One of my favourite films was Being There, starring Peter Sellers. For those who have not shared in the privilege of seeing it (it was banned in the old South Africa), the story – based on a book of the same name by Jerzy Kosinski – is of a gardener who was adopted by a […]

Andrew Muchineripi : Boxing Corrie Sanders could become the third boxer from South Africa to hold the world heavyweight title if he beats tough-as-teak American Ross Puritty next Saturday. The two clash for the vacant World Boxing Union (WBU) title on the Jumbo Cash and Carry bill dubbed the “Amabuthu Empi” extravaganza at the Carousel […]

Being portrayed by Brad Pitt in a Hollywood movie should have been the final triumph in Heinrich Harrer’s adventurous life, but his Nazi past caught up with him, writes Ed Douglas When the iron ore mines of Huttenberg closed in 1978 after 2000 years of continuous production, the village died on its feet. Some families […]

On the eve of the investors’ conference, Paul Jourdan puts the case for the government’s development initiatives Spatial development initiatives (SDIs) are a proven means of giving government more job-creating bang for its very limited bucks. It is too important and successful a strategy to be derailed by vested interests and narrow agendas. The furore […]

Peta Thornycroft Cape gardener Bennet Sibaya has named Superintendent Des Segal, who died in a car crash three months ago, as the man who “tortured” him to make his claims about what he saw just after the Heidelberg Tavern massacre. Sibaya made a sworn statement to the police five days after the December 1993 attack […]

Design of the Week : Shaun de Waal SABC2 deserves some kind of pat on the back for the logo that provides its station- identification on either end of the ads – the “bumper” as it is called. Indeed, it has already received a prize from Apple Mac, and got a special mention at the […]

David Beresford The adage that it is possible to lead a horse to water, but difficult to make it drink is proving well-founded where the business community is concerned as it approaches its “moment of truth” before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Corporate South Africa faces three days of hearings before the commission next week, […]

for the human genome What links Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Abraham Lincoln? Well, a US company wants to sell their DNA. Mark Honigsbaum reports Earlier this year StarGene, a San Francisco- based biotechnology company, hit on a novel marketing idea. Using the latest DNA cloning techniques it would duplicate samples of DNA taken from […]

Jonathan Spencer Jones : Sailing South African Lynnath Beckley, navigator on board the all-female crewed EF Education in the Whitbread Round the World yacht race, likens the event to Formula 1, calling it “the Formula 1 of sailing”. And it is an analogy to which she returns frequently, with good reason: the Whitbread entries represent […]

Egyptian director Youssef Chahine recently won nine out of the 14 categories in the M- Net All-Africa Film Awards with his film Destiny. He spoke to Janet Smith A journalist could gush like a desert oil well after meeting Egyptian film director Youssef Chahine. He’s charming enough to persuade a glass of wine to replace […]