Andrew Muchineripi World Cup Nothing happened in the first series of group matches to suggest that traditional World Cup giants Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Italy will not be heavily involved come crunch time. Argentina and Germany won without great exertion, Brazil found the going tough because the Scots proved tough, and do not read too […]
fun Ruud Gullit So far, so very good. I have been impressed with this World Cup to date. These are early days and not all the teams have played yet, but I like the positive attitude so many are showing. There have been a few draws, but lots of goals too, and I think it […]
Ferial Haffajee The old-style politics of the Western Cape have not deterred black business in the province from taking a step into the new economy. Brimstone, a leading empowerment company, will launch on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) next month. It is led by a cadre of comrades in business including former struggle bookkeeper Mustaq […]
Tracy Murinik On show in Cape Town I’ll admit to being a little sceptical when first hearing about the exhibition Childhood. Graffiti art in the Irma Stern Museum sounded gimmicky. Well, it isn’t. In fact, the collaboration between artists Gregg Smith, Mustafa Maluka, Ice and Sky 1 got me swallowing my words instantly. They have […]
Pennywhistle master Big Voice Jack Lerole played on the streets of Alexandra township in the Fifties. Today he’s a star in New York. Peter Makurube takes a cruise down memory lane `Midway through the Dave Matthews Band’s sellout show at Giants Stadium [New Jersey],” writes Leita Tayler of Newsday, “the group brought a South African […]
Adam Haupt Live in Cape Town FUCT is one of those grotte which conservatives might avoid and which diligent cops give a good run through on a night out on the town. Watching our men in blue on the go to the sounds of really great drum ‘n’ bass and mostly commercial hip hop is […]
Alex Dodd Even a telephone conversation with gifted storyteller Antoinette Pienaar leaves you feeling like your blood’s flowing at a different pace through your veins. I’m in an office in the metropolis and she’s miles away on a farm drenched in winter sunlight, yet when we’ve finished speaking my heart is somehow beating at a […]
Ground control of computers is child’s play when it comes to the capabilities of satellite constellations, reports Bill O’Neill Microsoft dominates the world of personal computers and, whatever the result of current action by the United States Justice Department, looks set to determine the future of the Internet, too. For Bill Gates, the company’s boss, […]
Michael White and Liz McGregor What should have been a triumphant valedictory tour for Nelson Mandela before he steps down as president of South Africa has been marred by European Union failure, under Tony Blair’s presidency, to deliver on open trade promises made when apartheid collapsed. Mandela joined the EU heads of government for lunch […]
Barbara Ludman ROADKILL by Kinky Friedman (Faber & Faber, R69,99) There have been many books featuring the author as amiable detective, once the main man in a country and western band, now ensconced in a New York loft with a cat, a good supply of cigars and a singing espresso machine. The Kinky Friedman saga […]
Douglas Rushkoff: ONLINE I signed on to a cause a few weeks ago: a crusade for rational thinking about technology and its role in human affairs. Oddly and amazingly, just that statement alone has proven controversial. For those who see me as a pro- technology Utopian, or who are devoutly pro-technology themselves, it sounds like […]
Alex Dodd has been appointed editor of the Mail & Guardian’s Friday section. A BJourn graduate, she began her career as a trainee at the M&G, and later become a reporter focusing on arts and profiles. She then worked for the Rapid Phase Group, where she co-conceptualised and scripted a 60-part radio soap opera on […]
Angella Johnson: VIEW FROM A BROAD What is a thirtysomething single girl to do when she needs an escort and all her eligible male friends are out of town? Well, you could always try the personal columns, teased a colleague. She may have been joking, but images of a sexy Richard Gere wiggling his tight […]
Recent changes announced by the McCarthy Group, including the creation of McCarthy Bank, came as no surprise to industrial analysts and other market pundits. The company has been languishing in no-man’s land for 18 months and analysts have expressed concern about a lack of clear direction at the top of the company. Directors had punted […]
Sydney Mathibe Famous and “strong” witch doctors can prosper. Ngaka Mahlakwane, who practises on the East Rand, charges R5 for bone- throwing, while Dr Zungu, well known in Vosloorus, charges R20 for the same service. These are some of the more common fees: l “Strengthening” a home: R400 to R1 000 a year. l Curing […]
Belinda Beresford Dazed and confused by the realisation of what another 2% on the bond rate means in actual money, the average South African could be forgiven for feeling that a new nightmare has arisen from the arcane murk of the economy. First life was tough because of the gold price, then inflation became prime […]
