Fassie Lebo, lead vocalist, Boom Shaka: “When we were about 14 we were just dancing; she knew us and called us on stage … She inspired us to be where we are now. No matter what happens she’ll be the one. People do experience these ups and downs, but she’s the only one who knows […]
crime Gustav Thiel South Africa loses billions of rands every year through the smuggling of illegal goods into the country, but Business Against Crime’s (BAC) initiative to stem the tide is paying off – more than R25-million-worth of goods has been confiscated. The anti-crime organisation, which was started in 1994 after prompting by President Nelson […]
Although South Africa is a leader in gender equality, future plans for the promotion of women are uncertain, writes Ferial Haffajee South Africa’s innovative plans to advance the nation’s women could be stymied by a budget too low for the newly formed Commission on Gender Equality to do its work. The government has granted the […]
Africa has long been the victim of foreign invaders, imperialists, missionaries, adventurers, mercenaries, Cold War warriors and ideologues from both the Soviet Union and the World Bank. One of its most devastating relationships has been with those who would claim to have Africa’s interests most at heart – the United Nations. The rare in-depth interview […]
PW IN LOVE? TOWNSFOLK in the Karoo town of Graaff Reinet are agog at talk that the proprietor of a local guest lodge is having an affair with recently widowed ex-president PW Botha. Rumours of an impending marriage between Botha, 81, and Renette Naude, 50, have been scotched by the couple, with Botha saying he […]
Glynis O’Hara In a bid to boost the local music industry, the Irish and South African governments have joined forces in helping the South African Roadies Association (Sara) get a three-month training course off the ground – apparently the first of its kind in the country. A report compiled by the Irish Agency for Personnel […]
Robert Kirby: Loose cannon There is nothing, and I mean nothing, as singularly bottom-of-the-South-African commercial barrel as any South African airport. We all know how ungracious and self-serving the average South African businessman is. We know how the more pious their mission statements, the meaner the service that can be dredged out of the average […]
Ralph Borland Aerosol-artists Sky One and Kane Seven have given a wild twist to hip-hop art in Cape Town. The two artists have worked together on several pieces over a week-long period, putting up large-scale wall-art pieces in the city itself for the first time. Work like theirs has been mostly restricted to the Cape […]
blind Mail & Guardian reporters The most sought-after newspaper readers in South Africa are turning to the Mail & Guardian – in their thousands. The M&G has surged way ahead of its competition. More upwardly mobile, young professionals are reading the M&G than any other similar product. For the first time in several years the […]
Julian Drew: Athletics Had the International Olympic Committee bowed to tradition rather than commercialism when it awarded the centennial Olympic Games to Atlanta, Josiah Thugwane’s marathon victory would have been framed with even greater significance. If the Games had gone to Athens not only would he have become the first black gold medallist in South […]