scheduled to be named late next week for […]
Charl Blignaut : Music awards It was pretty evident, on entering the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg on Saturday night, that the 1998 FNB South African Music Awards (Samas) were not going to be the Grammys. The red carpet was peeling up from the steps, liberating several strips of thick white masking tape keeping it in […]
Ferial Haffajee and Sechaba ka Nkosi : WORKERS’ DAY SUPPLEMENT The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has decided not to field candidates in next year’s election. In a break with a tradition set in 1994 when the labour federation sent 20 top unionists to Parliament, it has now decided not to do so. […]
Andy Capostagno : Rugby Maybe he knew. Maybe he knew that even he couldn’t improve upon 74-28 and that therefore retirement was the most sensible option. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably sitting in the stands at Eden Park on Sunday watching his beloved Auckland Blues deconstruct the Western Stormers and he probably thought, hell, I can’t […]
Durban will once again host a number of international and South Africa poets, when the second Poetry Africa festival takes place at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, from May 4 to 9. Some 20 poets will present and read from their work and engage in discussion. Jamaican-born musician/poet Linton Kwesi Johnson is the opening-night headliner. Well […]