Philippa Garson THE future of Ravan Press, renowned for its fierce independence during apartheid, is under threat. Founded by Beyers Naude nearly 25 years ago, Ravan will be absorbed by its holding company Hodder and Stoughton Educational Southern Africa, unless its staff can find a buyer before the end of the month. Ravan was bought […]

Bronwen Roberts A special session of the Eastern Cape legislature was convened this week to look at ongoing charges of corruption and maladministration. Whenever the Eastern Cape government faces another scandal involving internal corruption, officials emphasise it is because of their own efforts that corruption is being exposed. The implication is that the government is […]

BEN JOHNSON is a lonely man. Always with him are the harsh judgments and sustained mockery of those who condemn him for testing positive for steroids after he won the 100m dash in a record shattering 9.79 seconds at the 1988 Olympics. He did not sink into hopelessness after Seoul, but he remains wounded. The […]

Is Felicia Mabuza-Suttle’s personality preventing her show from attracting advertisers? Jacquie Golding-Duffy reports on the politics behind the `high-risk’ programme The Felicia Mabuza-Suttle show, regarded by black audiences as the “African version of Oprah Winfrey”, has failed to attract advertising despite its popularity. Although one of the most successful SABC local television talk shows, the […]

ZIMBABWEAN novelists, even the most successful, have a hard time surviving. In a workshop at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) last week, only two were able to say they earned their living from writing. One then confessed to being a journalist too, and the other, a playwright, admitted his main income comes from performance, […]

The Staggie brothers were a double act. Identical twins who grew to rule their deprived neighbourhood through bullying and kindness. They created one of the biggest gangs on the Cape Flats. Rashaad Staggie was the flamboyant one — a drug dealer with a ”heart of gold”. He would often drive through Manenberg (a former coloured […]

Africa’s leading book fair may be a source of agony for Robert Mugabe, but it’s good for the book business, writes EDWINA SPICER in Harare Despite the international press attention focused on the anti-homosexual bigotry for which the Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) has become a flashpoint, the fair itself was a commercial success. South […]

Bheki Nxumalo AS the pressure mounts for political change in Swaziland, King Mswati III has announced a 29-person constitutional committee to draw up a new constitution for the country. At a meeting of the nation on July 26 (a public event which anyone may attend) held at the Ludzidzini Cattle Byre, Swaziland’s traditional capital, the […]

THEATRE: Matthew Krouse WHEN men parade naked on stage, there is a tendency to judge them by the size of their genitals; their physique contributes to the value of the performance. Because, with live nudity, the fourth wall of the stage topples and the performance transcends its unreality. It shifts closer to real life. It’s […]

Forget city-centre clubs. An innovative label is taking jazz back to the townships, reports GWEN ANSELL LAUNCHING new music into South Africa’s notoriously conservative market isn’t easy. So, you ask youself, is the B&W label entirely sane to mix new music with an equally innovative marketing strategy? Very much so, according to the label’s South […]