James Sey The last week in July saw a flourish of high-profile events to launch the new University of the Witwatersrand Graduate School for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Conceived of as a productive and market-related new way of approaching humanities and social science tertiary education, the graduate school is seen as the flagship of […]
Howard Barrell Over a Barrel If the Almighty and I were acquainted – which, sadly, we are not – I would, I am sure, reserve most of my prayers for the inadequacies of my own life. But I know, after just three weeks based in Parliament, that I would regularly be moved to seek heavenly […]
Banks don’t like risks, but this year’s FNB-Vita Art Prize winner is the exception, writes Brenda Atkinson If controversy increases exponentially with an event’s public success, then the recently re-launched FNB-Vita Art Prize is on the right track to the artworld jugular. Last week’s announcement of perverse performance artist Steven Cohen as the competition’s winner […]
Bobby Peek The survival of the constitutional right to a healthy environment depends on the outcome of an unprecedented battle raging through almost every ministry and department of the government. The executive branch is debating the fate of the draft National Environmental Management Bill. Will the Bill vindicate the constitutional right to “an environment that […]
Bridget Hilton-Barber looks at South Africa’s achievements in women empowerment Have women in Parliament done more than add a dose of colour and culture change to the staid Parliament of old? Has life changed for the average South African woman? If laws and government policies were the sole barometer of improvements, yes. Equality is guaranteed […]
Ann Eveleth Recruited into the United Democratic Front in 1989 and booted out of the African National Congress eight years later, United Democratic Movement general secretary Sifiso Nkabinde is a classic case study of the theory that it’s better to have someone inside your tent pissing out than outside pissing in. It took a virtual […]
Gill Moodie The government has taken the first steps towards unravelling the mess that is its information technology (IT) – and the good news for taxpayers is that government services are likely to become cheaper and faster as a result. The master plan, unveiled recently by the Department of Public Service and Administration, kicks off […]
All Africa Three South African entries have been selected among the 23 films chosen by film awards advisor Lionel Ngakane to compete in this year’s 11th M-Net All Africa Film Awards. The three local films – Chikin Biznis: The Whole Story; Kaalgat Tussen die Daisies and The Sexy Girls – were selected together with the […]
Matthew Krouse The profile of Boer women encouraged by historians was one of quiet endurance, of hard times in British concentration camps at the turn of the century. This is in sharp contrast to the picture of the Boer woman as a bearer of arms, in khaki fatigues, fighting a guerrilla war – but that […]
Ferial Haffajee The wife of the SABC editor who commissioned the soapie Avenues stars in the programme and had a leading role in its casting and scripting. Penny Rodel also rents office space from A&P Productions, which makes the weekly soap. She used the name Penny Smith for this programme alone. Pieter de Vos, the […]