Gary Younge in Makeni The rebels came for Kulo Korban on Saturday night. They left him with a letter and took away three of his fingers and both ears. “I was asleep when I heard a knock on the door. Then four men kicked it down and dragged me away. They tied me to a […]
James Wood A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR by John Irving (Bloomsbury, R130) Realism gives John Irving a good name: he is lucky to hitch his wagon to it. Since The World According to Garp (1978), Irving has been praised for the “realism” of his novels – for their tossed plots, for the fat suffusions of […]
Andy Capostagno Rugby Ian McIntosh is one of the nicest men I know. He has one Achilles heel. Rugby. He is so passionate about rugby it makes him ill. At King’s Park in Durban he sits two boxes down from the commentators with his brains trust of Hugh Reece-Edwards and Craig Jamieson. Thus ensconced he […]
Swapna Prabhakaran Race relations among advocates in KwaZulu-Natal have deteriorated to the brink of segregation, with disgruntled black members of the Society of Advocates of Natal forming an association to protect their interests. Thirty-two black advocates from Durban recently attended a blacks- only meeting and formed the new association, which aims to work within the […]
The World Economic Forum’s Southern African economic summit in Windhoek this week provided an object lesson in what lies behind the woes of the continent. Like the arrival of Zambian President Frederick Chiluba – who has been appealing for debt relief from foreign donors – with retinue in a state-of-the-art Falcon 500 executive jet. Delegates […]
Charl Blignaut On stage in Johannesburg It is difficult to pin down exactly what it is that makes director Yael Farber’s production of Britpop theatre brat Mark Ravenhill’s 1996 debut, Shopping and Fucking, so powerful. Difficult because the production is consistently awesome. Difficult because, after seven years of being a theatre critic, I have all […]
Stewart Dalby They are not the most expensive items in their field, nor are they the best crafted, but Rolexes are the most famous watches. Virtually every month one of the four big auction houses, Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Phillips or Bonham’s, holds a watch sale and there are specialised dealers. But Rolex will have an auction […]
Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week I didn’t have any hopes that Barry Levinson would ever make a good movie – or at least one I’d like. Everyone raved about Diner. I thought it was self-indulgent, adolescent crap. Rain Man won Oscars. I thought it sentimental, badly styled rubbish (why did everything, but everything, have […]
`I’m riding high upon a deep depression,’ sings Garbage’s Shirley Manson. But the band’s tunes are exhilarating, cutting-edge rock. Caroline Sullivan reports The Brit Award for best female artist always goes to some pleasant dullard (Gabrielle, Eddi Reader and this year’s winner, Shola Ama, spring to mind) who barely impinges on one’s consciousness the other […]
FRIDAY, 6.30PM: A MARKINOR poll released on Friday has revealed that the Democratic Party, Inkatha Freedom Party and United Democratic Movement stand neck-and-neck behind a declining National Party in their current levels of support. The United Democratic Movement is the only party with the potential to usurp the National Party as official opposition to the […]