In an historic moment last weekend the wheelchairs and cameras rolled in unison as the first fully sponsored and televised sports event for the disabled got under way, writes Julian Drew THERE was an extra edge to the tension among the players as they warmed up for the first round of the SuperSport Wheelchair Basketball […]

Durban playwright and author Ronnie Govender got the best first book award in this year’s Commonwealth Writers Prize. He spoke to SUZY BELL RONNIE GOVENDER, director of Durban’s Playhouse Company, recently won first place in the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in the category for best first book for his collection At the Edge and other Cato […]

Gustav Thiel YOU can get away with smoking dope in Cape Town – if you do it at the Rainbow Temple. The temple, in a house in the upmarket suburb of Oranjezicht, is dedicated to “the holy weed”, otherwise known as cannabis or dagga. Although the illegality of cannabis is common fact, it is also […]

Philippa Garson LOOK! It’s got imparipinnate leaves and obovate leaflets on a short petiole: it must be a Xanthocercis zambesiaca! Such an observation would stir as little excitement in the bellies of aspirant nature lovers as would a sighting of Psuedogyps africanus – unless, of course, the party was told it was looking at a […]

Madikizela-Mandela has been seeking R3,5- million from British television for her life story, report Rehana Rossouw and Tangeni Amuphadi report CASH-STRAPPED Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has made an extraordinary approach to British television: she is offering to ”tell all” for R3,5 million (500 000). A draft contract by Randburg-based business consultant, Udo Froese, was prepared last year […]

Third World debt resulting from bad lending policies of developed nations should be written off, says Desmond Tutu DEBT repayment has become an important mechanism for transferring wealth from developing countries to the financial giants of the northern hemisphere. According to the United Nations, developing countries paid US$1,662-trillion in debt that was due between the […]

Sol Kerzner’s foray into the USgambling arena is set to proceed apace now that South African charges have been dropped, report Stefaans Brmmer and Ferial Haffajee SUN king Sol Kerzner was cleared of his decade-old Transkei bribery charges by default. Umtata Attorney General Christo Nel appears to have been swayed by a lack of evidence, […]

A leaked memo shows that there are serious disagreements at the SABC over the termination of the broadcaster’s news service. Richard Siskind reports AFTER three weeks without Sapa’s news service, a split erupted this week at the SABC when a leaked internal memo from TV executive producer Jeremy Thorpe was reported to have said the […]

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has overcome some of the biggest obstacles facing the progression of the Internet in China. Victor Keegan reports from London RUPERT MURDOCH’S launch this year of an Internet service in China in partnership with the People’s Daily is the latest in a series of breathtaking media manoeuvres that already make Citizen […]

Privatisation is not a panacea for all economic problems, particularly in Africa, where it is frequently part of structural adjustment programmes, writes Asghar Adelzadeh of the NIEP in the fourth of a series on economic policy PRIVATISATION has become increasingly prominent worldwide in the past 15 years and has now become extremely important in policy […]