A new film on Cape Town’s homeless people takes the viewer on ‘a moral obstacle race’. Lauren Shantal reports ‘My name is Yvonne and I drink wine. And I like to smoke dagga.” When the mic is wrested from the compere and the evening begins with an assertion like this, you know that decorum and […]

Andy Capostagno : Cricket Contrary to what you may have thought, the cricket season began this week. Specifically it began on Tuesday night at around 7.30pm in the Long Room at the Wanderers, the occasion being the launch of The Mutual and Federal South African Cricket Annual 1998. The provinces have been applying WD40 to […]

Wally Mbhele Before his arrest in Mozambique eight months ago, foreign affairs official Robert McBride was approached by Gauteng Premier Mathole Motshekga’s representative to take over from former MEC for safety and security Jessie Duarte. McBride is understood to have turned the offer down, citing his commitment to his foreign affairs job. But since his […]

LEWIS MACHIPISA, Harare | Friday 7.30pm. PICKETING Harare city council workers on Friday burnt the Zimbabwean national flag and assaulted the deputy mayor as they vetted their anger over the non-payment of their October salaries. The workers have vowed not to return to work unless they get their wages. They also are calling for the […]

Andrew Worsdale : Movie of the week If, like myself and many others, you are tired of African-American films that are full of violence, drugs and depressing representations of the black community, you’ll take a shine to Eve’s Bayou. The story revolves around a 10-year-old girl who seems to have the perfect family: a father […]

Alex Duval Smith Hundreds of people have been killed along the Nigerian coast, tens of thousands have been forced from their homes, and oil production – crucial to the country’s economy – has been cut by a quarter by an escalation of unrest that shows signs of civil war. The conflict began a month ago […]

Mark Rozzo THE SURGEON OF CROWTHORNE by Simon Winchester (Viking) In 1879, James Murray, an expert on the dialects of his native Scotland and the recently appointed editor of The New Dictionary on Historical Principles, called for volunteers from Britain, the United States and the colonies to help create the first complete dictionary of the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Freetown | Friday 7.30pm. FODAY Sankoh, the rebel leader who waged war against four Sierra Leonean governments and described himself as a “man of peace”, was sentenced to death on treason and murder charges in Freetown High Court on Friday. The leader of the Revolutionary United Front launched his rebellion in […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday 2.30pm. PARLIAMENT on Friday afternoon approved Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma’s widely contested Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill, which bars all tobacco advertising and smoking in public places. The strict anti-smoking legislation pushes South Africa into the ranks of the world’s most smoker-unfriendly countries. Parliament’s ratification of the bill brings […]

Genevieve Fox: FIRST PERSON Sarah Monie is 18 years old. She lost her virginity at 15, married at 16, divorced a year later. A one-night stand in a nightclub resulted in the birth of her daughter, Olivia, now 15 months old. Monie’s aim had been to get pregnant and bring up the child on her […]