South Africa’s film industry has exploded on to the world stage with a spate of award-winning movies in the space of a few weeks. The domestic audience, though, remains in Hollywood’s thrall. Yesterday, the poignant tale of a woman infected with the Aids virus, narrowly missed out on an Oscar for best foreign language film. It was the first South African film to be nominated for an Oscar.
South African stars Natalie du Toit, Handri de Beer and Charles Bouwer showed just why they were part of the national team to the Paralympics in Athens last year, as the SA records kept crashing at the Nedbank Championships for the Physically Disabled in Durban on Monday.
Top seed Lindsay Davenport resorted to a plea for divine intervention on Monday as wind whipped desert sand around the court at the dust-plagued ,1-million Indian Wells Masters. The top seed, like 2004 men’s finalist Tim Henman, another who did it tough in gales of more than 50kph, survived what turned quickly into an unpleasant competitive experience.
A South African battalion commander will probably be sent home after alleged involvement in sexual misconduct in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), News24 reported on Tuesday. The South African Defence Force said the United Nations was investigating charges against ”a member of the South African contingent in the DRC”.
Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa on Monday announced the department’s plan to encourage the formation of co-operatives as part of government’s job creation strategy. ”Internationally we have seen how co-operatives are an important part of many economies and the contribution they make to society,” said Mpahlwa.
Operations at Spoornet are ”settling down” and the rail utility is on track with its planned improvements, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said on Monday. Speaking at Spoornet’s offices in Johannesburg, he told journalists that Spoornet was moving forward after years of under-investment.
After almost 14 years the Masterbond curatorship was concluded by an order of the Cape High Court on Monday. The three Masterbond curators said in a statement their appointment had been cancelled by the court order, subject to certain conditions.
Prosecutors are asking a judge to permit evidence at Phil Spector’s murder trial that the record producer has a history of pulling guns on women, according to court filings. The prosecution motion lists nine occasions dating to 1972 when Spector allegedly pointed a gun at someone.
Most South Africans are proud to be South African, but race relations remain fraught, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) has found. The findings, in the council’s <i>South African Social Attitudes Survey</i>, raise the question of whether an overarching national identity really matters for the formation of a united, non-racist society, said the HSRC’s Marlene Roefs.
Relations between Japan and South Korea neared breaking point on Monday over renewed claims by Tokyo to sovereignty over a cluster of uninhabited islands in the Sea of Japan. Faced with continued violent protests in Seoul — during which two women cut off their fingers — Japan recalled its ambassador to South Korea, Toshiyuki Takano.