ruins Amid Renamo ruins At sunrise, Chief Nchiri invokes the ancestors. Sitting with the chief around a sacred pakassa tree are seven men, barefoot and bare-chested. Nchiri has a white cloth draped around his waist. Nchiri explains to the ancestors that builders from Beira want to demolish the ruined houses of Maringu. Many people died […]
David Shapshak Now that Pakistan has shown the world that it could quietly purify enough plutonium for the five nuclear devices it detonated recently – and probably enough for many more – attention is turning to how to divorce nuclear weapons from nuclear power plants. And while conventional nuclear power stations have had a bad […]
FRIDAY 4.30PM: THE African National Congress has welcomed the conviction of former Civil Co-operation Bureau assassin Ferdi Barnard, but has called his comments likening his cause to that of President Mandela “presumptious”. After being sentenced to two life terms and 63 years for murder, attempted murder and fraud, Barnard said: “When President Mandela got sentenced […]
Tangeni Amupadhi Superintendent Jan Brink religiously abides by the proverb that the early bird catches the worm. He says it is the only way he can catch crooked cops napping. So he was up before the crack of dawn on Wednesday morning, travelling to Soweto, Roodepoort and Krugersdorp. His team arrested police in a surprise […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi A new wave of violence is threatening to uproot a fragile peace that has held together for more than four years in the East Rand squatter camp of Phola Park. The recent outbreak has been characterised by assassinations and taxi ambushes in the area, resulting in more than 20 deaths and scores of […]
Shaun de Waal Ken Barris has won the R50 000 M-Net Book Prize in the English category for his novel The Jailer’s Book, published by Kagiso. The win was somewhat unexpected by the author, who said, “Iwas surprised – and grateful for the acknowledgement, bearing in mind how long it took to get the book […]
Charlene Smith Winter is here, time to escape, and there are a number of excellent travel deals available whether you want to stay in South Africa or travel abroad. Seekers Travel says Nationwide Sabena is offering fares from Johannesburg to Cape Town almost half those of its competitors, at R906 return, while to Durban and […]
Peter Makurube When Allen Kwela lost his beloved Gibson, the whole nation was up in arms. The daily paper Sowetan ran an article appealing to the muggers to return that national treasure. The criminals returned the guitar to the paper’s offices – intact. Kwela had been out drinking and was staggering home when a gang […]
trial Dumisani Khumalo Top Zimbabwean politicians and officials are expected to testify in the sodomy trial of former president Canaan Banana, one of the most sensational cases in Zimbabwean criminal history which got under way this week. The witness list includes Vice- President Simon Muzanda; Minister ofEJustice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Emmerson Mnangagwa; two former […]
Alex Dodd Backing down whiskies in preparation for provocative choreographer Robyn Orlin’s Orpheus … I Mean Euridice … I Mean the Natural History of a Chorus Girl, I overhear embarrassed whispers: “What did Orpheus do again? My mythology’s so kak.” About one minute into the show I guess that a refined understanding of Greek mythology […]