Staff Reporter

Matthew Krouse live art People who undertake the lofty task of elevating theatre to the status of “live art” must spend a lot of time cooking up unusual things to do instead of just acting out a character stuck in a plot. As a discipline, live art has more to do with witnessing invention than […]

Steve Whiting in Christchurch England’s eight-wicket win over Ireland in the Women’s World Cup on Thursday moves them back into the top four semifinal places and puts the pressure on South Africa to take maximum points from Sri Lanka on Friday. As former captain Kim Price says: “We are behind England now, but it is […]

He’s ditched the 36-hour benders. He’s selling the Brighton party pad. And his new album’s eased back on that cheery big beat Fatboy Slim sound. But Norman Cook is still held in god-like reverence by, well, everybody Dom Phillips The first thing a very pregnant Zo Ball does when I walk into her kitchen is […]

Innovations Nokia has unveiled the third incarnation of its Communicator smart phone. The 9210, which will go on sale priced at about R4?000 in Europe, but probably far more here in South Africa, keeps its predecessors’ keyboard, but adds a colour screen, high-speed data access and Symbian’s EPOC32 operating system. The Communicator not only supports […]

Glenda Daniels and David Macfarlane South Africa is due to spend R36-million hosting a major international conference on the environment, the 2002 Rio+10 global summit, but has set aside a fraction of that for a national strategy to protect the environment. Despite the government’s stated commitment to developing such a strategy, a workshop recently hosted […]

David Beresford Another Country Increasingly I find myself turning first to the scientific news when I stagger out of bed in the morning, shuffle and shake through to my study and switch on my ageing computer (it feels as reluctant to boot up as my mind) to flick through the international and local newspapers on […]

The collapse of a major windsurfing manufacturer because of the construction of a road spotlights the effect of inept town planning on business Thuli Nhlapo Boudewijn Lampe, managing director of Windsurfing Africa in Milpark, stands in a small office, surrounded by trophies and surfing equipment. “It is six years down the line and three suicides […]

Glenda Daniels The use of school libraries will become a teaching method when the new draft policy on libraries becomes legislation early next year. Well-resourced libraries will become a new tool in outcomes-based education, according to the Department of Education’s draft policy. Standards for school and public libraries are also about to be raised and […]

Thebe Mabanga theatre Every week night for the better part of this holiday season, the stars put on a show at the Market Theatre. Only the shows are not for free, and the stars do not number 1?000 actually it’s just eight. Three of these stars feature in Call Us Crazy at the Barney Simon […]

Foreign companies should face up to the truth about their roles in apartheid, a recent NGO conference in Germany concluded Geoff Rodoreda Multinational corporations that did business with South Africa’s white minority government are facing renewed calls to pay compensation to apartheid’s victims, following the launch of an apartheid-reparations campaign in Europe. South African NGOs […]

Andy Capostagno golf If the organisers of the Nedbank Golf Challenge got it wrong, the Southern African PGA has, eventually, got it right. Walking around Sun City last week it was impossible to escape the conclusion that a million-dollar brand had been thrown away on a corporate whim when the Million Dollar changed its name. […]

Marianne Merten Hitler beat Shakespear (sic) hands down in Harare, ward 99 in Khayelitsha township on the outskirts of Cape Town. Hitler Mdoda, the African National Congress candidate, says his name had never stood in his way. It was given to him by his father “an illiterate man who thought [the Nazi dictator] was a […]

The Springboks have a chance to end their tour on a high note against the Barbarians Andy Capostagno And so the tour looks likely to end with more questions than answers. Before it began we knew that Argentina, Ireland and Wales were all vulnerable and that England at Twickenham presented the only major obstacle among […]

Marianne Merten Racial divides were entrenched in the elections for the Cape Town unicity, where the Democratic Alliance demolished the African National Congress outside the city’s townships. White and coloured Capetonians from Constantia, to working-class communities on the Cape Flats, all voted for the DA. In contrast the party scored just a few hundred votes […]

Bongani Diako and Theunis Roux crossfire In his response to our article on the Chatha claim, the regional land claims commissioner for the Eastern Cape makes a number of statements that cannot be left uncontradicted (“‘Betterment’ was a violation of land rights”, December 1 to 7). In between the various slurs, commissioner Tozamile Gwanya makes […]

Cedric Mayson spirit level AN Wilson in last week’s Mail and Guardian thinks that the Christian church faces extinction (“Christianity: The end is nigh”). “Christianity will decline yet further … because Christians themselves no longer believe it is true.” Wilson rejoices in the advances in biblical scholarship and suggests that only a minority of scholars […]

