Steven Poole MUSIC AND SILENCE by Rose Tremain (Chatto &Windus) Music and silence, as Rose Tremain knows, are not necessarily opposites. They inhabit each other. Silence is given meaning by the music built around it. And much of the meaning of music resides in the unique character of silence that it engenders at its end. […]

The biennial African Cup of Nations has brought some highlights – but also given England’s World Cup bid some ammunition to use against us, reports Andrew Muchineripi As Bafana Bafana, Cameroon, Nigeria and Tunisia prepare to battle for gold, silver and bronze this weekend, an African Cup of Nations that has produced good, bad and […]

Paul Kirk A senior member of the Zulu royal family and KwaZulu-Natal’s MEC for Welfare, Prince Gideon Zulu, is receiving regular payments by way of his daughter from the security company that delivers the province’s state pensions. Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) has held the multimillion-rand contract for about five years. It is responsible for delivering […]

Charlotte Denny Suddenly it seems everybody is at it. Every advert contains a Web address, and no self-respecting retailer would dream of ignoring the potential of e-commerce. The Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) has estimated that e-commerce will be worth $1-trillion worldwide by 2005 – around 3% of global gross domestic product […]

ALISTER BULL and SARAH BULLEN | Thursday 4.45pm LOCAL markets stumbled on Thursday, apparent victims of the country’s own success, as a buoyant gold price and upbeat fundamentals perversely dimmed their immediate outlook. At close of trade the all share index was down 1,32% — with the all gold index down 0,29% despite bullion pouncing […]

Thebe Mabanga In your ear Just over a year and a week ago today, Metro fm embarked on a series of changes designed to reposition the once premier English black commercial radio station to help it focus on a slightly younger audience. The station unveiled its Manhattan skyline logo and “it’s where you’re at” slogan. […]

Raymond Parsons The highways of economic policy matter greatly, especially for a developing country like South Africa. So it is right that stakeholders and analysts have been lavish in their praise of the president’s review of successes in the economic field and of his government’s objectives regarding the future of its economic programmes. These have […]

Paul Kirk The owner of The Ranch this week claimed that top policemen had frequented his establishment for free sex before last week’s raid on Johannesburg’s premier high- class brothel. The Ranch’s owner, Andrew Phillips, who has been released on R10E000 bail, said that in addition to using the facilities for free, senior officers struck […]

Ivor Powell and Heather Hogan It is all systems go for apocalypse now according to the Seventh Day Adventist Church as it surveys the devastation of upcountry floods and, before them, the coastal fires that ravaged South Africa. “There is great truth in these things. We are living in prophetic times,” church representative Eddie Harris […]

David Beresford ANOTHER COUNTRY One day, no doubt, my grandson will ask me: “Where were you when Nelson Mandela was released?” I will reply: “I was there, my boy! I was there.” And he will say: “Don’t cry, grandpa. He did live an awfully long time!” “It’s not that,” I will say, irritably brushing away […]