COMPOSITE ANTHEM STAYS PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela on Friday proclaimed the combined version of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and Die Stem van Suid Afrika as the country’s official national anthem. A notice to this end was published in a Government Gazette in Pretoria. The combined version served as South Africa’s national anthem under the interim constitution. The […]

Cape Verde star Cesaria Evora walked off with three Kora awards this year. Glynis OHara caught up with her at the KabaReunion festival Shes 56, shes large, shes a grandmother, she laughs easily and her face bears the lines of a life lived to the full. If you passed her in the street, youd never […]

Melvyn Minnaar : Potable pleasures Lets raise a shot glass to gumptious Gawies great idea and check whether Speedy Gonzales is on his way to Graaff- Reinet for the best celebration since those desert folks discovered aloes for skin products. Of all the hundreds who have stared at the spiky, useless plants that generously dot […]

The creatures that scuttle across your kitchen floor may have fascinating qualities, writes Ellen Bartlett It is spring, and the young beetles fancy is lightly turning to thoughts of love, or at least of mating. Tok-tokkies tenebrionid beetles of the genus Psammodes are drumming their abdomens against the soil. Bark beetles are rubbing various parts […]

FRIDAY, 1.30PM FINANCE Director-General Maria Ramos announced on Thursday she is confident that government will meet its budget deficit forecast of 4% of gross domestic product in the financial year 1997/1998. She told a Boland Bank economic presentation: “We have known for two or three months which provinces are in trouble and have established a […]

FRIDAY, 1.00PM: WITH defenders Mark Fish and Pierre Issa both injured, Willem Jackson and Isaac Shai are likely to be in the starting line-up for Saturday’s game against France in Lens. Free scoring Sundowns midfielder Alex Bapela may take the place of unavailable playmaker Doctor Khumalo. National coach Clive Barker said on Thursday he is […]

The 1997 Johannesburg Biennale starts this week. We examine some of the issues and some of the debates around this hugely important international cultural event Brenda Atkinson If your urban wanderings are punctuated over the next few weeks by new and intriguing billboards; if your bus-stop of choice starts to carry information about whites, blacks, […]

Andy Duffy State hospitals are dishing out unlicensed abortion pills to hundreds of pregnant women, despite the manufacturers fears that the treatment could be dangerous. The drug, Misoprostil, is registered to treat stomach ulcers, but public hospitals in provinces including the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape and the Free State are using it as a […]

Wonder Hlongwa A gang of more than 40 women calling themselves the A-Team are terrorising shopkeepers in Durban and surrounding suburbs, helping themselves to goods worth thousands of rands. More than 10 gang members have been arrested after meetings between the police, politicians and traders. Members of the A-Team enter shops posing as customers in […]

Bridget Hilton-Barber : Unspoilt places There are some places, to coin a clich, where you walk through the door and feel instantly at home. As if youve returned to mommy or granny or a good, old friend. Places that are all hugs and warm fuzzies. Where strangers trepidation is immediately swept aside by the smells […]