The SABC has successfully completed nationwide coverage of the local elections, writes Hazel Friedman ‘What the hell is going on in the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga?” asks a senior South African Broadcasting Corporation television staff member, his voice thick with tension and fatigue. It’s like watching the finals of nine ping-pong matches as the television […]

Northern Province ‘witches’, banished from their communities, huddle together in a tiny village where they eke out a meagre and lonely existence, writes Fumane Diseko A dust road near Pietersburg leads to Helena, an arid and lonely village hidden behind thorn trees. Shacks made in a rush when people first settled have never been improved […]

Karen Harverson South Africa exports more to the French island Reunion than it does to other developing markets such as Chile, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Ghana. “We have a logistical advantage over European countries in the supply of goods to Reunion which is only 2 820km away from South Africa,” says South African Foreign […]

Marion Edmunds A MASSIVE task of re-evaluation and restructuring lies ahead for town, city and rural councils, now that the elections have taken place in most parts of South Africa. While local government has been in a state of flux since the April elections last year, real change in priorities and service delivery can only […]

Rowan Callaghan The informal sector provides jobs for almost two million people, according to research by Unisa’s Bureau of Market Research (BMR). The BMR study found that last year almost 1,6-million, or around 15 percent, of the total South African work force was employed in the informal sector. This sector contributed an estimated R26-billion, or […]

The cinema is considered by many, especially the French, who practically invented it, to be the key art form of the 20th century. Now a century old, its 100th birthday will be celebrated by a special presentation of films beginning at the Seven Arts in Norwood on Wednesday November 8. The season, organised by The […]

Floundering or sinking, which ever way you view it the South African-Iranian oil deal is going nowhere for now, writes Karen Harverson Depending on whom you believe, South Africa’s deal to store and trade Iranian oil has fizzled out — or it has just been suspended pending the outcome of an environmental study on the […]

Filmmaker Adam Louw has been spending his time in a mental home. HAZEL FRIEDMAN reports on an emotional exploration of insanity ‘Why have you brought me here?” The young man stares wildly at the white coats surrounding him. “God will punish you all, I know what His plans are for South Africa.” Tell us, implore […]