Gavin Evans Boxing When you combine the words Namibia and sport, the only connection that springs to mind is Frankie Fredericks. There is, however, another young man – a close friend of the track star as it happens – who believes he’s on track to equal the achievements of his brilliant homeboy: Harry Simon. This […]

disarray Howard Barrell Politicians from all major parties and some international relations experts are worried by what they see as disarray in South African foreign policy exposed by the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They believe the impasse is undermining the country’s interests in the region and could mar President Nelson Mandela’s hosting […]

Adam Mars-Jones GUT SYMMETRIES by Jeanette Winterson (Granta) This novel (now in paperback) from a commendably retiring writer – it is known that she doesn’t read reviews of her work – repeats a number of themes from previous books:the deathliness of habit and the everyday, sexual triangles, a city viewed as phantasmagorical, the serviceability of […]

Michael Finch Athletics South Africa’s dreams of hosting the World Cup soccer competition in 2002 could well be decided in Johannesburg from September 11-13 when the athletics version of the World Cup takes place at the Johannesburg stadium. The event will be more than just the third biggest track and field festival in the world […]

Small is not just beautiful, but dutiful. Tim Radford reports on the coming of the almost invisible machine The new machines are millimetres big at the most. Their moving parts are microscopic: the size of pollen grains. The first may have already saved your life on the road and the latest may already be saving […]

The winds of change that have blown through the SABC seem to have bypassed the commissioning department, writes Ferial Haffajee It is 1976 and television has just hit our shores. The Broederbond has decreed that it be a totally bilingual operation. But the problem is there is nary an Afrikaans producer in sight. The commissioning […]

Sarah Penny INTO THE HOUSE OF THE ANCESTORS by Karl Maier (John Wiley & Sons) EATING THE FLOWERS OF PARADISE by Kevin Rushby (Constable) Last year Nelson Mandela made the following statement: “The time has come for Africa to take full responsibility for her woes and use the immense collective wisdom it possesses to make […]

Black empowerment threatens to turn South Africa into another East Asia, writes Ben Turok President Nelson Mandela’s recent statement at the National Council of Provinces that he will root out of the government “those who betray the calling of the public service” and who enrich themselves, and his attack on the culture of entitlement, gives […]

scoundrels? In the course of researching this article, I telephoned a former colleague in London who is responsible for organising much of the foreign coverage on an international financial publication. I have often used him as a sounding- board for ideas and arguments, and I asked his thoughts on the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). He was […]

As `sell-thru’ video takes off in South Africa, the complete Tintin series has been released on video. Charl Blignaut spent 20 hours in front of his TV Everyone has their favourite Tintin moment. Permanently etched in my memory are those huge red and white mushrooms in The Shooting Star exploding into life on a small […]