Tough bouts in Tunisia are the last chance for South African boxers to book their places to the Atlanta Olympics BOXING: Julian Drew A rhythmic whirling sound intensifies the hypnotic concentration etched on the faces of the national boxing squad at a small hall in Maraisburg. They have just completed a warm-up run and are […]
One of South African students’ oldest traditions, Rag, is starting to change its whites-only image, reports Philippa Garson IT’S Rag time again. Time for students to take to the streets in the age-old tradition of “Remember and Give”. Or is it “Retch and Gag”, given the beer swilling, rugger bugger image of Ragites of yore, […]
As the ASA is stripped of yet another duty, rows among ad agencies continue, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy Conflict concerning comparative advertising continues to brew in the ad industry. This follows the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) demand for the withdrawal of a recent BMW advertisement. The advertisement, a product of the agency Hunt Lascaris TBWA, was […]
Up for investigation is M-Net’s legal right to two channels, writes Jacquie Golding-Duffy The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) will conduct an investigation into M-Net’s possession of two channels later this year. Together with SABC’s three channels, M-Net channels have limited the ability of the IBA to open up the airwaves. The pay channel’s open time […]
Unmarried fathers who want to raise their illegitimate children could have the right to do so, if draft legislation before the Cabinet is approved, reports Rehana Rossouw JOHN WILLIAMS (25), a printer from Mitchells Plain, is forced to sneak visits with his six-year-old daughter at her Sunday school class. The child’s mother cut off Williams’s […]
With Dance Umbrella under way, HAZEL FRIEDMAN speaks to the grande dame of choreography, Sylvia Glasser CHOREOGRAPHERS, dancers and audiences at this year’s FNB Vita Dance Umbrella have all been asking: where is Sylvia Glasser? Though the veteran choreographer has not presented an individual performance under her Moving into Dance rubric, she has been visible […]
TELVISION: Hazel Friedman IF the SABC archives contained a special section filed under MO for Missed Opportunities, Rhythms and Rights would probably occupy pride of place. Commissioned by the SABC as part of its local-content drive, this made-for-the-RDP dramatised documentary series is brimming with potential. Yet less than five weeks into this 13-part television series, […]
The winds of change have barely touched Stellenbosch University, reports Marion Edmunds, but this is unlikely to be the case for much longer A small group of Stellenbosch students roasted their vice- rector at a campus debate this week, challenging him to initiate a process of transformation at the University of Stellenbosch and mocking the […]
better Phillipa Garson ‘We are going to start with writing now; ons sal met potlode skryf” instructs teacher Diane Matthews to her “dual-medium” standard one class of about 50 pupils, two-thirds of whom are black. At Laerskool Venterspos, where Matthews has been teaching for 13 years, an unobtrusive revolution has taken place in the depressed […]
Mbongeni Ngema, director of Sarafina II, in The Mark Gevisser Profile DEPENDING on which way you look at it, Mbongeni Ngema is the very best or the very last person you’d want to give a R14-million Aids education contract to. Even his biographer, Laura Jones, was moved to chide him, in an otherwise-salutary Nothing Except […]
natural disasters Bafana Khumalo OKAY now. I’ve always known that I grew up under a racist regime that intended me to remain ignorant for the rest of my life. What I did not know, however, is how far the regime succeeded. They succeeded so much that the basics of Western concepts remain a mystery to […]
Ann Eveleth AS proceedings got underway in the Malan trial Judge Jan Hugo’s eyes crinkled and his grey bearded face lit up with a jovial smile as he broke the ice to share a joke with Attorney General Tim McNally. Agreeing to postpone the trial to give the seven defence teams more time to consult […]
Gaye Davis AS medical investigations wound their way this week to the predictable conclusion that President Nelson Mandela was fitter than most men of his age, a sense of crisis infused the presidency as the realisation dawned that the question of who will succeed him would have to be dealt with. “There have been informal […]
CABARET: Peter Frost NATALIE GAMSU, back in South Africa after a four-year stint in New York, returns to a closing venue: the Cape Town landmark Upstairs at Elaine’s will go dark after Gamsu’s show closes. Punters should break their necks, however, to see the swansong. Gamsu is better than ever, the beneficiary of some tough […]
We consulted some doctors about Nelson Mandela’s health. They say it’s excellent for his age Rehana Rossouw It’s hard to regard a man who jets across a continent and back in three days, gets to bed after 1am, then chirps energetically at the media seven hours later, as a geriatric. But at 77 years and […]
It took former hired killers to catch the hired killers of Zahida Sabadia, reports Stefaans Brummer A week after student doctor Zahida Sabadia disappeared, half a rugby team’s worth of heavies in four cars and a van with Telkom markings, hung around the mansion in Ruslouw where the mother-of-three had lived with her husband, psychiatrist […]
