The Katlehong community is still haunted by the murder of seven-year- old Mamokgethi Malebana, writes Tangeni Amupadhi A plethora of Childline posters adorns the office and classrooms of Kabelo Primary School in Katlehong on the East Rand, suggesting just how concerned the school is about the safety of its pupils. “We are determined not to […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Friday 5.00pm. UNITED Democratic Movement national secretary Sifiso Nkabinde on Friday expressed “shock” at Thursday’s closure of the Richmond police station, saying it is “strange” that the action was taken only after police officers accused of complicity in the violence demanded proof of the allegations against them. “The UDM finds it […]
The Mail & Guardian has taken something of a battering at the hands of the legal system over the past couple of weeks. After winding ourselves up for the libel case with the KwaZulu-Natal Attorney General, Tim McNally, we were advised by senior counsel to “tender” for a settlement of R50 000, which McNally took. […]
up Howard Barrell Over a Barrel While in exile with the African National Congress in Zimbabwe in the mid-1980s, I had a simple test to decide who I felt comfortable with. It was: can this person appreciate a good anti-ANC joke? If yes, the likelihood was we could work together. If not, co-operation was doubtful. […]
Robert D Hershey Jr If actions speak louder than words, the person many consider the United States’s most astute stock-market investor seems to be whispering “sell”. While Warren E Buffett, the decabillionaire “Oracle of Omaha”, has always argued that market drops provide chances to scoop up bargains, his proposed acquisition of General Re, the US’s […]
Bread Heidi Clark Staff at a school for 250 former juvenile delinquents and street children in the Eastern Cape won a court interdict last week, preventing an attempt by the project’s trust to close it down. The children were facing eviction at the end of September from the institution which has been both their home […]
Karlin Lillington The Internet may have been created with the goal of global compatibility, but technology companies are turning a vision of harmony into a battleground over proprietary standards. Last week, the Software Publishers Association, an industry lobby, suggested companies meet later this year to agree on basic technical standards. The proposal came as a […]
Howard Barrell More National Party MPs are expected to follow the party’s Gauteng leader, Sam de Beer, who defected to the United Democratic Movement on Thursday. De Beer’s defection is further evidence of the disintegration of the once powerful NP and is a hammer blow to the fragile leadership of Marthinus van Schalkwyk. De Beer […]
It’s all over and there’s barely enough time for both sides to lick their wounds, never mind carry on with their `other’ lives. Neil Manthorp reports from Leeds Cricket boasts the cruellest, most finite moments of any sport. Soccer, through golden goals and penalty shoot-outs, has managed to emulate the “immediate death” nature of the […]
no bells Ann Eveleth The bogus news agency which former Strategic Communications (Stratcom) operative Michael Bellingan confessed to setting up in the 1980s appears to have made few ripples in the media world. The agency is named as the Pan African News Agency (Pana) in an amnesty application handed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission […]
Freud’s deathbed fantasies have been brought to life in a collaboration of sculpture, performance and sound, writes Brenda Atkinson Sigmund Freud has become a much- derided father-figure in the Nineties, a paternal icon who has been killed many times over by both his sons and daughters. Post-modernism and feminism have declared the founder of psychoanalysis […]
Keith Henderson THERE’S A HAIR IN MY DIRT! – A WORM’S STORY by Gary Larson (Little, Brown) Unfortunately, the world has been a saner place since Gary Larson decided to leave the world of The Far Side behind him and, although there is a good collection of re-runs to glean inspiration from, the gaping chasm […]
Miles Keylock Live in Cape Town During the past two years close on 200 South African “rock” bands released CDs. Pretty staggering figures when you pause to think about it. What is perhaps more astonishing, is that not even 10% of these bands are heavy metal bands. And you’d be hard-pressed to find a local […]
the ocean y Durban is currently enjoying the fruits of a cultural exchange with Stuttgart. Suzy Bell samples the fare on offer With five high-impact international/local collaborative exhibitions taking place in Durban this month, there’s a whole lot more than surfing going down in tranquil Tegweni. Durban Meets Stuttgart is a cultural exchange programme between […]
Stuart Hess Three employees of the Independent Development Trust (IDT) brokered more than R200 000 worth of business deals for their own company while in the employ of the organisation. This emerged in a Cape High Court application by Bonile Jack, Agnes Nyamande-Pitso and Baby Mogane- Ramahotswa, who are suing the IDT for more than […]
There’s an ancient Greek temple, a Caribbean seaside resort, a spaceship, an Egyptian pyramid and a riverboat from the deep South. You can play blackjack, all the variations of poker, baccarat, craps, roulette, keno, scratch cards and slot machines to your heart’s desire. Best of all, you can wager real money or play just for […]
