The cabinet is split over whether South Africa should send troops to Angola, reports Eddie Koch THE bells that toll for peace in Angola have struck a note of discord in Nelson Mandela’s government. The president — faced with stiff resistance from opposition parties to United Nations requests for troops to help hold the ceasefire […]

Urban Creep have been called an ‘African REM’. Can they live up to it? Luke Alfred reports THERE’S nothing to stop Urban Creep becoming the best band in South Africa. They have a high standard of musicianship, stage presence, some great epic songs and an uncommonly well-articulated vision for the future. They also have a […]

CINEMA: Fabius Burger THERE are amazing explosions in Blown Away. It’s just as well, considering the plot is so silly. A mad bomber (Tommy Lee Jones) kills off members of Boston’s bomb disposal unit, trying to wipe out James Dove (Jeff Bridges) — something to do with trouble back in Belfast. Blown Away is an […]

Steuart Wright in East London SUN City supremo Sol Kerzner is safe from prosecution for bribery — at least for the next seven months Business Age, an overseas magazine, has suggested that Kerzner could escape prosecution following a secret deal with President Nelson Mandela and Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, who the magazine said was a […]

Batting blues: Selectors need to think again after dismal failure against Kiwis CRICKET: Jon Swift THERE are, in the light of South Africa’s 137-run loss to Ken Rutherford’s touring New Zealanders at the Wanderers this week, a number of matters to be pondered. The most pressing of these is the continuing failure of the South […]

What spurred last week’s panic attack at the JSE and what should investors do to prevent future losses? Jacques Magliolo reports BEARS had a field day last week when the Johannesburg Stock Exchange overall index fell a mere 100 points. No sooner had the index fallen in line with Wall Street — on the back […]

Musicians made an impassioned plea for an airplay quota for local music at this week’s IBA hearing. Hazel Friedman was there IF you happened to be walking past Johannesburg’s Mariston Hotel on Tuesday this week, you might have thought you’d stumbled upon a replay of The Concert at Ellis Park. You would have noticed Hugh […]

CINEMA: Shaun de Waal PREPARE yourself for a visual experience unlike anything you have ever seen — Shakespeare for the multi-media age. And if you were repelled by Peter Greenaway’s last film to be released here, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, don’t worry: there’s nothing bilious-making in Prospero’s Books, his adaptation […]

Overall leader Isabelle Autissier is up with the leaders in the first week of the second leg of the BOC Challenge SAILING: Jonathan Spencer Jones TABLE Bay put on her best with clear skies, sparkling seas and a fresh 15 knot south-westerly and over 300 craft turned out to send the fleet on its way […]

RUGBY: Andy Capostagno IT has been well documented that Ireland is a place where the unusual happens on a regular basis. And so when the greatest rugby player of all time walked into the Springbok hotel, ignored the tourists and invited their baggage master to dinner it should really have come as no surprise. When […]