Articles

WHO would have thought that Namibians led such a hectic life? All this time I had imagined they enjoyed a laid-back approach you might associate with the rural parts of South Africa. Wrong, obviously. The pace of life there must be way more demanding than in, say,...

Still out of breath from an early morning big game hunting action adventure on a farm just outside Smithfield, south east Free State. It started out quite calmly when my dogs and I went running on a friend’s farm. At our usual turn-around place we all ran on further –...

ALLEGE someone is a racist at work and they are as good as dead. It’s an indelible mark of Cain in modern South Africa. That’s why extra care should be taken when charges of racism are involved. Even when you’re cleared of such charges your life can literally be...

No, actually. It was a hail storm late yesterday and that’s hail heaped up around the witstinkhout trees and the gutter pipes. Very welcome after six months of serious drought. But we’re never satisfied, and now we hope for more ….

READING court judgments can be a very depressing business; among the worst are decisions about lawyers who have ripped off clients or something similar. Take a recent judgment by the high court in Pretoria concerning an application by the Law Society of the Northern...

Not hard to answer. Here’s the explanation seen in an exhibition at the Waterfront shopping centre in Bloemfontein last week: Part of an intricate carpet of roses on display   Individual competitors submitted roses in different categories A stunning variety of...

Spot the difference: this is the first year that I’ve found the Harveya in a purple-blue colour way in Smithfield. The text books show a colour rather like a mix of these two, both of which were photographed in Smithfield this morning 21 October 2013. Johann Visser’s...

A POLICE officer arrests a grandmother for fraud. But the charges are trumped up to help his pal with a paternity dispute. The woman sues for wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution and the court awards her R75 000 in damages. By his actions the police officer –...

OF all the wicked money-making plans I’ve ever read involving corrupt cops, Andre Boshoff’s scheme ranks up at the top. A lieutenant-colonel in the South African Police Services with 24 years service he knew how the system works and how to make it work for him. First,...

YOU’VE heard her voice on the radio with her special arts programme – now we’ll be hosting her in Smithfield. Michele Constant, CEO of Business Arts South Africa is headed for Smithfield this weekend to help us plot the way forward for our Platteland Preview arts...