Brenda Atkinson You’ve gotta love the Absa Group. This corporate banking crowd has been quietly ploughing money into local contemporary art for, oh, quite some time now. They continued to build the collection initiated by Volkskas in the days when you couldn’t see the bank tellers for the Van Wouws. They’ve endorsed the Volkskas Bank […]
Adam Mars-Jones THE WHEREABOUTS OF ENEAS McNULTY by Sebastian Barry (Picador, R110) Sebastian Barry’s new novel is so full of magnetising beauty that it all but harasses a reader into submission. You can try to protest, to say, “I’m a reader and you’re a book, can we not keep this on a professional basis?”, but […]
Angella Johnson VIEW FROM A BROAD `Hi! I’m Angella and I’m a compulsive overeater.” “Hello Angella. Welcome,” comes the rousing chorus. I look at the 30 eager faces peering expectantly at me and feel a rush of anxiety. You see, I am the new girl. The latest victim. They are almost drooling in anticipation of […]
Alex Sudheim On show in Durban As a storyteller, Alson Ntshangase is more of a Dostoevsky than a Wordsworth. His darkly glowing paintings betray the workings of a mind far more interested in the skull beneath than the skin above. “If I start painting a rose I feel I am wasting my paint because I […]
a game Shaun de Waal Soccer CD of the week When the words “World Cup” come up in conversation, I usually have to ask politely which sport is involved. Okay, it has now been drummed into me that most of the world is presently focusing its attention on a series of soccer games in France. […]
Bongani Siqoko Drunken men and women’s voices rise from the beer hall in Monyakeng township, Wesselbron, about 45km from Kroonstad in the Free State. Life seems normal, but the truth is the exact opposite. This community is grief-stricken and angry over the death of Lethusang Mohloane – whose only sin was to shoot birds on […]
Princess Anne had some. So did the pope. And so did the king and queen of Spain. Mate de coca, that is, or coca tea. It is recommended for anyone arriving at the high altitude of La Paz, the capital of Bolivia in South America. The tea is credited with warding off the side effects […]
Adam Habib: CROSSFIRE There have been a number of innovative and controversial contributions in this column and other sections of the Mail & Guardian about our failure to develop a people- centered democratic transition. First we had John Pilger’s analysis indicting the African National Congress government for taking care of the “haves” and forgetting the […]
David Shapshak Buying a cellphone is easy. Upgrading to a new phone when your contract expires, isn’t. You can either just go out and buy yourself the latest hot item to hit the shelves, or play the sophisticated marketing game which enticed you to buy your contract in the first place: sign up for another […]
Tangeni Amupadhi The People’s Poet, Mzwakhe Mbuli, believes he may have been set up on robbery charges because he was poised to blow the whistle on a drugs and gun-running ring involving top government officials. This week Mbuli shed some light on a smuggling conspiracy between South Africa and Swaziland as a possible reason why […]