The centrespread in the first, and possibly last, issue of Elliot Josephs’s magazine Hei Voetsek! is of what some may see as “a typical Cape Flats male” — reclining on a couch in his underwear reading a pornographic magazine, his toothless face wreathed with smoke, a glass clutched in one hand and a flagon of […]

Journalists covering Pagad’s campaign against gangsters have found themselves staring down the barrels of guns, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy Journalists are once again being targeted, as the war in the Cape Flats continues between the Muslim community group, People against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) and gangs. In the 12 days following the shooting and torching of […]

Deep in Angola, men mine illegally — and dangerously — from diamond-rich riverbeds. John Liebenberg reports `BEWARE the devil in the diamond,” smiles the Zairean, Flavia. He rolls the sparkling two-carat oval stone in his palm. He was a teacher for many years until a visit to his brother, also a miner, two years ago. […]

They’re rude, independent — and raking in the cash. ANDREW WORSDALE on this week’s releases, Mallrats and Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead AMERICAN movie-goers — the most lucrative audience in the world — are finally giving the thumbs-down to the thoughtless, cliched hype dished out by Hollywood. Instead, they’re looking to the […]

In comparison to the sums being paid for other players in the Premier League, Manchester United really got a bargain when they paid 3,6-million for the exciting Karel Poborsky SOCCER: Michael Walker IT WAS a grey, uninviting Monday morning in June but international reporters were still sparring for position on the front steps of the […]

Susannah Frankel The fashion world is buzzing with rumours that Vivienne Westwood — Queen of Punk, grande dame of British fashion and the woman most famous for parading knickerless around Buckingham Palace — looks set to take over at Christian Dior, France’s oldest couture house. Since Gianfranco Ferre announced his departure in July, speculation has […]

Paul Adams came on to the scene with a bang last year, but he has not been so explosive in England CRICKET: Barney Spender A YEAR ago the South African schools’ team was touring England. At home, left to rue the selectors’ decision that he was little more than a circus act, was Paul Adams. […]

Political manoeuvring among ministers has been behind the delay in appointing privatisation advisers, writes Mungo Soggot Now that the government has finally named its privatisation adviser, it transpires that the endless delays over the appointment stemmed in part from a political struggle over who will control restructuring and privatisation. The outcome of the battle appears […]

Iden Wetherell in Harare IN stark contrast to reports of their imminent demise, Zimbabwe’s tobacco growers appear to be flourishing. This year’s flue-cured crop is expected to fetch Z$5,68-billion (R2,5-billion), slightly up on last year’s record Z$5-billion. This comes in the face of escalating costs, political flak, and a hefty state levy widely predicted at […]

Ann Eveleth Amid widespread perceptions of police inaction and corruption, police investigating other police are either unable or unwilling to take their colleagues accused of serious crimes off the beat. The return to work last month of three policemen facing murder charges for the Christmas 1995 Shobashobane massacre of 19 African National Congress supporters is […]