Ann Eveleth The apartheid-era homeland system and rural “betterment schemes” were the worst causes of land degradation, according to a rapid appraisal of land resources conducted in the run-up to World Desertification Day on Wednesday. The study forms part of South Africa’s National Action Programme to implement the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The […]
Pallo Jordan CROSSFIRE Jeff Greenfield, an American journalist, relates his grandmother’s response to the Rosenberg “atomic bomb spies” trial. As someone who had grown up in Tsarist Russia, where the framing of Jews on trumped- up charges was a byword for the authorities, Greenfield’s granny always believed that the Rosenbergs had been framed and were […]
Julie Frederikse has written two new additions to the Maskew Miller Longman series They Fought for Freedom, a set of short, accessible biographies of great South African opponents of apartheid. Though Helen Joseph and David Webster came from two different epochs in the fight against oppression, they shared common characteristics and a unique connection. Joseph […]
Lords Neil Manthorp Cricket Lords is a funny place. The funniest moment of South Africa’s last visit in 1994 involved, almost inevitably, Fanie de Villiers. The Afrikaans school teacher cum part-time amateur car mechanic had reached the pinnacle of the game when he arrived in England and began preparations to represent his country, in a […]
Africa David Shapshak A new generation of low-orbit communications satellites could be the boost African telecommunications is looking for. While South Africa’s fledgling techno- enthusiastic population has embraced cellular telephony, it has not established much else on the continent. However, satellite companies are expecting Africa to hop directly to satellite use. Communication by satellite has […]
Brenda Atkinson The idea of the New South Africa surely kicked the butts of the makers and purveyors of popular culture: Madiba had barely had time to warm the presidential leather when our TV screens and magazines began spawning ads that warmed our hearts with visions of how we could be. Quicker than you can […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi A new row among senior managers has hit the SABC following recent appointments and new vacancies created in the corporation’s radio news section. The radio battle comes after the former head of the division and now deputy chief executive Govin Reddy launched a public challenge against the appointment of the Reverend Hawu Mbatha […]
Andrew Worsdale Over the past month and a half or so every film-maker, writer or acquaintance I’ve run into has asked me: “Did you apply?”, “Have you heard?”, “When are they gonna tell us?” It all culminated in the words “Well I’m going to phone them … don’t you want to phone them?” It was […]
Community theatre is alive and well, and generating debate. Phillip Kakaza looks at two recent examples `South African theatre is floating on the waves of political change,” observes Johnny Loate, whose play, Cabbages and Bullets, 1998 winner of the Windybrow Arts Festival FNB Vita Award, is now at the Windybrow. “Protest theatre was based on […]
Mduduzi Dlamini CD of the week Boom Shaka have come a long way since the release of their debut single, It’s About Time, late in 1993, and the subsequent album of that name. The follow-up, It’s Our Game (No Need to Claim), was luke warmly received. Now we have their third album, Words of Wisdom, […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi The South African Communist Party politburo this week failed to reconcile its young radicals and its old guard on split nominations for the party’s highly contested leadership positions. On Tuesday, the politburo failed to come up with a single name for the party’s most contested position, that of the general secretary, between the […]
Andy Capostagno Rugby Times have changed. In 1995 the newly crowned world champion Springboks played Wales at Ellis Park. You may remember the game. Gary Teichmann, unluckily overlooked for the World Cup, made his debut at eighth man and scored a try. Robbie Kempson, a young and promising prop forward from Natal, sat on the […]
Coenraad Visser Classical music Unlike its auspicious opening season, the second season of the newly independent National Symphony Orchestra is a rather uneven affair. Russian conductor Vladimir Simkine showed all the good qualities one has come to expect of him – a thorough knowledge of the scores and strict control of the orchestra. In the […]
Andy Duffy The University of the Western Cape (UWC) slapped a court order on its workers this week to snuff out an uprising sparked by its management’s cost-cutting proposals. The Labour Court in Johannesburg issued an urgent interdict against the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) and its UWC representatives, after dozens of […]
The African National Congress will have to do better in the Eastern Cape if it wants to retain the support of one of South Africa’s poorest provinces, writes Lizeka Mda The African National Congress is fortunate the elections are still a year away because were they to be held tomorrow, it seems the United Democratic […]
Tangeni Amupadhi and Mungo Soggot Highway heists have become one of South Africa’s favourite crimes, with gangs of well-trained operatives pulling off a spate of audacious robberies involving tens of millions of rands. Police say they have arrested about 250 suspects, but a substantial number have escaped – as in the case of former African […]