Steve Morris : Rugby It is one of the enigmas of the game of rugby that sides with all the potential and all the resources do not necessarily turn out to be the winners. This is certainly the case with this seasons Currie Cup. There are any number of individual cases to choose from that […]

Chris McGreal in Mombasa A week before his holiday on the Kenyan coast, David Galpin eyed the British Foreign Office warnings and decided he did not want to risk it. But his tour company assured him the reports of rampant killings and ethnic cleansing were overblown. Besides, they said, he would lose more than R15 […]

Madeleine Roux : Moveable feast When its clear the ship is about to be wrecked, dash down to the galley and retrieve a few bags of lentils. More than any other foodstuff, the lowly lentil is what you will best survive on when you wash up on the desert island. Plan on cultivating a bit […]

Dan Glaister What makes a movie star? Not glamorous looks, acting ability or charisma, according to the readers of the film magazine Empire. In a massive poll to choose the top 100 movie stars of all time, they plumped for the laconic attitude and sloppy charm of Harrison Ford. The list favours actors who are […]

The war in Angola is over, and the rebuilding has supposedly begun. But the people of this vast country are a long way from normal life, writes Mercedes Sayagues Such an odd sight: a woman pushing a brand- new, lavender-coloured, padded pushchair, more at home in a Johannesburg shopping mall than in a dusty quartering […]

Wally Mbhele With less than a week before Winnie Madikizela-Mandela faces a special Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigative inquiry, it has emerged she is linked to 18 cases of gross human rights violations including abduction, assault and murder. The subpoena summoning her to the in-camera hearing at a secret venue in Johannesburg next Thursday calls […]

Italian fashion giant Benetton has relaunched in South Africa. The clothes are fine, but it?s the ad campaign that should really be welcomed back, writes Charl Blignaut A picture of the pope picking his nose with the headline ?I flick my snot at you?. A gold toilet seat: ?The rich have to marry someone ? […]

Glenn Adler Cosatus fifth national congress is its most important deliberation since the federation was founded in 1985. It is undertaking a comprehensive, quite critical review of its affairs while debating innovative strategies for achieving its long-standing goals in a new democracy facing the pressures of a global economy. At the centre of the discussion […]

Suzy Bell The only independent radio station that was a breath of fresh air in KwaZulu-Natal with lively, off-the-wall DJs, controversial talk shows and excellent news coverage, was the old Capital Radio station in Durban, which closed last year on November 29. It looks like old Capital will be back if all goes well for […]

The people who should answer for the medias apartheid past were absent from the commission hearings, writes Ferial Haffajee Ironically, those who represented the media at this weeks Truth and Reconciliation Commission probe into their past were its brightest symbols of the future. Times Media Limiteds (TML) Cyril Ramaphosa, the Independent Groups Moegsien Williams and […]