Andrew Muchineripi SOCCER It never ceases to amaze me how much hot air is exhaled by Premier Soccer League coaches on the issue of fixture congestion without their offering even one constructive suggestion as to how the problem can be solved. Paul Dolezar says Sundowns face a 13- month season and the reaction of this […]

Cameron Duodu LETTER FROM THE NORTH In 1992 I was in Abuja, Nigeria, to cover former president FW de Klerk’s first official visit to Nigeria. As I sat down to face De Klerk and his officials at the news conference, I wondered whether they fully realised the historic importance of the visit. Nigeria had played […]

M&G reporters The London and Frankfurt stock exchanges have agreed to merge, creating Europe’s largest stock market and a powerful regional counterweight to Wall Street, the London Stock Exchange announced this week. The London exchange and Germany’s Deutsche Boerse would each own 50% of the new entity, which is to be called iX, for International […]

Internationally and locally the term ‘the art of shopping’ has been given new meaning Kathryn Smith The Pet Shop Boys spelt it out for us: “S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G. – We’re shopping.” Malls, fleamarkets, boutiques, 24-hour garage shops – it really doesn’t matter. According to CNN, the Chinese government recently declared a seven-day shopping holiday. Wanting to appear […]

Ebrahim Harvey LEFT FIELD What future do trade unions have? The recent conference of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in Durban was the most important international union meeting held in South Africa. But coming at a time of the birth of a new millennium, as rapid globalisation is threatening unions as never […]

Lack of international experience could thwart Siyabonga Nomvete’s plans to move to Sunderland Neal Collins in London Sunderland’s bid to sign South African striker Siyabonga Nomvete could be derailed by work permit problems. Manager Peter Reid has let it be known that he is “very interested” in the Bafana Bafana goalgetter – but fears the […]

DURBAN Roodepoort Deep announced on Wednesday that executive chairman Roger Kebble is standing down and would become a non-executive director of the company. It said that Mark Wellesley-Wood will take over the reins as non-executive chairman and Mike Prinsloo will remain as chief executive officer. Wellesley-Wood, a mining engineer with 20 years experience in investment […]

David Beresford ANOTHER COUNTRY Do rock climbers have the equivalent of a mile-high club? Do they delight, whether to themselves, or to friends, in the altitude, or the particularly diffficult circumstances in which they have “done it” – clinging to the bottom of an overhang, perhaps, or stretched halfway up a rock “chimney”? The question […]

Jubie Matlou The government has adopted a two-pronged policy towards land reform, namely land restitution and land redistribution. This policy is designed to reverse land ownership patterns that took shape following the Land Act of 1913, which saw 87% of the most arable land given to a ruling minority, and the remaining 13% to the […]

Marianne Merten The political storm in the Western Cape hamlet of Saron has settled after the African National Congress national disciplinary committee overturned the decision of its provincial officials to expel the mayor and his deputy. For several months tempers ran high in Saron – a tiny town in the shadow of the Swartruggens mountains […]