Russian roulette
READING Peter Fabricius’s ‘Russian roulette’ (DM 168, 8 April 2023) one is struck by the parallels between South Africa’s growing closeness to Russia and Brexit. Both are based on mythology about the past and a […]
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Of potholes and privatisation
THE photo that accompanies this piece indicates that whatever their level of current despair, South Africans have yet to lose their sense of humour, often the only protection against absurdity. A number of potholes in […]
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The Guerrilla and the Journalist
Fred Bridgland, The Guerrilla and the Journalist: Exploring the Murderous Legacy of Jonas Savimbi (Johannesburg: Delta, 2022) THE Portuguese empire in Africa ended chaotically in the mid-1970s making civil war almost inevitable. This was particularly […]
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Abyss: The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
Max Hastings, Abyss: The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 (London: William Collins, 2022) IT is generally agreed that the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 was the closest the planet has come in the nuclear age […]
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Shutting down civil liberties in South Africa
OVER the years the South African definition of long weekend has expanded. Traditionally, it involved a Monday or Friday public holiday. But nowadays only a rare Wednesday holiday does not create a long weekend. President […]
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Farm Killings in South Africa
Nechama Brodie, Farm Killings in South Africa (Cape Town: Kwela Books, 2022) AMONG some white South Africans there is a belief that a genocide (volksmoord) is being perpetrated against them and showing up as an […]
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Fruit of a Poisoned Tree
Antony Altbeker, Fruit of a Poisoned Tree: A True Story of Murder and the Miscarriage of Justice (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, new ed., 2022) IN Stellenbosch in 2005 a 22-year-old student, Inge Lotz, was fatally beaten […]
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From the acute embarrassment of Eskom to the utter shame of Mosi 2
FOR months there has been mounting anger in all sectors of South African society about the downward spiral of Eskom, including from those who don’t pay for what it produces. A revolving door of loadshedding […]
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Koos Bekker’s Billions
T.J. Strydom, Koos Bekker’s Billions (Cape Town: Penguin, 2022) JUDGING by the number of published titles, the reading public appears to have a fascination for the lives of businessmen who have raked in billions, even […]
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The Durban moment fifty years on: hope as revolutionary force
AT the head of the march of 2 000 workers was a man holding aloft a red flag. This was Durban fifty years ago on 9 January and the flag was simply a warning to […]