Jean-Marc Ela: A SECOND LOOK The paradigm of bankruptcy has become the context for every analysis of modern Africa’s economic and social history. Samir Amin evokes this picture: “The 1960s were marked by the great hope that we were at the start of an irreversible process of development throughout the Third World, and especially Africa. […]

DAVID LE PAGE, Johannesburg | Friday 9.00pm. THE Lesotho government has washed its hands of the issue of 30 Lesotho Defence Force soldiers arrested on charges of mutiny, saying the law must take its course. But the opposition, which has demanded the soldiers’ release, is arguing that the soldiers’ mutiny was a political issue and […]

Moving into Dance, now 20 years old, led the way to a truly South African dance style, writes Shaun de Waal This week, with a series of performances at the Wits Theatre, Moving into Dance celebrates its 20th anniversary. Begun in the garage of choreographer Sylvia Glasser’s Victory Park home, with classes three nights a […]

The Nobel laureate’s visit to Lagos is the embodiment of hope and as good as a permanent return, Alex Duval Smith reports from Lagos After four years in exile, Nigeria’s most high-profile campaigner against military rule, Wole Soyinka, came home on Wednesday night. All the men and women guarding Lagos airport made sure their fatigues […]

reserve’ land A new land law is set to overturn decades of paternalistic land relations between the state and more than 70 000 people living on former “coloured reserves” in the Western Cape and surrounding provinces. But similar legislation for former black homeland residents is still bogged down in “consultations”. Department of Land Affairs Director […]

He is wanted in Italy and the US, but the SAPS can’t reel in Vito Palazzolo, writes Chiara Carter Red tape stands between convicted Mafia money launderer Vito Palazzolo and an Italian courtroom. The Ministry of Justice said this week that Italian authorities asked for Palazzolo to be extradited earlier this year on the basis […]

hemp You’ve heard of lager, pilsener, draught and stout. Now there’s hemp beer. It’s called Hanf (“hemp” in German), made by Wdi Bru in Switzerland, and it’s finally available in South Africa (Cape Town and Gauteng only). At the third birthday party of Pretoria pita bar and reggae club Tings an’ Times on October 10, […]

Angella Johnson It was not the welcome South African backpacker David Martin (23) expected when he tried to enter Morocco during his 16-month adventure-packed tour across the continent. Despite having a valid visa, the University of Cape Town graduate was stopped at a military border post, marched through a minefield and forced to wait four […]

Giles Foden THE CATASTROPHIST by Ronan Bennett (Headline Review) Those who suspected Ronan Bennett of being a novelist who lets his political enthusiasms – Irish republicanism, social justice – rein in the impulse towards a more elastic, heartfelt fiction will not have their suspicions confirmed by his new novel. Set in Congo before and after […]

With the approach of Nelson Mandela’s retirement commentators will soon be offering their epitaphs on the political career of a president who will no doubt be long remembered as South Africa’s greatest leader.