Staff Reporter

Pat Schwartz LAPALEBOMBO: An African Paradise by Gill Bosonetto (Puffin, R59,99) THE concept is great. All the sentiments are in the right place. Ulla Blake’s illustrations are charming. What a pity the author feels the need to anthropomorphise her animal characters in a particularly twee way! Imagine, if you will, a giraffe called Camilla, a […]

Advertising has invaded the quiet confines of a local art gallery. Hazel Friedman notes the reactions to this transgression RADIO 702 always says it best with sound, right. Er not quite. These days it also says it with sight (and site). In a first for South Africa, it has placed one of its advertising billboards […]

Julian Drew THE chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Evaluation Commission, Dr Thomas Bach, refused to sing the praises of Cape Town’s bid to host the 2004 Olympic Games before his departure on Tuesday. But the absence of an Ode to Joy from Bach should not set any alarm bells ringing. Bach and the […]

THEATRE: Sifiso Maseko AT its best Booksy, Cooksy, Doopsy at the Windybrow Theatre in Johannesburg is an elaborate orgy of uncomfortable orgasms. Few plays can claim to revolt our sense of dignity and ideals, yet find our sympathy. The comedy that recently won the Windybrow’s annual community arts festival, it is set somewhere within the […]

The nature of SA art awards is changing to fit new realities. HAZEL FRIEDMAN reports THE FNB Vita Art Now Award exhibition will soon be a thing of the past due to “the closure of many art galleries in South Africa”, says Vita director Phillip Stein. But there is no need as yet to write […]

A proposal to hold truth hearings into the media has provoked much argument, writes Jacquie Golding-Duffy THERE is consensus among editors that the media should be investigated for the role it played during the apartheid era, but there are differing opinions on whether the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is the correct platform for the […]

Give the land back, or develop it? Cato Manor presents the Land Claims Court with its first dilemma. Ann Eveleth reports PENSIONERS Agrippa Cebekhulu (65), Albert Ngwane (67) and Johannes Dlamini (69) grew up side by side in a freehold section of Cato Manor known as Good Hope Estate, on the border of present-day Chesterville. […]

Chris Dunton and M&G reporters NOT even Britain’s publicity-hungry Booker Prize could have come up with the scandal that rocked the French literary world last week. Calixthe Beyala, winner of the 100000-franc Acadmie Franaise’s Grand Prix du Roman, was accused of plagiarising Ben Okri’s 1991 Booker winner, The Famished Road. Beyala denied plagiarism: “I know […]

Mungo Soggot FINANCE WEEK has been buoying its circulation figures by sending about 2 000 copies of the publication each week to hotel chain City Lodge, which in exchange enjoys free advertising in the financial magazine. This means 15% of all Finance Week copies sold – R12 000 worth – are given away to readers. […]

HOW do fireworks work? And will they one day invent a noiseless firework that is “animal- friendly”? – Lee Scholtz, Westdene THE fireworks that dazzle us today have their origins in 12th-century China, where the explosive mixture of charcoal, sulphur and potassium nitrate that gives fireworks their “oomph” – known as “black powder”, because of […]

Is there such a thing as international competitiveness? Paul Krugman thinks many of the arguments are bunk. Ben Laurance looks at his thesis DEBATES about international trade are, Paul Krugman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggests, “a study in confusion and misconceptions, in which the `experts’ are usually misinformed about the most basic facts […]

Heart problems threaten to cut the career of Africa’s top footballer short, but he is determined to play again SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi WHEN Nwankwo Kanu was voted African Footballer of the Year this week his emotions would have been unusually mixed for someone following in the footsteps of Liberian legend George Weah. While the tall, […]

Genetically engineered vegetables may make the scientists and farmers happy – but do people want to eat them? Michael Durham reports from London AFTER years of tinkering in vast laboratories and locked greenhouses, agrochemical companies are ready to unleash their discoveries on the world: genetically changed plants and vegetables, programmed by the addition or subtraction […]

BEAUTIFUL CAPE TOWN: Fine Music “Voices” (GSE Claremont) PUT Emma Eenzi as Aida, Sally Presant as Carmen, and Aviva Pelham as Cherubino on a disc and you have not only a winner but also a historic document that captures the often under-appreciated artistry of these singers. As if that is not enough to tempt buyers, […]

Shirley Kossick THE LAW OF LOVE by Laura Esquivel(Chatto and Windus, R89,95) HERE’S the solution to your Christmas shopping dilemma if you’ve been hesitating between books and CDs. The Law of Love is a multi-media novel (the first, the publishers claim) which comes complete with a CD of Puccini arias and Mexican danzones, as well […]

As the Springboks face a French backlash in Paris, South Africa’s cricketers attempt to clinch a series triumph CRICKET:V Roger Prabasarkar ON Sunday December 8 the South African cricket team will take the first step to immortality. If Hansie Cronje becomes the first captain in the history of Test cricket to achieve the most difficult […]