HOWARD BARREL in Cape Town | Friday 8.00pm. THE African National Congress this week turned down a South African Communist Party request for a meeting between their leaders to discuss serious disagreements between the parties that emerged last month. The SACP had hoped the parties could get together before a two-day meeting of the ANC’s […]
wealth Angella Johnson VIEW FROM A BROAD Is there a group of people more irritating, self-righteous and unnaturally enthusiastic than a bunch of sales folk trying to punt their wares? Well, imagine being trapped in a hall heaving with them. Not a great way to spend a Sunday, but who can ignore the lure of […]
Suzy Bell One of South Africa’s most highly rated political cartoonists, Nanda Soobben, has just scooped a handsome grant from the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology to produce a 20-minute docu-animation film, based on his political cartoons from the Eighties and Nineties. Soobben, who is a weekly political cartoonist forThe Independent on Saturday […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Goma | Friday 1.00PM. DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila has fled Kinshasa for his home town and former rebel base, Lubumbashi, a senior government official revealed on Friday. The official would not say whether Kabilia plans to return. Rebel forces are pushing towards Kinshasa, where power was lost on Friday morning. […]
Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week Shushin-koyou-sei – “to be employed until you die” – is a Japanese expression for what is the life of the “salaryman”. For decades Japanese graduates joined companies and never left. Instead of firing employees who did not make the grade, businesses transferred them to subsidiaries or changed their job […]
David Davies heralds the arrival of Se Ri Pak, golfing phenomenon, for the British Women’s Open at Lytham St Annes The golfing world breathed a gentle sigh of relief when Brandie Burton won, or perhaps more to the point Se Ri Pak did not win, the Du Maurier Classic in Canada at the start of […]
Chris Gordon The United Nations has appointed a new special representative to head Angola’s peace mission. Issa Diallo is to take up his post at the end of August, as the UN faces spreading conflict in central Africa. Diallo’s appointment, announced at a joint commission meeting last Friday, follows the death of his predecessor, Maitre […]
Wally Mbhele A former African National Congress member who was convicted in 1988 of the gruesome murder of four women considers himself abandoned by his party. Of the six people convicted in the case, four – including the ringleader – were given political amnesty in 1991. Another, Absalom Kobela, was released on parole last year. […]
Andrew Muchineripi Soccer Mention names like Stoffel Nikane, Lebogang Kukane and Hendrik Gulwa outside of Bloemfontein and you are likely to be confronted with a blank stare from most South African soccer supporters. Yet goals from these virtual unknowns have sent the unfashionable Free State club, Phunya Sele Sele, to the top of the multimillion-rand […]
Tracy Murinik On show in CapeTown I was sold, and then so was the painting. It said: “Narcissus daarling, it’s time to go home” . and the message on the back clarified, “dearest daarling, I love oysters. Yours forever . sign here”. And for the moment all I wanted was to sign. And then there […]
Roger Southall A Second Look Your correspondent William Boot is being incautious in suggesting that Lesotho’s May election was rigged by the ruling Lesotho Congress of Democrats (LCD) (“Lesotho’s election farce”, August 7 to 13). A more careful look at the election is required. Preparations for the election began under the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) […]
Elizabeth Wurtzel First Person In late June, Time magazine ran a story illustrated with the faces of Susan B Anthony, Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, pictured in grave black and white. Next to the likeness of this righteous triumvirate was a colour photograph of Calista Flockhart aka Ally McBeal, above the red-lettered, alarmist question: is […]
Charl Blignaut On stage in Pretoria It is really only while I am hurtling along the highway back to Johannesburg from the Pretoria State Theatre that the full effect of Reza de Wet’s latest work, Yelena, begins to sink in. A leading South African playwright based in Grahamstown, De Wet has chosen to continue her […]
The European Union is trying to block the diamond smuggling route from Angola. Violence won’t be far behind. Dan Atkinson in Antwerp, Alex Duval Smith in Johannesburg and Owen Bowcott investigate It was an unpromising start to Europe’s tough new policy on diamond smuggling. Yards from Antwerp’s grand railway station, an African in traditional dress […]
movies Philip French Stephen King’s movie career got off to a strong start in 1976 when his first novel, Carrie, provided Brian de Palma with his first hit and brought Sissy Spacek an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a gawky teenager who uses her telekinetic powers to revenge herself on schoolmates and neighbours. Blood […]
A war is brewing over alleged favouritism in the SABC’s commissioning procedures, writes Ferial Haffajee Independent television producers believe that the SABC secretly gave a multi-million-rand contract for breakfast television to a favoured firm while pretending to be taking submissions from its rivals. Questions are being asked about the role played in the deal by […]