Staff Reporter

Evelyn Groenink DUTCH do-gooders have run into flak at home for handing out R20-million to South African political parties without any built-in checks and balances on how the money is spent. The organisation giving the money is the Foundation for the New South Africa (FSA), which is made up of representatives of political parties in […]

The tragedy of Susan Sithole, abandoned by love and the system. Rehana Rossouw reports ‘PAIN,” wrote Susan Sithole, “is wearing my husband’s face.” On Saturday — International Day of No Violence Against Women — the pain came to an end. Her husband is in jail on a murder charge. The tragic story of Susan Sithole […]

For the first time in years, Rockey Street, the pulse of trendy Yeoville, is free of drug pushers loitering on corners, writes Janine Lazarus IT has taken the murder of restaurateur Ridley Wright to clear the streets of pushers who had turned this colourful suburb into the newest drugs mecca of South Africa. Wright was […]

COSATU, the largest-ever federation of independent trade unions in South Africa, is to be launched in Durban tomorrow under the banner “One Federation, One Country”. With 33 affiliates, a signed-up membership of over 500 000 and 430 000 paid-up members, the Congress of South African Trade Unions overtakes the Trade Union Council of South Africa […]

Urban planners, white suburbs, and the homeless are locked in a struggle of competing needs, writes Justin Pearce POLITICAL squabbling has halted Johannesburg’s plans to house its homeless. Shack settlements have proliferated in the city while municipal and provincial authorities have failed to reach a universally acceptable plan to accommodate squatters in formal housing. At […]

CINEMA: Andrew Worsdale YOU can relax. Pierce Brosnan makes a fine James Bond in Martin Campbell’s GoldenEye, an otherwise disappointing foray into moviedom’s most successful franchise — 007. The story revolves around schemers and baddies in the post-Soviet world who are intent on worldwide cataclysm ( as usual ), and that’s the major problem with […]

For Helge Janssen, cult status’ has meant an 18-year career on the margins of the artworld. He spoke to HAZEL FRIEDMAN EVERY city has its cultural heroes, those living legends who define the times (and themselves) by defying the norms. Durban had Helg Janssen, DJ, designer, film-maker, performance artist and painter, tapping into the psyche […]

Rehana Rossouw and Ann Eveleth THE civil war in KwaZulu-Natal has created a destitute class of people who have converted pavements in the centre of Durban into an informal camp site. Most of the single mothers and children who have turned the crannies of the city into their home are refugees — over the decade, […]

Hazel Friedman ‘GOD has blessed us,” says single mother Mavis A year ago she was about to be dumped on the pavements. Today she and 434 tenants from seven buildings in the highrise slum of Hillbrow are home-owners through a unique scheme that could solve the inner city housing problem. Called the Seven Buildings Project […]

A matter of frequency CITIZEN BAND, the intrepid explorer of the airwaves, has overheard a reliable source saying that the Independent Broadcasting Authority is expected to announce what frequencies will be available to commercial radio licence applicants within the next few weeks. It is expected that the authority will specify frequencies and transmitter sizes in […]

The government has delayed implementing its promise to recognise the Saharawi Republic, reports Gaye GOVERNMENT was tight-lipped this week on why it has back-pedalled on a commitment to give diplomatic recognition to Africa’s last colony, the Saharawi Republic, where the Polisario Front has been leading its struggle for freedom from Moroccan occupation of its territory. […]

Politicians calling for the reimposition of the death penalty are more interested in buying votes than in curbing crime, argues Dennis Davis ONE might have expected that the death penalty would have been settled after the decision of the Constitutional Court handed down earlier this year. Unfortunately, however, that tenacious and consistent advocate for human […]

ANGLO AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION (AMIC) has invested R117-million in a South African safety syringe plant to be set up in Somerset The project, due to be commissioned by the end of 1996, signals Anglo’s entry into the medical consumables and equipment market. Safety syringes can only be used once and reduce the risk to healthcare […]

POP/ROCK: Christopher Roper IT’S official. The gods love Jon Bon Jovi more than Michael Atherton. The rain held off on an overcast Cape night this week, and American supergroup Bon Jovi delighted the crowd with over two hours of the melodic stadium rock they’re famous for. Durban lite-metal band Arapaho took the stage first and […]

Justin Pearce THERE’S music floating over the boxy, red- brick buildings of the University of the North: the creamy sounds of Kenny G’s saxophone. The music is issuing from a loudspeaker on the wall of the student centre, the home of Radio Turf. Inside the studio, science student Thapelo Sehume is behind the microphone, chatting […]

THEATRE: David Le Page IN February 1956, in the foothills of the Drakensberg near Bergville, a group of Zulu dagga farmers took severe umbrage when the South African Police attempted a raid on their crop. It was, after all, not only a traditional indulgence, but their livelihood. At first the police retreated, but it was […]

