Does the Pact crisis spell a larger problem with cultural policy? Charl Blignaut argues that implementation is the real problem ‘If I were to tell you everything that’s going on here at Pact I would be fired and you would receive a promotion,” said a Pact worker to the Mail & Guardian over the phone […]

FRIDAY 12:30PM BAFANA Bafana skipper Lucas Radebe will captain the natiopanl soccer squad in the final of the African Cup of Nations final against Egypt in Burkina Faso on Saturday. This will come as good news to South African supporters, as well as Radebe’s Bafana teammates and coach, as Radebe was reported not to be […]

Anthony Egan BEYOND THE COLOUR LINE: PAN-AFRICANIST DISPUTATIONS by Kwesi Kwaa Prah (Vivlia, R49,99) The other subtitle of this book gives the reader fair warning of what to expect: Selected Sketches, Letters,Papers and Reviews. Although the pieces are all about Pan-Africanism and its potential as an alternative to current African policies, the book is a […]

Pat McDermott Cricket The nagging thought about the Pakistan team at present embroiled in the second Test against South Africa at Kingsmead is whether their captain Rashid Latif really wants to play or not. Again on the sidelines, as he was during the controversy-racked and rain-sodden abortive opening encounter in the three-Test series at the […]

John Francis Lane More than two decades since his death, Pier Paolo Pasolini is still causing ructions in Italy. People are still fighting over his artistic and political legacy, but they are even more divided over the circumstances of his death. Was he killed by a rent-boy? Was he killed by a rent-boy in league […]

Janet Smith The fax and the trannie have, at last, been declared terminal, allowing designers, advertising agencies, publishers and print- media journalists to clear their desks of extraneous matter to make way for offices with more feng shui than filing cabinets. A colour-burst revolution is under way in this country, changing the way in which […]

Steve Busfield Games Consider the great board games. Think of Monopoly and you are a capitalist. Risk and you are a general. Cluedo and you play a detective. Now imagine a Monopoly board, where those fashionable London streets have been replaced by the illegal substances of the world. Instead of Old Kent Road you have […]

Gillian Dell In your ear What happens when people with a passion for radio are given free rein over a newly independent radio station that many considered little more than a ”volksradio” and way beyond redemption? They take it, remould it and watch it take off. Radio Oranje/OFM, which broadcasts to the traditional backwaters of […]

Charl Blignaut On stage in Johannesburg I was so stunned when I came across an advert billing The Eleventh Commandment as ”risqu” and ”controversial” you could have knocked me down with a latke. We all know that publicists exaggerate, but honestly, The Eleventh Commandment is about as risqu as saying ”poo” to a pre-schooler. If […]

Adam Haupt On stage in Cape Town There is something very ironic about the fact that, in Summer Holiday, our very own obnoxiously heterosexual Boere boy, Steve Hofmeyer, plays a lead role made famous by Cliff Richard, one of Britain’s last remaining ambiguous bachelor boys. A career moment which seems to have set the tone […]