Staff Reporter

funerals Nomboniso Gasa recalls the days when people turned their rage at apartheid against themselves The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report has captured the worst horrors of the apartheid era. Not all but most. But what we have not really seen are the everyday horrors, the systemic violence of apartheid. In 1985, when I […]

Sergeant at the bar Now that the dust is beginning to settle on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), probably because critics have begun to read the actual text of the report, it has become clear that the work of the TRC holds much of consequence for the future of our society. To take but […]

Donna Block : Share World For the past few weeks, my four-year-old son, an addict of British satellite television stations, has been driving me crazy, jumping off the sofa and the walls singing a jingle from a United Kingdom toy advert. In a loud, off-key voice he proclaims over and over how, “It’s a great […]

Friday night : Charl Blignaut It’s Friday night and you’re driving through Pretoria – the new, improved Pretoria. If it weren’t for the lingering scent of Jacaranda blossoms, you’d hardly recognise the place. There are trendy cafs and happy, shiny people where once were butch Tukkies engineering students with bad hairstyles. (Once I witnessed a […]

Philip Machanick Just when you thought it safe to use the Internet, junk mail sharks have started to bite. What’s more, they’re made of spam. Thanks to “bulk mail e-mail lists”, millions of users of the Internet can be hit at once with unwanted mail, selling anything from porn to more bulk e-mail lists. Sellers […]

David Shapshak The first time I heard daiko (Japanese drums) was at a performance by a group of Kobe elementary school children performing their school’s songs. It sounded like a full-blown adult symphony, not a bunch of 12-year-olds taking turns at the drums because there weren’t enough to go around. Such is the power of […]

CD of the week : Caroline Sullivan Supposedly, PJ(Polly Jean) Harvey doesn’t have a phone in her Dorset house. But it takes a singular talent to come up with gems like her last album, 1995’s To Bring You My Love, and for Harvey reclusiveness seems to spark the creative process. It’s worked again on Is […]

John Naughton There is a saying in the computer business that “only the paranoid survive”. The man who has taken it most to heart is Microsoft’s Bill Gates. The pace of change in the computing industry is such that if you blink you might not spot the threat. Gates blinked spectacularly in 1994, when Netscape […]

A player revolt, shuttle diplomacy and a letter from Nelson Mandela later, the Windies finally arrive, writes Andy Capostagno There were many good reasons to believe that it would never happen, but on Wednesday the West Indies walked on to the field at the Soweto Oval and cut the ribbon on their first ever official […]

As the next election draws closer, and in preparation for the resignation of The Great Mandela, it is stimulating to watch Thabo Mbeki as he patiently welds and rivets himself into position. Renaissance and other long-term projects, like getting shot of Professor Sibusiso Bengu, aside, Mbeki is showing great imaginative tenacity in virtually every field […]

Chiara Carter and Marianne Merten A legend who lived a fast life and died a hard death is the inevitable epitaph for slain Cape Town gang leader Jackie Lonte. Lonte – born Neville Heroldt -scripted his life like a B-grade gangster movie and mythologised himself in a city where his gang, the Americans, has resonance […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 9.30am. SOUTH Africa’s amateur golfers on Wednesday thrashed neighbouring Zimbabwe 11-1/2 to 3-1/2 in their golf Test over the Modderfontein course. Both teams fly to Chile on Thursday to compete in the world team championships for the Eisenhower Trophy in Santiago. The South Africans went into the second day with […]

CLAUDE KAMANGA MUTOND, Kinshasa | Wednesday 12.40pm. PEOPLE suspected of economic crimes such as hiking prices in the Democratic Republic of Congo will now be court-martialled and sentenced to death if found guilty, the DRC government announced. Counterfeiting money, hiking prices and setting arbitrary foreign exchange rates are now considered “high treason” in the DRC, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.15am. South Africa’s amateur golfers came from 2-1 behind in the morning session to beat Zimbabwe in five of the afternoon singles and share the sixth on the opening day of the one-off golf Test at Johannesburg’s Modderfontein course on Tuesday. The comeback sees the South Africans lead by 6-1/2 […]

