A post template

No image available
/ 1 October 2004

The stuff of life

Robert Altman is often described as a maverick, an iconoclast, idiosyncratic in his filmmaking and, as a result, films can look unstructured. That’s because the bits he likes best are the mistakes, he tells Suzie Mackenzie.

No image available
/ 1 October 2004

It’s official: Matric is easier

It’s a matter of official record: matric exams are becoming easier. This was confirmed last week by Peliwe Lolwane, CEO of Umalusi, the independent body tasked with certifying the matric exams. A report released on September 21 on Umalusi’s research into standards of the matric exams stated that ”higher pass rates are not a sign of examinations becoming easier”.

No image available
/ 1 October 2004

Punch and Judy ‘promotes domestic violence’

A puppeteer who has been putting on his Punch and Judy show for English children for the past 15 years is likely to have his show banned by councillors in the Cornish town of Bodmin in southwestern England. Bodmin’s Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre had bombarded Reg Payn (48) the town’s officially licensed puppeteer with leaflets on domestic violence, The Times reported on Friday.

No image available
/ 1 October 2004

Perlemoen syndicate feels Scorpions sting

In what the Scorpions described as an ”historic development” the elite unit registered the Western Cape’s first racketeering and money laundering conviction against the ”Marx syndicate”. Members of the notorious perlemoen smuggling gang were convicted in the Hermanus Regional Court on Thursday afternoon, said Scorpions spokesperson Sipho Ngwema.

No image available
/ 1 October 2004

Zimbabwe civic groups raise concerns over electoral law

Zimbabwe’s civic and electoral groups on Thursday said they were concerned over a proposed electoral law that would give President Robert Mugabe the power to appoint key members of a commission overseeing elections. The groups told a parliamentary committee in the capital they were also worried that the law did not adequately address issues around electoral violence, conflict resolution and voter education.

No image available
/ 1 October 2004

No one to fill Leon’s shoes

Tony Leon is assured of continued leadership of the official opposition Democratic Alliance because there is no one else in the party ready — or willing — to fill his shoes. This is the overwhelming consensus among public representatives after former Western Cape education minister Helen Zille had been approached by public representatives to run against him. But she’s made it clear she would not stand.

No image available
/ 1 October 2004

‘Lost tribe’ gets land back

Hadima Ebrahim Ally (72) can’t remember the last time she felt this elated. Casting her eyes over the cheering crowds and beyond, to the city skyline and harbour in the distance, the great grandmother adjusts her hijab (scarf) and beams. A land claim victory is a homecoming for a Durban community descended from Zanzibari slaves.