Donna Block SHARE WORLD Media shares have been one of the most volatile sectors of financial markets, as multimedia corporations fought to gain and retain market share. Last week three major news organisations -NBC, The Washington Post and Newsweek – announced they would be forming a “content-sharing” partnership. What is different about this media partnership […]

M&G reporter Women and children are being touted as the latest beneficiaries of the ethical investing market with the launch this week of African Harvest’s Women’s Initiative Fund (WIF). Sixty percent of the 5% upfront fees paid by investors and 30% of the annual 1,5% management fee will be distributed to community organisations. In addition, […]

Frelimo leader Joaquim Chissano can expect to win Mozambique’s presidential election, but the Parliament poll is another matter, writes Chris McGreal Mozambique’s first freely elected Parliament spent four years wringing out a new Constitution. It was agreed that the flag, with its Kalashnikov and soviet star, would have to go, along with the national anthem. […]

Shaun de Waal Movie of the week The Blair Witch Project may have already outdone Star Wars Episode IV: The Phantom Menace and Eyes Wide Shut as the most hyped movie of 1999, except that the hype around it was relatively organic. That is to say, this low-low-budget movie (a mere $30 000 to put […]

Tangeni Amupadhi Namibians went to the polls this week in the country’s second presidential and general elections since independence. The election started smoothly on Tuesday morning, but its credibility was later put in doubt when the main opposition party, the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), exposed that the ink used to mark the thumb of a […]

Philippa Garson CLASS STRUGGLE As protestors converged on Seattle to rant their opposition to the effects of globalisation on vulnerable communities this week, similar mutterings of dissent were being echoed at a small but significant gathering of South Africans. Entitled Construction Site: Good Governance for New South Africa – A Quest to Reinvent or Strengthen […]

MARIANNE MERTEN, Cape Town | Friday 11.30am. THE fraud case against high-flying mafioso Vito Palazzolo was postponed on Friday morning in the Cape Town Regional Court until February 11 next year. Palazzolo, out on R500000 bail, was arrested earlier this month by the elite Scorpions police unit for fraud relating to false information he gave […]

WHO IS … MENGISTU HAILE MARIAM? At the height of the Mengistu terror in Ethiopia, the families of people executed by militias attached to the Kebeles or street committees were forced to reimburse the state for the bullets used to kill their loved ones if they wanted to reclaim the bodies. Thousands of people were […]

Shaun Harris Lack of housing is a major issue facing South Africa. But it’s estimated that more than a third of the workforce is caught in the trap of earning between R1 000 and R5 000 a month – too much to qualify for the government’s R16 000 housing subsidy, but too low to get […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni Police in the Eastern Cape are incapable of reaching crime-ridden villages because of bad roads in the impoverished province. Serious crimes like rape go unreported because communities are unable to get to police stations, which are mostly situated kilometres away from the remote areas. But this situation is expected to change […]