Slow pitches snuffed out the excitement as South Africa took the series against the New Zealanders Peter Robinson Among a number of attributes, Shaun Pollock is also one of the youngest 27-year-olds you’re likely to come across. All the same, he’s shrewd enough to know when to leave well enough alone. After South Africa had […]

TMChan a second look Johannesburg people usually look shocked when I say Jo’burg is one of my favourite cities. They seem embarrassed, as though what I was telling them was not that I liked their hometown, but rather that I was growing an extra toe. With delicate tact, they want to know things like how […]

Miss South Africa contenders will have to share the limelight with eight local designers Rachel Martens This year Miss South Africa competition might still draw the attention of post-rugby match male crowds, the true fashion highlights of the evening are a little less brief. In a first for the local pageant, organisers have selected not […]

Ten lucky readers can each win a hamper of Justine skincare products to the value R1?000. Justine is one of the sponsors of the Miss South Africa pageant. The hampers will go to the first 10 readers to correctly identify the 1973 winner of the Miss Africa South pageant featured on the cover of Friday. […]

Andrew Muchineripi soccer There was no shortage of spin doctors when the Rothmans Cup so extravagantly took off four years ago and, for once, the happenings actually matched the hype. Remember those two “unbelievable” finals between Kaizer Chiefs and Sundowns? Remember the legitimate Sundowns goal that was disallowed? Remember Paul Dolezar, the coach who seemed […]

James Hall Generations of fathers in Jasper Nxumalo’s family of Hhohho, Swaziland, have found an expedient and, they say, biblically sanctioned way to achieve primogeniture, or obtain a male heir: incest with a daughter. “I slept with my first-born daughter because it is family custom to do so,” Nxumalo told the Mbabane Court of Appeal […]

Comic Pieter-Dirk Uys has published a new novel on the Internet. But it doesn’t work Lauren Shantall Many a true word has been said in jest. But master of stage satire Pieter-Dirk Uys really has to be joking if he expects readers to take his attempts at a serious piece of fiction seriously. The sad […]

“We feel we have retained our support, although not as much as we expected.” ANC losing candidate for Cape Town Lynne Brown “Who can take Tony Leon seriously?” ANC representative Smuts Ngonyama “He [new Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo] should maybe look at a tortoise shell frame to blend in with the colour of his skin. […]

A photographic display in the Northern Province puts its big-city rivals to shame. Stephen Gray looks at the life of one of the best chroniclers of South Africa’s past Prizing itself on its uniqueness, the new provincial capital of the north, Pietersburg, has a cultural attraction which is without equal in South Africa an entire […]

Veteran reporter Doreen Levin has been intrigued by the Miss South Africa beauty pageant since first covering the event in 1972 Rachel Martens ‘The first Miss South Africa competition I attended was held at the Johannesburg City Hall,” recalls Doreen Levin, wryly adding that much of the evening was spent carrying messages for irate performers […]

Robert Kirby CHANNELVISION Of the opportunistic infections which flourish around the HIV is the series of vulgar entertainments which regularly appear in its name. Sarafina 2 was the first of these unpleasant tumours and has been followed by many florid metastases, like the R5-million extravaganza mounted at the opening of the Aids Conference in Durban […]

Thebe Mabanga and photographer Nadine Hutton meandered through South Africa’s rural hinterland on polling day When Alan Paton wrote of a lovely road that runs from Ixopo into the hills, he sought to capture a unique aspect of his childhood and this beloved country. There are a number of other places that are of equally […]

AFree State town has paid appropriate and touching tribute to its most famous son Stephen Gray The hamlet of Philippolis in the Transgariep, south-west Free State, has developed a striking new feature to commemorate one of its celebrated sons. This is no waggon-wheel and ironstone affair, or variation on a tombstone like their memorial to […]

Jaspreet Kindra The Inkatha Freedom Party was bolstered by this week’s poll, beefing up its traditional rural support base in KwaZulu-Natal. The IFP managed to improve its performance in last year’s general election of 41,9% in the province, increasing its share to at least 45%. At the time of going to press the IFP had […]

Marianne Merten soccer The National Soccer League (NSL) has six months to change its regulations on player transfers to bring its rules in line with the Constitution. The Cape High Court this week ruled as “inconsistent with the Constitution of South Africa” those NSL regulations prohibiting players from becoming free agents once their contracts with […]

to loan sharks Khadija Magardie The light drizzle that quickly turns to a heavy downpour has not discouraged the steady stream of elderly men and women from queuing in the early hours of the morning to collect their monthly government handout. Anyone arriving at the Coronationville Community Centre after 7am has to stand at the […]