While generally a delight, last weekend’s battle of the choirs exhibited the same mistakes that have been made for the last 17 years, argues Vuyo Mvoko LIKE the Muslim community’s yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, the annual finals of the Old Mutual National Choir Festival at the Standard Bank Arena have proved to be a major […]

THEATRE: Stanley Peskin Presented on Broadway in 1992 and now by Pact Opera as its Christmas attraction, Crazy for You is modelled on Girl Crazy (1930). The original musical comedy followed the bright, witty pattern of the old Princess Theatre attractions — only, according to Guy Bolton, the librettist of Girl Crazy, on a larger […]

Manu Dibango’s new album offers a crash course in contemporary African music, writes Steve Gordon WAKAFRIKA is a Manu Dibango opus — an album of African classics by one of Africa’s classics. Wakafrika? Vuka Afrika! This is a collection of anthems African, Africanised and Africaine. Recorded during 1993, the album was a 60th birthday project […]

Judge Pierre Olivier rejected a seven-year sentence for a rapist because the victim `suffered no serious injury’. Gaye Davis reports AS Mr Justice Pierre Olivier was being interviewed for an Appeal Court post this week, it emerged that a rapist whose jail sentence was set aside in a controversial decision by the judge has been […]

The first opportunity to introduce substantial change to the Appellate Court presented itself this week as the Judicial Service Commission interviewed candidates for three vacancies in that decrepit institution. What do we find? That all the candidates are white males, and at least two are the subject of some considerable controversy. Mr Justice Kees van […]

Trade and Industry Minister Trevor Manuel is pushing hard for better access for South African exports. Reg Rumney reports TRADE and Industry Minister Trevor Manuel, just returned from Brussels, says he is hopeful that South Africa will get preferential treatment for exports in terms of the Lome convention. Manuel was in Europe doing what he […]

DONNA SUMMER: Endless Summer (Casablanca) DONNA SUMMER’S fourth greatest-hits package, no less, contains little that wasn’t on the first three, but it does serve to remind why she was the undisputed queen of what was once called disco. Her voice was enormous, and was never better than when she dropped it to a Barry White-like […]

Rick Rubin’s American Recordings label kicks off its South African campaign with a loud, rude roar, writes Buddy Bradley YOU are a young man, only 31 years of age. Once you were fat and ugly. Then you dieted. Now you are merely large and hairy. But no matter. Nights, you can be seen in your […]

Military leaders usually know when to attack. Only the best of them know when to retreat. The SANDF waited too long before backing off this week from its attempt to seek judicial review of the Cameron Commission’s decision to release certain sensitive documents to the public. This newspaper had already published an earlier version of […]

THERE were times during the Million Dollar Challenge when Dennis Bruyns must have been the most disliked man at Sun City. For it was Bruyns, former PGA tournament director and a one-time touring professional, who was the man behind the sometimes devillish pin placements across the four days of the tournament. “My philosophy about pin […]