Nicky Blumenfeld If anyone deserved superstar status at this year’s South African Music Awards, it was the Venda musician, Amon Mvula. His appearance provided refreshing relief from the rather dry gratitude and platitudes. On winning his second consecutive award, for the best Venda album, Mvula stood up and thanked his fans for their loyalty, in […]
Richard Kommel Traditionally, geographical regions have dictated share prices. However the current market environment is a globalised one, where picking the right themes and the “best of breed” shares within these themes is key to success. Often, it is easier to identify the losing themes as opposed to the winning ones. At present, these appear […]
Dennis Brutus CROSSFIRE Last Friday afternoon I joined a demonstration that led to the disruption of the Urban Futures 2000 conference final plenary session at Wits University’s Great Hall. The delegates are owed an apology, but the two lead administrators of Wits and Johannesburg Metro who were prevented from speaking are, on reflection, not. I […]
Gear may soon be a thing of the past as the ANC debates what our new economic strategy should be Howard Barrell Yes, it appears it may really be happening. The seemingly endless – and little understood – economic debate about the government’s market-friendly macroeconomic policy may be coming to an end. Gear, the acronym […]
Martin Whiting Gerald Durrell: the Authorised Biography by Douglas Botting (HarperCollins) Douglas Botting, author of three other biographies including that of Gavin Maxwell (Ring of Bright Water), now provides a detailed account of the life of Gerald Durrell – conservationist, educator, writer and champion of endangered species and animals the world over. Best known for […]
Unit trust results over the last quarter reflect low interest in local equities Neil Thomas The sagging local equities market is inspiring some serious abuse of poor old William Shakespeare. Chief culprit is Jeremy Gardiner, head of Investec Unit Trusts. The erudite Gardiner, who regularly pens entertaining prose on the market, bemoaned the fact that […]
The future is uncertain for tertiary institutions following far-reaching proposals for fundamentally restructuring higher education David Macfarlane Seismic upheavals are in store for South African higher education, if the government accepts recommendations formally delivered in a report to the minister of education this week. Likely to prove most explosive are proposals that institutions be combined […]
She’s bossed the ‘Firm’ for nearly 70 years, but as she approaches her 100th birthday, how far should we venerate the Queen Mother? Anthony Holden Codenamed Operation Lion, a classified document planning the Queen Mother’s obsequies has been kicking around Whitehall for decades, constantly in need of revision as the fortunes of the monarchy faltered. […]
an investor’s biggest challenge Bennie van Wyk Investment risk is one of the most difficult concepts for average investors to grasp. The relationship with investment returns is understood vaguely – the higher the risk, the higher the potential return. But if the risk turns out to be only too real, the adviser is in the […]
Belinda Beresford Hundreds of Cape Town penguins owe their lives to recycled cooking oil and a schoolboy inventor. Louis Kock was 17 when he developed and patented BD1, a chemical that helps strip crude oil from feathers. The product, which is produced from vegetable oil, is being used to clean the penguins caught in the […]