As part of M-Net’s New Directions programme, which enables young and emerging film-makers the opportunity to write or direct a short film,the organisation earlier this year announced plans to finance two feature films, using talent that had been involved in the “competition” before. The first of the movies, Sexy Girls, written and directed by Russell […]

The winners in our giveaway of Manu Dibango’s latest CD, African Soul – courtesy of Polygram records – are: Palmiro Coedie, Bloemfontein; Tebogo Mojafi, Garapulana; Mandla Mqadi, Umlazi; BDD Radipati, Gaborone; and P Tummon, Cape Town. Congratulations! Your CDs are on their way to you. Look out for upcoming giveaways in these pages within the […]

Peta Thornycroft and Mungo Soggot Billy Cobbett will have the chance next week to stand up and publicly link his former boss, Minister of Housing Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele, to the R185-million Motheo housing scandal. Cobbett, former housing director general, has been called before the Mpumalanga government’s public commission of inquiry into the low- cost housing deal. […]

A report on the effects of `low-grade’ asbestos sheeting used in Soweto houses has been put aside, writes Andy Duffy A report that claims Soweto residents are exposed to lethal asbestos fibres has been gathering dust in the Department of Health for nearly two years. The report, compiled by the department’s National Centre for Occupational […]

Lorraine Pace A South African psychiatrist has developed a test that makes it possible, for the first time, to reliably and accurately measure a person’s level of stress. It’s quick, easy and simple – all you have to do is fill out a questionnaire that asks questions like: “Have you experienced sexual problems in the […]

What has happened to South Africa’s `alternative Afrikaners’? Well, some of them are in avant-rock groups, experimenting with outlandish sounds and cutting-edge technology Dror Eyal My teenage girlhood ended one sunny February when I was sent to an all-boys high school. I remained a boy and it was years later before I learned about the […]

The director of the FBI, Louis Freeh, has written a personal letter of apology to South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Defence, Ronnie Kasrils, over the “Squillacote Affair” – the forging of his signature to trap three alleged spies. While the apology represents an achievement of sorts for the deputy minister who, much to his credit, […]

Wally Mbhele Colonel Jack Cronje, former commander of the dreaded Vlakplaas police hit-squad unit, this week went to listen to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s hearings on the State Security Council with anticipation. He was hoping his apartheid masters, specifically former minister of law and order Adriaan Vlok, would verify his amnesty submission – and […]

Melvyn Minnaar : Potable pleasures Now that even the country’s largest banking group has climbed on to the bandwagon, it can be confirmed: our lowly, once-shunned- for-tasting-like-duco, home-grown pinotage has arrived in the Big Time. A week or so ago the country’s top ten pinotage wines were selected under the auspices of the recently established […]

Wonder Hlongwa Security forces deployed to maintain peace and stability in the volatile Richmond area in Kwazulu-Natal have been accused of assaulting people during their attempts to extract information about the violence. Last Saturday night, Sithembiso Mchunu was attending a night vigil for two United Democratic Movement supporters who had been killed. Members of the […]