The final phase towards establishing telecommunications legislation in South Africa is finally underway, reports Leon Perlman THE much touted initiative to provide “Universal”telephony services to South Africa’s un-wired rural millions looks set for a boost following a national colloquium on telecommunications policy. “All Shall Call”is the message emanating from an intensive four day meeting between […]

Simon Segal WITH South Africa’s inflation rate, down to 6,3 percent in October, at levels last seen in the early 1970s, much is being said about the economy entering a lower inflationary Most economists (there are a few exceptions) see South Africa’s inflation rate remaining in single digits both next year and in 1997, averaging […]

In this extract from his unfinished autobiography, Joe Slovo recalls the reaction in the SACP to news of Stalin’s excesses WE HAD always been taught that the Party was the vanguard of the struggle. But it was the 1950s which gave real meaning to this maxim in revolutionary practice. The central committee (to which Ruth […]

>From zouk to mbalax, world music is available — and pushing back the borders of Anglo- American culture. SHAUN DE WAAL dips into its SOME years ago, I lamented in these pages that there was more African and Third World music to be found in London’s Virgin Megastore than in all of South Africa. So […]

Philippa Garson LEADING academics are pitted against each other in the latest university furore which involves the resignation of the University of Transkei’s (Unitra) vice-chancellor, Alfred Moleah. Moleah’s resignation comes in the wake of months of conflict with the university Council, which comprises prominent academics, educationists and political figures, including its chair Fatima Meer, Blade […]

Bronwen Jones TEARS and righteousness make a potent mix in an angry young woman out to fight the wealth and might of big industry. Sitting atop a crumbledown dam looking over her community, Rene Smith, 21, adjusts blue rimmed spectacles and says: “We will not let them build their dam on our doorsteps. We will […]

Controversy is raging over tenders for the South African Airways corporate identity design. Neil Bierbaum reports A CALL for tenders by South African Airways (SAA) for the redesign of its corporate identity has been slammed as a front by applicants who fear that the appointment might have already been made. In the scramble to pitch, […]

CINEMA: Andrew Worsdale HARVEY KEITEL gets to smile warmly in Wayne Wang and Paul Auster’s Smoke, and that’s only one reason to see this deceptively emotional, Zen-like drama about family, identity and Keitel plays Auggie, a cigar-store manager in Brooklyn who has photographed his shop at the same time every day for 14 years. William […]

Reg Rumney reports on the potential of the electric vehicle MENTION “electric car”to your average motorist and you will be greeted with scepticism. They are probably thinking of the homely, battery-powered vans that once used to deliver milk to the sleepy suburbs. Or the ill-fated three-wheeler that made inventor Sir Clive Sinclair a laughing stock. […]

Lynda Loxton LOCAL government is facing “an affordability crunch”that could have long-term consequences for the delivery of services by newly-elected local governments. Development Bank of Southern Africa policy co- ordination manager Chris Heymans last week told a parliamentry select committee hearing on local government that a great deal of innovative thinking would be needed on […]

The structure — not just the colour — of South Africa’s newspaper industry is where the real problem lies, writes Bruce Cohen CARL NIEHAUS should know better. As one of the African National Congress’ key media liaison figures during the run-up to the April 1994 elections, he got to know the press as well as […]

Brenda Fassie, South Africa’s bad-girl singer, in THE MARK GEVISSER PROFILE ‘HOW can I make you smile?” I asked an enraged Brenda Fassie, dressed in baby-pink denim cutoffs and throwing the contents of her handbag around my car with the jerky impetuousness of a seriously cold turkey as we drove away from her latest humiliation […]

A game between Austria and South Africa team showed that being in a wheelchair doesn’t limit the skill and excitement BASKETBALL:Julian Drew WHEN I set out last Friday evening to watch my first ever wheelchair basketball game I must admit I was a little doubtful about how much excitement there could be in such a […]

THE day Susan Sithole died, abuse activists, counsellors and government officials met in Cape Town at a national conference organised by the Department of Welfare under the banner “Women in Africa won’t be beaten — unite to end violence”. Catholic Welfare Development counsellor Charles Maisel challenged participants to extend their services to the perpetrators of […]

Adam Sweeting RECORDING a James Bond theme demands more dignified attributes than mere pop stardom, as Duran Duran demonstrated with A View to a Kill — stupid title, pathetic song, crap movie. Even wily pop veteran Paul McCartney found it difficult to shake and stir the perfect Bond cocktail, and his Live and Let Die […]

Rehana Rossouw BRIAN is a Cape Town engineer now attending counselling sessions, who said he physically and sexually abused his wife because he wanted to control her and because he could. His wife Lynne, the owner of a successful restaurant in Cape Town, tried to leave him at least 18 times during their six-year marriage […]