Ken Barris THE LOSTNESS OF ALICE by John Conyngham (Ad Donker) The Lostness of Alice, the third novel by KwaZulu-Natal author John Conyngham, is placed on the cusp of South Africa’s transition. FW de Klerk is still in power, negotiations are proceeding in fits and starts, and the pariah status of the country is only […]

Phillip Kakaza Can art depict a people’s identity? This was a question that I kept toying with after viewing the San Art exhibition now showing at Absa Art Gallery in downtown Johannesburg. At first the bright, multi-hued surfaces seem almost to resist analysis. One is totally taken in by the surface qualities of colour and […]

Loose cannon: Robert Kirby Like a lot of other South African men, I was pleasantly amused by Suzanne Daley’s often humorous quips about how diffident we South African males have been when it has come to keeping up with the life-needs of the ladies in our midst (“I’ll Have To Ask My Husband”, October 16 […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni An independent mediator is to be appointed to intervene in the ongoing conflict at the troubled University of the Western Cape (UWC), amid fears that final examinations may not take place. Final examinations have already been postponed for two weeks, and the administration has not yet set a new date for […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kinshasa | Friday 11.30pm. FIGHTING is on in earnest between Democratic Republic of Congo troops and rebels in the south-eastern province of Katanga. President Laurent Kabila’s troops and their allies launched an attack with heavy weapons on rebel forces in the region of Kabalo and Nyunzu in the north of the province, according […]

Stuart Hess Ayanda Ntsaluba does not enjoy the limelight. But his new position as director general of health has thrust him into the public eye. Minister of Health Nkosazana Zuma appointed Ntsaluba three weeks ago. He replaces Olive Shisana, who left the department in June this year in the wake of the Sarafina II scandal. […]

The Gay and Lesbian Film Festival turns five this year, and it promises to be bigger and better than ever, with one of the highlights being a local documentary on a gay activist Andrew Worsdale During the late 1980s and early 1990s filmmakers like Gus van Sant, Derek Jarman and Monica von Treut, together with […]

Uganda’s president may still be popular, writes Mercedes Sayagues, but ethnic mistrust and corruption are poisoning the country When the 5Y-ANV Islander plane carrying Lieutenant Colonel Jet Mwebaze crashed in the Rwenzori mountains of southeastern Uganda last month, five lives, a stash of money – said to be US$1-million – and the reputation of the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 11.50pm. SOUTH African tennis star Wayne Ferreira trounced world number three and US Open champion Pat Rafter in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 at the Lyon Grand Prix tennis tournament on Friday. Ferreira will play fourth seeded Spaniard Alex Corretja in the semifinals on Saturday. The South African has now won […]