Wole Soyinka has been charged with treason by the Nigerian government. From his US exile, the Nobel laureate pours scorn on the accusations WHEN I wrote in my latest book, The Open Sore of the Continent, that “the judicial murder of the Ogoni nine and the continued decimation of Ogoni people was the first Nigerian […]

DANCE ON CD: Greg Bowes JUNGLE music, currently more fashionably known as drum’n’bass, a style born in the United Kingdom of the remnants of hardcore rave, dub reggae and jazz, has yet to achieve the mainstream success so eagerly predicted. This is particularly true in South Africa where support for its broken beats and booming […]

Marion Edmunds THE Home Affairs Department has raked in more than R14-million since its decision last July to begin charging foreigners for their entry documents. The department introduced the fees for applications for permanent residents, work, study, holiday and business permits and transit visas last year, arguing that it needed to cover processing costs and […]

Hazel Friedman A COMMUNICATION breakdown between artists and the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology has resulted in South African artists losing a place at one of the world’s most prestigious art exhibitions. Organisers for the Venice Biennale said this week they were still waiting for the department to indicate how many South African […]

ONE of South Africa’s leading political commentators, Phillip van Niekerk, has been appointed editor of the Mail & Guardian. Van Niekerk (40) has been South Africa correspondent of some of the world’s most famous newspapers including The Observer, The Boston Globe, the Toronto Globe and Mail and Volkskrant. A graduate of Stellenbosch University, he was […]

WORLD MUSIC:Gwen Ansell ASK Madam and (without Eve to prompt her) she may just have heard of Masekela, or foxtrotted to the African Jazz Pioneers at a banquet. But ask the kids in any Jo’burg suburb and – if they’ve listened to jazz at all – a name they’re likely to come up with is […]

child Gustav Thiel `MAN, I want to be a soccer hero one day,” says Richard. “What I’m doing now is not so bad. It won’t last forever.” Richard is 13. He speaks softly, and fiddles with his baseball cap. It’s 1.30 on a Sunday morning, near Cape Town’s Waterfront. As he talks a steady stream […]

South African scientists are discovering that traditional communities are rich in technology, writes Lesley Cowling THERE is a toad in the Northern Province that is considered a delicacy among local people. It is harvested from its natural habitat, has its innards removed and is braaied over coals to provide a gourmet treat for the lucky […]

Gustav Thiel CAPE actors currently employed by the Cape Association Performing Arts Board (Capab) plan the genesis of a major independent drama company, the first of its kind in South Africa, when they are retrenched at the end of this month. The resident artistic director of Capab, Marthinus Basson, responded to an article published ln […]

Despite a ruling that found him guilty of non-politically motivated torture and murder, an ex-policeman still hopes to get amnesty, reports Jim Day SITTING in a conference room at the maximum-security Zonderwater Prison, east of Pretoria, Hennie Gerber looks more like a casually dressed insurance salesman than a convicted murderer. He seems a nice enough […]