TWO socialist governments that have long been part of the world political equation disappeared last weekend. In Australia on Saturday, Paul Keating’s Labour administration was swept away after 13 years in office. Then on Sunday Felipe Gonzlez’s socialist coalition lost power after a 14-year reign in Spain. Both Keating and Gonzlez had been lucky to […]
Zimbabwe’s last ‘independent’ newspaper has bowed to pressure to tone down its critical stance. Former Financial Gazette assistant editor and columnist. Iden Wetherell mourns the demise of his country’s free press. DID you jump or were you pushed? The question from colleagues was understandable, given the mounting list of casualties in the Modus House massacre […]
others GOLF: Jon Swift THIS season heralds great things for Wayne Westner, the runaway winner of the FNB Tour’s Order of Merit with a staggering R709 308 in winnings on the circuit. The hugely talented Westner has ironed some of the inconsistencies out of his game and shown an admirable composure in adversity, such as […]
Marion Edmunds ‘This is a walk-out menu,” said Senator Mohamed Bhabha, “I come into the dining room, I look at the menu, and I walk out.” But Bhabha stayed put in the parliamentary dining room this week when he hosted the Mail & Guardian’s food critic, Robert Mulders, manager of Cape Town’s popular Rozenhof restuarant, […]
wall Madeleine Wackernagel Opinion is swinging away from an increase in value-added tax (VAT) in next week’s Budget, as the cost in terms of inflation and labour relations is deemed too high. Instead, Finance Minister Chris Liebenberg is expected to go ahead with the Katz commission proposals to tax the retirement funds, despite strong opposition […]
game Tactics in the one-day game are constantly being updated and coach Bob Woolmer is making sure the South Africans stay ahead of the game CRICKET: Mark Lamport-Stokes SOUTH AFRICA’S national coach Bob Woolmer has earned a deserved reputation for being an innovative cricketing thinker and strategist. nnnSince the former Kent and England all-rounder took […]
Stefaans Brummer THE arrest of Dr Omar Sabadia on an allegation of complicity in the murder of his wife, Zahida, has highlighted the relationship between the Brixton Murder and Robbery Squad and two private investigators, former hitsquad member “Slang” van Zyl and convicted double- murderer Jack la Grange. Some police and judicial eyebrows lifted this […]
The trial of General Magnus Malan and the 19 other accused has has exposed the methods of the previous government’s State Security Council during the turbulent 1980s. Mangosuthu Buthelezi was seen as a puppet by the State Security Council in its covert battle against the ANC. Eddie Koch and Ann Eveleth report TOP-SECRET government documents […]
Dennis Davis criticised the Human Rights Committee; the chairman responded by calling him a racist. Now Davis asks why a man in this position uses hate speech SPEECH characterises our humanity. It is fundamental to the development of a community. But speech can be employed to exclude targeted individuals or groups from participation, or even […]
THE fat file from the archives in Military Intelligence on the 22nd floor of the Liberty Life building in Central Pretoria was the key which opened the door for the team from the Investigative Task Unit. The file was handed over by the then head of counter intelligence General Niewoudt and Brigadier Van Deventer to […]
Gaye Davis A HUGE computer database, capable of cross-checking names, dates and incidents, will be the truth commission’s most powerful tool. It will allow for fast checks on the truth of victims’ claims. It will also ratchet up the pressure on perpetrators to come forward — and come clean. Building the database is central to […]
One committed to emulating Europe; the other finding talent at home. COENRAAD VISSER reports on two opera companies fighting to survive TWO professional opera companies are playing in Gauteng — only one likely to survive in the long term, according to current thinking in the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology. The teasing question […]
Sugarboy Malinga has always had the talent to make it to the top, but circumstances always contrived to prevent him meeting his destiny — until last weekend BOXING: Gavin Evans THERE are times in the self-contained little universe of prize fighting when the whole thing seems no better than a crass charade; and then there […]
Stefaans Brummer SOUTH AFRICAN arms dealer Ters Ehlers — ex- President PW Botha’s last private secretary — has been implicated in “unauthorised” flights of a Russian cargo aircraft between South Africa, Namibia and Angola. Namibian Deputy Minister of Transport Klaus Dierks last Friday said his department had grounded the Russian- registered Antonov-12 in Grootfontein pending […]
Justin Pearce The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has not requested a meeting with President Nelson Mandela, and the organisation’s Palestinian chapter has no plans to send a delegation to South Africa. Although Mandela has said he would be willing to meet Hamas representatives if they were to visit South Africa, his representative Parks Mankahlana said […]
SWIMMING: Julian Drew JUST after 10 o’clock on Wednesday morning in Durban the rain was sheeting down outside the King’s Park swimming pool. It had been raining hard all morning and the start of the day’s proceedings at the South African national aquatics championships was delayed by half an hour to allow competitors and officials […]