The recent deaths of two dancers highlight the stress and pressures of the dance world, write Charl Blignaut and Hazel Friedman In two weeks the Pact Dance Company will premiere a new season of their work in the Wits Theatre in Johannesburg. It will be a harrowing evening for the critically acclaimed company from Pretoria. […]

Madeleine Wackernagel : Taking Stock Everyone, taking their cue from the governor of the Reserve Bank, is referring to 1997 as the year of consolidation: the rand has stabilised, domestic demand is cooling down, and inflation is finally below double-digits. Best news of all, there is room for an interest-rate cut. Grounds for optimism, it […]

Jeremy Cronin (SACP deputy general secretary) and Blade Nzimande (SACP acting chair) reject Peter Mokabas proposal that the form of the ANC-SACP alliance be re- examined Peter Mokabas view that South African Communist Party members should be ejected from the African National Congress (an organisation they have helped to build over 70 years) has excited […]

Robert Kirby Loose cannon This week I intended to continue the genial deconstruction of Political Correctness which I began last week. However, a conversation I overheard while fly-fishing on the Upper Berg River late last Sunday afternoon has made me postpone. These were more immediate voices. By masterly presentation of a Size 18 Black Gnat […]

minefield Steve Morris : Rugby For Nick Mallett there exists in his first weeks as national coach something of a Bermuda Triangle: a judicial commission that demands he carries a law book in one hand, a domestic competition that clearly has not delivered all the best sides of the season to the knockout phase, and […]

Vito Palazzolo has been linked to a deposit into slain Swapo activist Anton Lubowskis bank account. He will give evidence to the truth commission, write Andy Duffy and Marion Edmunds The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has turned to controversial Sicilian businessmen Vito Palazzolo to help its investigation into the unsolved murder of South West Africa […]

bullies The Human Rights Watch report on the Democratic Republic of Congo this week, detailing assiduous attempts to hide evidence of the widespread massacres of civilians in Eastern Congo, is a sobering check on South Africas moral claim to a permanent seat in the United Nations security council. Five weeks ago, after a meeting with […]

FRIDAY, 11.00AM FOUR Mpumalanga Housing Board members who testified before the first day of public hearings of provincial commission probing the R198-million Motheo rural housing project on Thursday said they had not heard of the company, and were not aware that they approved the project before it was launched earlier this year. The four added […]

Maria McCloy In your ear Aside from jetting into the country to ride the Blue Train, legendary music industry and media player Quincy Jones was also in town to launch a new Internet radio project, Q-Radio. The project is an interesting reversal: instead of the usual bombardment by all things from the United States, Americans […]

Peter Vale This is not the kind of writing for which academics have been prepared. And yet, there are times when silence is simply impossible; when even the stoic finds it difficult to be thoughtful, reflective, considered. This is such an occasion and, quite frankly, as a professional I can no longer be silent about […]