TABBY MOYO, Windhoek | Tuesday 12.15pm. NAMIBIAN Minister Nangolo Mbumba on Monday defended his government’s budgeted N$30-million to support Namibia’s military intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo conflict as an “investment in democracy”. Responding to concerns raised by members of the National Assembly on the 1998-99 additional budget, Mbumba acknowledged that the military intervention […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Luanda | Tuesday 3.10pm. THE South African government said on Tuesday that it will do everything possible to negotiate the release of two South Africans who were taken hostage in an attack on a Canadian-owned mine in Angola on Monday. Speaking in Pretoria, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said that five people, including […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Tuesday 11.30am. BUSINESS confidence rose above general economic uncertainty to remain unchanged in October, the South African Chamber of Commerce said on Monday. Sacob’s October Business Confidence Index (BCI) remained unchanged in October, with six of the sub-indices which make up the BCI deteriorating and seven improving. Sacob said that, despite […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 12.00noon. THE West Indies cricket team arrived at Johannesburg International Airport on Tuesday morning. The players will start their tour against the Gauteng XI in Soweto, Johannesburg, on Wednesday. The planned opening match Tuesday against the Nicky Oppenheimer XI at Randjesfontein outside Johannesburg has been cancelled. TUESDAY, 9.00AM: WEST Indian […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 1.30pm. DYNAMOS of Zimbabwe scraped into the African Champions League final despite losing 1-0 at home to Hearts of Oak of Ghana in their final mini-league match Saturday. The clubs finished with 10 points each in Group A after the six-round competition and the Harare club qualified because they had […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 1.30pm. KAIZER Chiefs shot into second position on the Castle Premier League log when they beat ten-man AmaZulu 3-1 at King’s Park Rugby Stadium in Durban on Saturday. Chiefs took the lead in the 17th minute when Zimbabwean international Robson Muchichwa scored from the penalty spot after Thabang Lebese was […]

Giulio Biccari started out in the movie business tearing tickets. These days he captures some of the most startling images in South African film. Andrew Worsdale reports You saw Zola Maseko’s The Life and Times of Sara Baartman on TV a couple of weeks ago, but do you know who gave you its luscious images? […]

Peter Makurube It has taken a long time but at last the real heroes of South African jazz are being honoured. The Untold Story, a show held in memory of jazz greats of an era gone by, is part of the ongoing African Renaissance series. Soloists will interpret the works of icons like Dudu Pukwana, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 9.00am. SACKED West Indian cricket skipper Brian Lara said in London on Thursday that he is confident the crisis-hit tour of South Africa will go ahead, but added that he is not sure whether he will play. Lara, who flew to London with eight other players because of a pay […]

On a Warner Brothers press junket to Los Angeles Alex Dodd found a flip side to the dream factory For someone as hopelessly addicted to the glittery escape of celluloid as I am, the prospect of a trip to Los Angeles had me surfing waves of fantasy. Images of wild, wild Nicholas Cage cruising down […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday 1.30pm. THOUSANDS of people from across Africa are streaming to South Africa seeking refugee status, most of them under false pretences, Home Affairs Deputy Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said in Parliament on Thursday. Speaking during debate on a new Refugees Bill that will bring the country’s laws dealing with refugees […]

Not CDs of the week: Shaun de Waal It was reported a while ago that David Bowie had declined to be involved in Todd Haynes’s new glam rock movie, Velvet Goldmine. The reason given was Bowie’s desire to hang on to his seminal Seventies creation, Ziggy Stardust, for future exploitation by himself. I suspect, however, […]

Jonathan Romney on Velvet Goldmine, the film about a time when men were men – who borrowed their sisters’ mascara They’re so swishy in their satin and tat … Somewhere in the crowd there may even be the odd frock coat or bippety-boppety hat that David Bowie referred to. Boys and girls stand around looking […]

Mike Cadman The long, hot and sandy track that runs from Maun to Kasane across some of Botswana’s best wildlife country is rapidly becoming one of Africa’s most popular overland trips. Youngsters from New Jersey, retired couples from Bavaria, backpackers from Holland and a seemingly endless flow of other tourists lured by the twin attractions […]

Andy Capostagno Cricket Whatever the outcome of the ongoing talks between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and its players association, the squad preparing for a five Test tour of South Africa will not be representative of the best the islands can muster. At the time of writing the captain, Brian Lara, and the vice-captain, […]

Janyne Simon-Meyer Heavy booking has already taken up many of the special deals, but you may still get lucky with these packages: l Beachcombers is offering seven nights in in Grand Baie, Mauritius, for R3 990 per person. Call Sure Travel Agents for details. l Flight Centre has a five-night stay in Langkawi for R4940. […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer Manning Rangers’s coach Gordon Igesund is a born optimist, who refuses to accept that his club cannot book a place in the African Champions League final on Sunday. The Mighty Maulers from Durban share first place in Group B with Asec of Cte d’Ivoire on 10 points and have a marginally better […]

Tangeni Amupadhi The death of kwaito star Makhendlas brings into sharp focus the culture of violence and unrelenting proliferation of guns in South Africa. Behind the facade of success kwaito musicians are just as vulnerable to crime as the ordinary South African. Many can list incidents of criminal activities directed at them, particularly at performances. […]