Fred Pearce takes a visit to a Kenyan valley where environmental theory has been turned on its head Jane Ngei, a 30-year-old Kenyan mother and farmer, built her own dam with an ox-plough, spade and wheelbarrow. It’s not a big dam; less than 15m across. “It collects the water running down the road after it […]
A Roman death is always a noble death and the hearts of military traditionalists will have been gladdened by the dignity with which the commander of the South African National Defence Force, General Georg Meiring, this week fell upon his own sword. Modern constitutionalists may also take comfort from the effectiveness with which the executive […]
Does conservatism lurk at the heart of the Klein Karoo festival?Lauren Shantall was there ‘Wat gaan die Afrik aner aan sy beeld doen? [What is the Afrikaner going to do about his image?]” a poster campaign asked provocatively at this year’s Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunsfees (KKNK) in Oudtshoorn. “Hy gaan hom lees [He’ll read it]” […]
Heribert Adam: CROSSFIRE An unfortunate feature characterises the reasoning of Crossfire’s columnists about the role of the black bourgeoisie. Legitimate questions around empowerment and Afro-pessimism are racialised. The colour of Afro-pessimism’s face should be as irrelevant as whether black fat cats emulate white fat cats. What matters is their common exploitation, their undeserved perks at […]
Charlene Smith Despite a recent drop in interest rates, and a further 1% to 2% drop expected later this year, property markets remain in the doldrums. Banks are under pressure too as defaults on mortgage bond payments increase. Housing sales are weak and industrial, commercial and retail rentals are stagnant or declining. The only city […]
Alex Sudheim: On show in Durban ‘I do not care about fashion, only about permanencies,” proclaims neo-modernist Jeanette Winterson, tireless defender of the timeless, transcendent nature of great art. A point of view which has been heavily denigrated with the establishment of postmodernism’s hypercriticality. “What is certain is that pictures and poetry and music are […]
Herman Lategan: On stage in Cape Town Pick-Ups is the first play in Australian Alex Broun’s trilogy on the current state of easy sex, dysfunctional relationships and the fragility of the human condition. So what’s new? For years these clichs seem to have been the universal leitmotif in most of the world’s literary genres. But […]
Bill Buford: GRAFFITI I am privileged to be among the first to address a concern that has been neglected for too long: toenail fungus. Later tonight, when you get home or as you get ready for bed, take a look at what you’ve got down there, discoloured, at the end of your toes. A little […]
Working overtime may lead to promotion, but it can ruin your life, writes Charlotte Denny The Japanese have a name for it: karoshi – death through overwork. During the recent Japanese financial crisis, a 38-year-old accountant employed by the failed securities firm Yamaichi worked 14 days straight without a break and then went home to […]
Peter Vale: A SECOND LOOK We made the military, now the military makes us: to recognise this bromide is to understand the inevitability of what historians one day will surely call Georg Meiring’s Folly. Far too quickly for democratic comfort have searching questions over the military been driven to the corners of our national life. […]