approaching Greg Barrow in Zanzibar FOR more than 200 years, giant Aldabra tortoises have thrived on Prison Island, a small coral atoll just off the coast of Zanzibar that was once used as a detention centre for disobedient slaves. When explorer David Livingstone established his expedition headquarters in Zanzibar in 1866, he may well have […]

Marion Edmunds PETER GODWIN, author of the bestselling book Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa, has slated the TV series Rhodes for judging a man of yesterday by the morals of today. “Rhodes is a stirring and affecting television production, beautifully filmed, but it feels like a work overwhelmed by … the very worst interpretation […]

JAZZ: Gwen Ansell IT’S the Wednesday before his first Johannesburg concert and Courtney Pine shivers beside a wall outside the Parktonian Hotel as rain clouds loom. “The guys all brought shorts and stuff. Is the weather real?” Courtney Pine ambles out from side-stage at Mega Music, casually blowing soprano sax, about halfway through the first […]

With advertising averaging R166-million, the local tobacco industry has refused to voluntarily withdraw its ad campaigns, reports Gillian Farquhar THIS week the Tobacco Institute of Southern Africa denied that the countries’ tobacco companies would voluntarily withdraw their advertising next year. It was speculated in advertising and marketing circles that this move, recently attempted by American […]

Olympic 800m silver medallist Hezekial Sepeng was asked to sign a contract which stipulated how often, how fast and against whom he would race in South Africa, writes Julian Drew ATHLETICS SOUTH AFRICA (ASA), the body with overall responsibility for the sport in the country, tried to rig races for the forthcoming season involving Olympic […]

`THE isolation cell is usually a small, windowless room, perhaps with a tiny observation window or peephole in the door. It generally has no carpeting or furniture, and either a cement block or a thin mattress or mat on the cement floor provides the sleeping space. There is usually an open toilet and sometimes a […]

Two South African women have been nominated for Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s job, reports Ann Eveleth TWO South African women – parliamentary Speaker Frene Ginwala and Judge Navi Pillay – have been nominated for the position of secretary general of the United Nations. Women’s rights activists proposed them, and they are among six candidates put forward by […]

Stuart Hess AS the shattered community at Stilfontein started recovering from the violence which left at least 24 dead, it emerged that police at the miners’ settlement have been told to shoot any miners caught inciting violence. “Police have been given the right to kill,” said Sixtus Sethunya, senior hostel personnel assistant at Scott Hostel, […]

This week Jean-Paul Akayesu became the first Hutu to go on trial for the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994, reports Chris McGreal JOSEPHINE MUKANKUSI cannot even look back on her wedding with happiness for she remembers who was there. Her brother was just a young boy when she married in 1970. Even so, […]

Damon Hill joins a list of great racing names when he attempts to clinch the world championship in the last race of the season MOTOR RACING: Richard Williams DAMON HILL’s long quest for the Formula One world championship will go down to the wire but at least the odds keep improving. By finishing second to […]