Robin Blackburn CHE GUEVARA: A REVOLUTIONARY LIFE by John Lee Anderson (Bantam Press, R182,95) CHE GUEVARA helped Fidel Castro to topple Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and then masterminded Cuba’s break with the United States. These events established him as a revolutionary statesman of global reputation. With his subsequent renunciation of the fruits of power and […]

Nigel Crawhall EDDIE KOCH’S article last week on the demise of South African San languages (“Last voice of an ancient tongue”) has broken the silence on a national disgrace. With financial assistance from Denmark, the Southern African San Institute (Sasi) is supporting Khoi and San communities to develop strategies for language survival. The road to […]

England have triumphed in the one-day matches, but the Tests against the Australians are a more difficult proposition – especially with the thinking cricketer Steve Waugh in their ranks CRICKET:Paul Weaver STEVE and Mark Waugh are cricket’s unidentical twins. Together with Shane Warne, they are the stars of the formidable Australian party doing battle with […]

Ferial Haffajee THE SABC’s head of radio, Govin Reddy, is set to be appointed as deputy chief executive of the corporation, making him second only to the chief executive, Zwelakhe Sisulu. The move is part of a wide-ranging management shake-up at the SABC which burst into the open this week with a spate of senior […]

GLYNIS O’HARA on some serious problems facing the umbrella body of the South African music industry THE umbrella body of the music industry, which pursues matters of mutual interest like piracy and payola as well as running the annual South African Music Awards, is in “a state of shambles” according to a highly placed industry […]

The balaclava-clad squad that swept through Pollsmoor is also being investigated for actions at Helderstroom jail, reports Tangeni Amupadhi MEMBERS of the prison crack squad accused of attacking and robbing 200 convicts in Cape Town’s Pollsmoor prison last week are already being investigated for assaults during a similar raid three months ago. Though the Department […]

The IBA’s intentions are noble, argues GOVIN REDDY, but the body has not stopped to think of the disastrous impact its actions could have on the public broadcaster MUCH of recent media coverage of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) has focused on its financial mismanagement, but there has been little reflection on its actual regulatory […]

Hazel Friedman MUSIC might be the food of love, but it can also provide essential nutrients for economic growth. This is the message from the general manager of Ausmusic, Sue Gillard, a speaker at an international conference on the economic benefits of arts and culture in South Africa, to be held in Grahamstown, from June […]

Dan Wylie TESTING THE EDGE by Mark Swift (Snailpress, R35) MANY of the poems in Mark Swift’s muscular fourth collection “home in on exile”. Divided between the landscapes of the Eastern Cape and the British Isles, Swift struggles to find a “home where the heart is”, within himself, within the process of travelling itself: “We […]

Alexander Sudheim EVEN though the city council won’t let them put their posters on the walls anymore and the record companies don’t sign them, Durban bands continue to thrive in numbers and in quality. For a city with pitifully few live music venues and audiences that would fill a small rowing boat, the alternative music […]