Staff Reporter

NATIVE TONGUE Bafana Khumalo SHE stood at the doorway, the night casting shadows on her face. The elements promised to be kind to us tonight — the wind was not less overwhelming than it had been the past couple of days. We were grateful at the Lord’s kindness; he was kinder than our fellow human […]

Behind this week’s strike by Natal hospital staffers lies a growing gulf between workers and their union, reports Farouk Chothia STRIKING hospital employees at Durban’s King Edward VIII Hospital were warned this week that they risked losing their union membership if they defied calls to return to work. National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union […]

The government is still funding an elite school set up by Lucas Mangope, writes Paul Stober THE government is spending R12-million a year to subsidise one of Lucas Mangope’s pet projects: a palatial school in Mafikeng that cost an estimated R100-million to build and caters to only 500 pupils, mostly foreign students studying a British […]

Humphrey Tyler reports on the Napac Dance Company’s latest offering WHAT is happening to dance in South Africa, probably the world? Where are the tutus? The dancers in the picture advertising the latest dance performance coming to the cavernous Opera Theatre in the Natal Playhouse in Durban for 11 performances shows one of the dancers […]

The motor industry strike has highlighted the big weaknesses in the local industry. Reg Rumney reports HALF a percentage point here or there may not seem a great deal over which to wage a prolonged strike. And while a host of political factors has probably had something to do with the stance of the National […]

Wyatt Earp didn’t start out as a classic Western hero, according to a new film, but he seems to have had a great PRO. Fabius Burger reports THE fuss Hollywood movie magazines are making about the need for new heroes is probably a publicity gimmick for the current spate of neo-Westerns. Director Lawrence Kasdan’s Wyatt […]

Caution is the key word as South Africa take on Madagascar in the African Nations Cup on Sunday SOCCER: Clinton Asary THIS weekend all attention will be focused on the national squad, who kick off their African Nations Cup campaign with an away game against Madagascar in Antanarivo. Drawn in Group Five alongside Zambia, Gabon, […]

SOUTH AFRICANS need to become more used to vigorous political exchange. Why is it so terrible, as PWV premier Tokyo Sexwale suggested in his attack this week on certain “liberal newspapers”, if a columnist uses “innuendo”? Is this not a legitimate traditional weapon of writers? Why, on the other hand, does the community of journalists […]

The Community Arts Project will be in the middle of things — in more ways than one — when District Six is redeveloped. Justin Pearce reports BEHIND the premises of the Community Arts Project (Cap) in Chapel Street, Cape Town, there’s a high wall. Behind the wall is a highway. And behind the highway is […]

Jacques Magliolo THE suspension of Penrose could be the opportunity many experts have been waiting for to ask for government intervention and a total restructuring of the educational text book and printing market. That aside, what will happen to Penrose’s assets and how will this affect shareholders? After all, they cannot sell the shares now […]

Cinema: Fabius Burger THE producer of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Duncan Kenworthy, said during filming that weddings were universal, then ran out of financing. Polygramme Filmed Entertainment and Channel Four, usually accused of financing only politically correct dramas about socially-loaded trisexual love affairs, came to the rescue. Surprise! The film was the biggest international […]

Paul Stober THE ANC has launched an urgent inquiry into a power struggle between North-West premier Popo Molefe and regional agriculture minister Rocky Malebane-Metsing which has pitched the province into crisis. ANC secretary general Cyril Rama-phosa this week sent a high-powered team to look into a war of allegations and counter-allegations that has erupted between […]

MOVEABLE FEAST Barbara Ludman LET’S get this straight at the outset, unapologetically: few of us are beautiful enough for Mea Culpa. Even on an ordinary off-night, by half past eight, unless you’re as stunning as the decor, you’ll stand out like a sore thumb. You can see they’ve gone after the Annabel’s crowd. One doesn’t […]

A new language has been created — and with it a new industry — which only a few can interpret. Cosmas Desmond ponders whether ‘development-speak’ actually encourages development MUCH is being made of the difficulties arising from having 11 official languages in South Africa. An even bigger problem, however, is the 12th language: jargonese. The […]

International development support for South Africa is being snagged on a paradoxical problem, writes Simon Segal THE much-hyped flow of foreign aid to South Africa is being held up by a paradoxical problem: the government does not have any clarity about what exactly is being offered, and the donors won’t move until the government proposes […]

South African musicians are seeking their place in the limelight. Gwen Ansell reports on the players’ growing dissatisfaction with Arts Alive and Guinness Festival arrangements WHAT looked like a bonanza for jazz fans in September — with an influx of international stars for both Arts Alive and the Guinness Festival — threatens, instead, to turn […]