Frederick Chiluba’s new government is increasingly embroiled in controversy, reports Anthony Kunda in Lusaka EVIDENCE has emerged from election results released by the government-constituted Zambian Electoral Commission that the outcome of the polls on November 18 may well have been fixed before the polling day. There are several instances of strange and inexplicable uniformity in […]

Dan Wylie LIGHT VERSE AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL by Gus Ferguson (David Philip, R29) WITH a bit of selective quotation, you could even argue that Gus Ferguson is a serious poet: Life is but a gift of time Spent in gathering evidence Against the summons for the crime Of wasting that inheritance. Or, […]

The intitiative to form a new Afrikaans organisation drew the support of the Afrikaans establishment – but not its traditional critics, writes Rehana Rossouw CONRAD SIDEGO, former South African ambassador to Denmark, assured the last speaker at a meeting of Afrikaans people at the weekend that the colour of her skin had nothing to do […]

end accounts Andy Duffy THE Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) has been ordered to rework its year-end accounts after the auditor general uncovered glaring errors in its figures. The auditor general’s office, which is also investigating allegations of financial mismanagement at the organisation, told the IBA it would be futile to present its March 1996 figures […]

FINEART: Andrew Putter FOR just over a year now, a group of top- drawer young Cape Town artists have been working on a collaborative project, set to culminate in a mammoth installation/performance at the Castle this week. Called Sluice, the project grew out of collective interests in new ways of approaching artmaking – and shared […]

Zimbabwe faces embarrassment over illegal ivory sales, reports Iden Wetherell in Harare ZIMBABWE’S record of ivory management has been described as “grossly inadequate” by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) just six months before the Geneva-based organisation is due to hold a major conference in Harare. The Zimbabwean government has said it […]

Suzy Bell WHETHER it’s the tender image of Katrina Thomas gathering her goats or the anxious look in Freddie Bosman’s eyes on the bus journey towards his beloved home, Riemvasmaak, after spending 20 years in the Ciskei, some pictures do speak a thousand words. Winner of a Mother Jones International Documentary Award (1993) for his […]

The Minister of Public Enterprises is seeking direct control over Eskom’s equity, raising concerns of a backdoor attempt at nationalisation. Max Gebhardt reports THE Ministry of Public Enterprises has set the ball in motion to bring Eskom under direct government control, despite admitting that such a move could raise doubts among foreign investors over the […]

case Safety and Security Minister Mufamadi has been landed in another potentially embarrassing legal situation, reports Mungo Soggot T HE lawyer who defended Eastern Cape killer policeman Gideon Niewoudt has been hired by Sydney Mufamadi’s Safety and Security Department to fight a civil claim lodged by the three widows of Niewoudt’s victims. The widows, Doreen […]

Graham Hopwood in Windhoek NAMIBIA has defended plans to pump 20- million cubic metres of water each year from the Okavango River, despite protests from environmentalists and tourism operators in Botswana’s Okavango swamps, which are annually filled by the river. Richard Fry, Namibia’s deputy permanent secretary of water affairs, said this week that the severity […]

Ann Eveleth KING Goodwill Zwelithini pulled out of a consortium bidding for KwaZulu-Natal’s new private sound radio station last week because he didn’t know what he was getting into, say royal family members. Zwelithini mysteriously dropped his 5% stake and yanked his endorsement for Radio One – one of two consortiums bidding for the station […]

Mungo Soggot AS the consumer’s best friend, Isabel Jones has always been powerful. But with the help of a new Act that was quietly passed by the Gauteng legislature in September, the consumer journalist will now be able to shut down a business, strike down contracts, and impose fines of up to R200 000 and […]

DANCE: Jann Parry in London THE studio where the choreographer Ashley Page is rehearsing seems to be full of teenagers, their lankily graceful limbs swathed in a kind of innocence. In fact, the dozen or so dancers are in their early 20s, junior members of the Royal Ballet’s corps de ballet. They look gorgeous, yet […]

At the heart of Italy’s largest industrial grouping, profits and reputations are being damaged, writes John Glover IN the opulent surroundings of Turin’s snooty Circolo del Whist (whist club), Republican Italy’s version of a royal family met for its annual dinner last week. The meal was hosted by Avvocato Gianni Agnelli, the patriarch of the […]

More research is urgently needed into the effects of cellphones on the brain, reports Ben Potter from London ‘EAR, what’s all this fuss about cellphones? Are cellphones bad for the brain? The possibility that they could be is cause for serious concern, says Australian writer and commentator on the communications industry, Stewart Fist. He argues […]

The Million Dollar Challenge is a unique event, and this year the play was of an exceptionally high standard, but the spectators’ behaviour wasn’t GOLF:Jon Swift T HERE are many things that are very different about the annual Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge at Sun City … and not all of them have to do with […]