Glynis O’Hara : South African music On the one hand, there has been far more variety available in local music through 1997 than ever before, says Dave Alexander, owner of Tequila Records, but on the other hand there were “no stunners, no huge, extraordinary sales. Leon Schuster sold 130 000 (with Gautvol in Paradise), Rebecca […]

Julie Burchill For me there was only one book this year and=20that was Andrew Morton’s Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words. The transcripts of the tapes she made are heart-breaking; hearty Sloane clich=E9s interspersed with cries of agony like something out of Samuel Beckett. The first paragraph of the first tape — “My […]

Janet Smith There was remarkably little snow and far fewer fat white men in red suits sleighing across the hundreds of Christmas cards that passed through the Mail & Guardian offices this year. It has taken some time for South African Christmas card manufacturers to realise that we’re not in the northern hemisphere, and now […]

Chris McGreal Nigeria’s military government is poised for a new wave of arrests following the detention of 11 senior officers accused of plotting to violently overthrow the country’s dictator, General Sani Abacha. A senior army source said the alleged plot extended beyond those already detained. Those arrested last weekend include Abacha’s deputy, three other generals […]

TUESDAY, 5.30PM: FESTIVE cheer seemed to help recharge the JSE on Tuesday, where the gold index climbed another 19,2 points to 810,9 thanks to the advancing international bullion price. Gold shares have climbed 45,3 points since Friday’s close. The gold price reached $292,55 in London, with some dealers predicting that it could reach $300 before […]

TUESDAY 1.30PM: FORMER Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda returned home on Sunday for the first time since a failed coup in October against his successor President Frederick Chiluba. Kaunda office said on Monday that he returned by road from neighboring Zimbabwe after a two-month lecture tour that also took him to Britain, the United States, India […]

How clued up are you on the highs and lows of 1997? Exercise your memory with this brain-teaser 1 South African arms were found in at least three African hot-spots this year. Which countries were they? 2 Which South African city is leading the pack of candidates as the future site of Parliament? 3 A […]

Desmond Tutu’s concept of a rainbow nation just doesn’t match up to reality, writes Lizeka Mda If ever there was any doubt that the notion of a rainbow nation is unravelling, President Nelson Mandela’s speech at the African National Congress’s 50th conference laid those doubts to rest. For almost four years as the president of […]

The truth commission was confronted this year with bouts of amnesia, half-truths and outright lies — and scenes of humanity * “I am not in possession of any information that might be of use to you.” — Former president FW de Klerk, giving the National Party’s response to questions posed by the truth commission about […]

Was Madeleine Albright correct in hailing Africa’s ‘strong new leaders’ as ‘beacons of hope’ during her recent tour of the continent? Chris McGreal reports aThey have been hailed as the “new breed” of African leaders, the kind of men who front this continent’s renaissance heralded by Thabo =0BMbeki. Others have disparaged them as little different […]