TELEVISION: Jacquie Golding-Duffy SOME people regard Rescue 911, the American show that follows police, paramedics and/or firemen on emergency calls as a “gripping show” where ordinary people are recorded in moments of absolute terror. The show, say some, offers descriptions of unbelievably scary moments, of stories thatdefy belief and keep viewers glued to their seats; […]

Arts appointee Okwui Enwezor shares his vision with HAZEL FRIEDMAN The Yoruba term “esu ulegba” means trickster. It refers to people who slip through the net of definition, avoid closure of any kind and serve as commentators on the vanities of those who take themselves far too seriously. The trickster is not unlike the wise […]

South Africa has reached the last lap of its Constitution-making process, but the court’s judgment of the text means setbacks for the ANC and frustration for Inkatha. Marion Edmunds The rejection of the Constitution’s chapter on local government by the Constitutional Court has provoked consternation among African National Congress negotiators — because it interferes with […]

With the International Film Festival opening this Friday, ANDREW WORSDALE takes a look at the past, present and future of SA film festivals THE International Film Festival which opens this week is the baby of Len Davis, the man who started the Johannesburg Film Festival back in 1977. It played at the beautiful Monte Carlo […]

Marion Edmunds Fears that the country will lose the essential skills of its scientists, engineers and technicians is driving a government investigation into the brain-drain from the public sector. And while the science and technology division of the Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Department has already launched a formal investigation into its skills losses, other […]

Bronwen Jones BANKERS and broadcasters were this week introduced to a little Xhosa mythology by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, at the multiple launch in Johannesburg of 40 new books. He was not reading from one of the stories just published, but was using the example of the terrible Impundulo bird to explain the destructiveness of […]

Last week’s Body Politic conference in Johannesburg radically altered the image of the crusty old academy, writes JAMES SEY THE Department of Psychology at Wits University and Unisa recently co-hosted an intriguing two day event at the atmospheric old Wits Medical School building in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. Dubbed The Body Politic, it is the second annual […]

THEATRE: Gwen Ansell THE poet sits mute in a chair while the secret policeman berates him for writing poems which incite “raised fists at memorial services in Regina Mundi”. Not surprising, you might think, in a play staged as a tribute to the late Steven Bantu Biko, murdered 19 years ago. Only halfway through the […]

ANC members who are under investigation by the party are involved in the company alleged to be behind the bid to pay for the ill-fated Aids play. Stefaans BrUmmer and Ann Eveleth report THE investment company named in this week’s controversy over the ill-fated R10,5-million Sarafina II rescue bid is run by a motley crew […]

Mail & Guardian Reporters PUBLIC Protector Selby Baqwa’s baptism of fire over the Sarafina II debacle has drawn a mixed reception from political parties and commentators. The Inkatha Freedom Party slammed his performance, saying Baqwa had been “unfair to the public which demands transparency”. The party’s health study group deputy chair, Jeanette Wilikazi, said he […]