THEATRE: Robert Greig MURDER mystery plays are as addictive as syllogisms. The characters may not make sense, the situations may be predictable and conventional, but one is impelled by the remorseless logic of discovery. Hamlet is probably the best example of this. Murder in Green Meadows, playing at the Richard Haines Theatre in Johannesburg, is […]

Stefaans Brummer DEPUTY defence minister Ronnie Kasrils this week found himself caught in the middle of tensions between the Northern Cape ANC and the army. ANC VIPs were barred from entering the army’s Lohatla battle-training school, at the centre of a land dispute, when Kasrils and Land Affairs Minister Derek Hanekom went on a fact-finding […]

Getting the right players together, getting them fit and winning is new South African coach Kitch Christie’s aim RUGBY: Jon Swift IN A society, indeed in a game which consumes the interest of a not insignificant portion of that society, the new South African coach Kitch Christie has conducted a klopjag which has shaken not […]

Did the mysterious ‘Steyn report’ ever exist? That depends on who you ask, reports Louise Flanagan WHEN Deputy President FW de Klerk told parliament last week that there was no written “Steyn report” into military intelligence “dirty tricks”, he contradicted what Lieutenant-General Pierre Steyn had himself said about his controversial report. In response to a […]

The UCB president says Hansie Cronje will replace Kepler Wessels as cricket captain, writes Paul Martin THE United Cricket Board of South Africa this week confirmed the accuracy of a WM&G report in last week’s issue disclosing plans to replace Kepler Wessels as captain with the present vice-captain Hansie Cronje this year. Commenting for the […]

CRITICAL CONSUMER Pat Sidley PARLIAMENT is an interesting place these days. When the Minister of Health, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, participated in the debate on the price of drugs on August 17, the House, it seems, was fully in support of her views. This included Dr DR Madide, the Inkatha Freedom Party’s spokesman on health. […]

During the week, they’re bakers, drivers and teachers — but on Sunday, they dance to keep tradition alive. Matlhodi Malope reports from the African Cultural Heritage Trust competition THOKO NDIMANDE was often punished for her love of dancing at school, when she dodged lessons to watch troupes perform at the Market Theatre. “Dancing is in […]

Special consultants to government ministers can earn a fortune — or nothing at all. Paul Stober reports VAST differences in the pay packets of government consultants make it difficult to work out their true worth to the new ministers. Government figures, detailing the appointment of advisers, show that 10 ANC ministers have employed consultants or […]

Pat Sidley ONE of the last vestiges of apartheid within the church has come to an end. The Apostolic Faith Mission which has always had separate churches for the different races of its adherents has decided to unite. The process began some time ago and was expected to drag on for longer than it has. […]

Sibusiso Nxumalo DIFFERENCES on strategy and accusations of undemocratic practices in the South African Students’ Congress (Sasco) branch at the University of the Witwatersrand have led to a split in the organisation, the resignation of an executive committee member and dwindling support. The split can be traced back to the violent protests that rocked Wits […]

HANDBALL: Julian Drew IF you mention handball to most South African sports fans it will conjure up images of a partisan soccer crowd baying hopefully at the referee every time the ball ricochets off a defender in the penalty area. To the rest of the world, however, it is a fast and exciting team sport […]

Nombuyiselo Maloyi JESUS CHRIST is being carried by dancers, two by two, across a cement floor covered with a worn-out carpet in an eight-by- four rehearsal room that looks like an attic. The music changes and he disappears under a bundle of bodies as the dancers lift their hands from waist level to sky high. […]

Selectors plan to drop Wessels and replace him with Cronje CRICKET: Paul Martin KEPLER WESSELS is to be removed as South Africa’s Test and one-day cricket captain and replaced by Hansie Cronje. This drastic and controversial step has already been decided on even though the selectors only meet officially in mid- September to announce the […]

Old Mutual’s policyholders have profited from the surge in the stock market. Reg Rumney reports on the assurance giant’s views about the future of share investments DESPITE interest rates that are high — and might go higher — and nervousness about the effect of a possible scrapping of exchange control, giant life assurer Old Mutual […]

Wiseman Khuzwayo DR NEIL Barnard, director-general of the department of constitutional development and former chief of the National Intelligence Service, is considering taking up an offer of an academic post with the University of Potchefstroom. Barnard confirmed this week that the university recently approached him to apply for the post of head of the department […]

Mark Gevisser visits Soweto’s Mzimhlope Hostel and finds the beginnings of a new political tolerance — thanks to two extraordinary women IF Rita Tandy and Nonhlanhla Masondo were seen together a mere few months ago, both would have been in mortal danger. You wouldn’t know that now if you see the two women meandering together […]