Our critics look at movies to be produced in South Africa this year, and the most hyped of the international releases Andrew Worsdale THIS year promises to be the brightest in years for South Africa’s film industry, with loads of movies in development and several sure to see their first day of shooting some time […]

Marion Edmunds Angola’s peace process needs to be extended by two to three months to give Uniaco Nacional para a (Unita) and Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola (MPLA) leaders more time to negotiate Jonas Savimbi’s role in the Angolan government, said Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen, after a meeting with Savimbi mid- week. […]

The culture in the newly integrated army is still white, causing widespread racial problems. Rehana Rossouw reports AT least four soldiers in the South African National Defence Force are currently being court-martialed on charges of alleging that their commanding officer was racist. The prosecutions appear to reflect widespread race problems in the newly integrated SA […]

circles Marion Edmunds Tension is rising between the intelligence services and their parliamentary watchdog, the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, over the government’s bungling of the appointment of the country’s first inspector general, Louis Skweyiya. As government officials and parliamentarians cast around to find a scapegoat for Skweyiya’s premature resignation – before he had even […]

Golf: Jon Swift It is one of the inevitable facts that, having placed the focus on making the FNB Tour part of the European Circuit, that the major focus on professional golf will centre on three weeks in February. In truth, there is little else that the South African PGA could have done but to […]

Jonathan Romney HERE’S the bad news: 1997 promises to be pretty much like 1996 all over again. Wall- to-wall space aliens and natural disasters. If you can’t face the prospect, you could always hibernate all year with a stout volume of Henry James. But that won’t help you forget the movies – he’s this year’s […]

Lesley Cowling A plan for Russia to train South Africans as astronauts – announced 14 months ago amid much fanfare – has run into financial difficulties, with both countries reluctant to foot the bill. On a visit to South Africa at the end of 1995, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets told Deputy President […]

The South African cricket authorities are to be congratulated for their achievements with regard both to the victories of Hansie Cronje’s men against India in the present series and the development of the game as a truly national sport. But if our cricketers are showing the way where both sporting prowess and racial integration are […]

Gustav Thiel The avalanche of sightseers and tourists wanting to visit Robben Island could result in permanent damage to the marine environment on the island. This warning comes from the island’s temporary administrator, Professor Andre Odendaal, and the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront’s harbour master Bill Shewell. Odendaal said he was working on a tight schedule […]

Tim Radford Genetics researchers have confirmed something which has been Holy Writ in Israel for 3 300 years. They have examined the Y chromosomes of Jewish priests and found they are, indeed, different from the rest of the Jewish people. According to Jewish tradition, priests – as distinct from rabbis –are descended from Aaron, brother […]