Ann Eveleth PROVINCIAL and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mohammed Valli Moosa tried to control the ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal conference with an iron fist, but had to back down from plans to handpick a provincial secretary amid accusations that he was violating the party’s constitution. Delegates to the weekend conference in Durban said Valli Moosa delivered a National […]

The Cape Town Bid company will be rolling out the red carpet for the International Olympic Committee’s evaluation commission this week. But not everybody in the city welcomes the bid Julian Drew THE International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Evaluation Commission is due to fly into Cape Town at 7.35 on Friday (December 6) – its last […]

A proposal to hold truth hearings into the media has provoked much argument, writes Jacquie Golding-Duffy THERE is consensus among editors that the media should be investigated for the role it played during the apartheid era, but there are differing opinions on whether the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is the correct platform for the […]

BEAUTIFUL CAPE TOWN: Fine Music “Voices” (GSE Claremont) PUT Emma Eenzi as Aida, Sally Presant as Carmen, and Aviva Pelham as Cherubino on a disc and you have not only a winner but also a historic document that captures the often under-appreciated artistry of these singers. As if that is not enough to tempt buyers, […]

Shirley Kossick THE LAW OF LOVE by Laura Esquivel(Chatto and Windus, R89,95) HERE’S the solution to your Christmas shopping dilemma if you’ve been hesitating between books and CDs. The Law of Love is a multi-media novel (the first, the publishers claim) which comes complete with a CD of Puccini arias and Mexican danzones, as well […]

stage Andrew Clements in London TEN singers, 16 actors, a hundred musicians, three film screens and a theatre space divided into several acting areas … No wonder it took three decades for Bernd Alois Zimmerman’s landmark contemporary opera Die Soldaten to premiere in London. First staged in Cologne in 1965, the widely celebrated opera has […]

Zimbabwe faces embarrassment over illegal ivory sales, reports Iden Wetherell in Harare ZIMBABWE’S record of ivory management has been described as “grossly inadequate” by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) just six months before the Geneva-based organisation is due to hold a major conference in Harare. The Zimbabwean government has said it […]

At the heart of Italy’s largest industrial grouping, profits and reputations are being damaged, writes John Glover IN the opulent surroundings of Turin’s snooty Circolo del Whist (whist club), Republican Italy’s version of a royal family met for its annual dinner last week. The meal was hosted by Avvocato Gianni Agnelli, the patriarch of the […]

Is there such a thing as international competitiveness? Paul Krugman thinks many of the arguments are bunk. Ben Laurance looks at his thesis DEBATES about international trade are, Paul Krugman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggests, “a study in confusion and misconceptions, in which the `experts’ are usually misinformed about the most basic facts […]

Dan Wylie LIGHT VERSE AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL by Gus Ferguson (David Philip, R29) WITH a bit of selective quotation, you could even argue that Gus Ferguson is a serious poet: Life is but a gift of time Spent in gathering evidence Against the summons for the crime Of wasting that inheritance. Or, […]