Alex Sudheim There’s a point in the closing song of no more heavy that serves as a rough telescope through which to view Sunways’ music as a whole: Standstill is a spooky, minimal song for most of its six-minute duration which suddenly detonates with explosive force. It’s 4am inertia blues until it takes a hit […]

us) Douglas Rushkoff: ONLINE As millions in America sat down to their Thanksgiving turkey dinners last week, we celebrated a shamelessly mythologised reconstruction of our continent’s history. According to the well-ingrained but now-disputed legend, the pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving was communal in spirit, a demonstration of the debt they owed the native Americans who taught them […]

ANN EVELETH, Johannesburg | Friday 1.00pm. KWAZULU-Natal’s new director of public prosecutions, advocate Mokotedi Mpshe, took office on Tuesday ahead of a disciplinary hearing that could result in his being struck from the roll. Mpshe, who faces seven counts of professional misconduct in a Pretoria Bar Council disciplinary hearing which is set to resume on […]

Martin Walker in Brussels The European Union is to send a high- powered delegation to its tiny neighbours, from Switzerland to Monaco and from Andorra to Liechtenstein, to persuade them not to become tax havens and to join Europe’s plans for automatic withholding of taxes on non- national bank accounts. For tiny countries like San […]

Friday night: Nashen Moodley Being a Durbanite recently arrived in Johannesburg somehow necessitates being constantly regaled with tales of malicious muggings and wanton violence. The locals seem to take to this (supposedly educative) task with much glee and I was told, quite matter-of- factly, that I would be attacked before the weekend was out. The […]

Andy Colquhoun Rugby Let us pause before the dogs of war are loosed at Twickenham on Saturday to consider the game’s most important personality. A person who won’t even be on the field. If South Africa were to miss out on their bid for a rare Grand Slam – and for all the bullish talk […]

Tangeni Amupadhi Police in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs, including Alexandra, may have found the right ointment for their Achilles heel – carjacking. The men in blue have cut by half hijacking incidents in the past three months with an innovative crime- fighting initiative. The new plan circumvents the usual excuses about lack of manpower and resources. […]

Gregory Mthembu-Salter French President Jacques Chirac looked particularly pleased with himself when he announced progress towards a ceasefire in the Congo at the Paris Franco-African summit last week, but in reality the chances are slim. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s President, Laurent Desire Kabila, resumed his fighting talk immediately after the Paris discussions. Rebels in […]

Ferial Haffajee Veteran journalist Allister Sparks will leave the SABC at the end of December. He announced his departure to staff this week – a move which will leave SABC’s new 24-hour news channel without a leader just two weeks after its launch. Television CEO Molefe Mokgatle on Monday sent a letter to Sparks informing […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 2.30pm. MATRICULATION students whose mother tongue is an African language will have their examination results adjusted upwards to compensate for their having to write exams in a second language, the South African Certification Board said on Friday. SACB spokesperson Fred Calitz said the new policy comes as a result of […]