THE little girl’s head was jerked back, seeming to stare longingly up the hill toward those who had fled without her. In the town below, young thugs pranced through the streets celebrating her brutal death. One of them had skewered the child through the throat as they hunted down people who had once been their […]

David Beresford WHATEVER the cause of the Samora Machel air crash, there is one scandal involving the actions of the South African authorities which has not been fully exposed – relating to Mozambique state documents on board the aircraft. A little more than a week after the crash a diplomatic row blew up with allegations […]

Mac Maharaj details his department’s new plan to modernise all aspects of South Africa’s transport management WE all take the existence of roads, railways, airports and harbours for granted and only curse the inconvenience when confronted by traffic jams, accidents, ungovernable taxis and airport strikes. Still, in our better moments, most of us believe that […]

Alan Finlay TWILIGHT OF THE IDOLS by Phil Crow (Wordsure, R20); THE END OF THE LINE by Craig Lock (Minerva, R49,99); AFTER THE ECLIPSE by Tom Rymour (Discobolus Readware, R70) SET in the English department of a certain Rondebosch University, Twilight of the Idols is an uneven text of sometimes accomplished ideas but, on the […]

South Africa’s tourism industry has massive potential but a few greedy operators could kill the golden goose, David Shapshak and Rehana Rossouw report Cape Town is fast becoming one of the most expensive tourist destinations in the world with widespread profiteering in its hospitality industry. While South Africa’s tourism industry has the potential to generate […]

Hazel Friedman VIDEO might have killed the radio star, according to the Buggles – that irritating bubblegum group of the1980s. But at the opening of Scramble, an exhibition on the video as art medium, not even the most sophisticated of techno-conceptual strategies could match the power of live performance. This took the form of a […]

Glynis O’Hara QKUMBA ZOO have lost the “C” in their QCumba – but not the “Q” in their quirk. Arista Records in New York has decided the “K” makes more sense – otherwise people go round saying “QSumba Zoo”, they say. To which one can only reply – what school did these people go to? […]

A SMALL shopping centre in suburban Pretoria seems an unlikely spot for a restaurant specialising in African South African cuisine. You’d expect an antique shop in such a centre, perhaps, a caf, a post office, a select bookshop. But Ntombi Msimang chose the site for Safika carefully. She opened two months ago in Maroelana, a […]

Andy Duffy AROUND 8 500 Gauteng medical staff are to be redeployed or retrenched in a dramatic shake up of the province’s 35 hospitals. Three hospitals will close by February and seven – including Hillbrow -will be replaced with clinics or maternity centures. Staff at others – including Johnnesburg General and Baragwanath – will be […]

BORIS YELTSIN has blundered into new danger by his inept resolution of the Kremlin power struggle. Security chief General Alexander Lebed may be shrouded in darkness, but so are those who are attacking him. Lebed has at least brought a sort of peace to Chechnya. His principal opponent, Interior Minister General Anatoly Kulikov, had brought […]