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/ 6 February 1998
morality Sexual scandal in politics has always been attended by hypocrisy, most frequently on the part of the media in their efforts to justify the public ventilation of private activities. When a British minister of defence, John Profumo, bedded a prostitute and was caught, the British press justified its prurient coverage of the scandal on […]
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/ 6 February 1998
David Shapshak Live in Johannesburg There’s something electric about the way Kaolin Thomson performs. She does very little dancing around — she’s surrounded by a keyboard, flute, saxophone and various percussion instruments, all of which she plays — but still manages to convey an explosiveness. She’s like a panther on stage. After all the hype […]
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/ 6 February 1998
Andrew Muchineripi : Soccer No footballer will be more closely followed, on and off the pitch, during the African Nations Cup in Burkina Faso this month than Abedi Ayew, the veteran Ghana midfielder popularly known as Pele. To be named after the Brazilian who played in a World Cup final at 17 and is arguably […]
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/ 6 February 1998
Iden Wetherell Televised scenes of demonstrators being teargassed and robust editorials in the country’s leading daily have so angered Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe that he has ordered a radical shake-up of the state-owned media that will see his already tight grip reinforced. Traditionally a faithful ally of Zimbabwe’s entrenched political establishment, the government media have […]
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/ 6 February 1998
The first phone system in space was completed last week, writes Tim Phillips At 1.29am last Saturday, Arianespace flight 105 blasted off from the European spaceport at Kourou, French Guyana. On board was a 2 000kg satellite destined for a 15-year mission 35 580km above the equator, where it completes man’s first telephone system built […]
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/ 6 February 1998
Stephen Ellis In large parts of West Africa, traditional secret societies, whose officers appear in public as masked dancers known as bush devils, are acquiring real political power once more after decades of decline. Some rural areas of Liberia and Guinea are dominated by leaders of the male secret society called Poro. In war-torn Sierra […]
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/ 6 February 1998
Despite attempts by leaders to clean up corruption in Africa, graft remains the order of the day in many countries, reports Chris McGreal There was a time when Kinshasa Airport induced mild panic in all who contemplated its grubby portals. A cocktail of chaos, intimidation and outright threats usually helped denude visiting business people of […]
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/ 6 February 1998
John Seiler Reading three recently-published collections of taped conversations and phone calls authorised by United States presidents John F Kennedy, Lyndon B Johnson and Richard Nixon (and bearing in mind the current storm around Bill Clinton) raises some questions about what similar studies might contribute to our understanding of how South African government works and, […]
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/ 6 February 1998
Andrew Muchineripi : Soccer The African Nations Cup, a biennial showdown between the best national soccer teams, comes of age this week with the 21st edition of an event that has grown steadily from humble beginnings. Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, hosted the first tournament, which attracted only three entrants and lasted just seven days […]
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/ 6 February 1998
Wonder Hlongwa Thandeka Shabalala (16) lies on a stretcher at King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban, with a heavy brown blanket thrown over her body despite the heat. She has travelled all the way from Pietermaritzburg. She is one of hundreds of patients who come for treatment at King Edward and instead either sleep on […]