DROR EYAL saw in the new year at the annual Oppikoppi music festival THE South African music explosion is a bit like God. Journalists resurrect it yearly, Barney Simon preaches it daily, but mankind never gets to see it. The Oppikoppi Moerit Boetie festival, which is held near Sun City, is set to change that. […]

the poor Ros Coward in London Madagascar, former colony and popular tourist destination, is close to an epidemic of the Black Death – 187 cases have been diagnosed in one city, after the collapse of organised rubbish collection was followed by a plague of rats. In the 1960s, Madagascar was a confident country with a […]

Benoni boy Philip Holiday has hit boxing’s big time with his recent win over Ivan Robinson BOXING: Gavin Evans Quiet Benoni boy Philip Holiday has suddenly emerged as one of the heavy hitters – financially speaking – among the lightweights of world boxing. He raised the stakes in his division with his emphatic points win […]

Despite the gold price hitting a three-year low, Anglogold chair Bobby Godsell tells Max Gebhardt that he is upbeat about the mining industry At a time when negative sentiment is ruling the market, there is a strange, yet welcome sense of optimism at Anglo American’s gold and uranium division in its Main Street headquarters in […]

The Eastern Cape may have a lot of natural riches, but maladministration makes it a holiday in hell, writes Aspasia Karras The minutes of a staff meeting at the Dwesa nature reserve provide ample proof of the extent of the Eastern Cape’s shambolic state. The final meeting of 1996, which began at 8.30 on a […]

Justin Arenstein The Mpumalanga Parks Board (MPB) has signed an agreement with a foreign conglomerate that contractually obliges it to support the full listing of the commercial rights to some of South Africa’s prime environmental assets on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Assets include the second-biggest canyon in the world, Blyde River Canyon, South Africa’s […]

The test series against India has once again revived all that is magical about cricket Cricket: Jon Swift THE last fortnight has shown that perhaps the greatest thing about this wonderful game of cricket is that it constantly redefines the parameters that ordinarily constrain the edges of sporting excellence. How else would you define the […]

Despite a bad week, Bafana Bafana remain confident of a successful game against Zambia SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi It has not been a good week for the South African World Cup soccer squad with Clive Barker in hospital, Helman Mkhalele nursing an ankle injury and Mark Fish flying back to Rome instead of Lusaka. But disappointing […]

Regional and developmental issues top South Africa’s agenda in the next round of EU negotiations, writes Madeleine Wackernagel After frequent setbacks, the next round of talks between South Africa and the European Union over a trade deal will kick off on January 22. This time, the departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry, jointly […]

Stephen Gray WOZA SHAKESPEARE!: Titus Andronicus in South Africa by Antony Sher and Gregory Doran (Methuen, R130) THERE is a fine South African exclamation to express human sympathy – “ag shame”. Said with a certain tone, it also means “look what you deserve!” Here are poor Tony and Greg, mounting their big Shakespeare number in […]