roams Justin Pearce The bakkie still rules in the Karoo. By 8am on election day, the Nissans and Isuzus of the Sutherland district begin bearing their cargo of voters to the polls – each with a white farmer at the wheel and coloured farm workers in the back. They travel along long dirt roads where […]
THURSDAY, 11.30AM: DESPITE a slight increase in new vehicle sales from April, May sales fell sharply compared to the corresponding period in 1997, reflecting the overall sluggishness in the economy and uncertainty in international markets. The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa now expects that an anticipated recovery in the vehicle sales market […]
THURSDAY, 12.15PM: A DRAFT white paper on energy policy released on Wednesday may see the complete deregulation of the liquid fuels industry in South Africa, which will involve phasing out the rigid control over the price of fuel, allowing prices to be determined by market conditions. Business Day reports that the paper, announced by Minerals […]
Alex Sudheim The 1999 Durban Designer Collection was a bold attempt to knock fashion from its elitist perch and teach it how to live by its wits on ground level. One of South Africa’s most prominent style events celebrated its 20th birthday this year by throwing the silky plumed bird of fashion out of the […]
Belinda Beresford and Mungo Soggot The flurry of litigation surrounding Magnus Heystek’s controversial handling of a family trust has intensified with a summons issued by the guardian of the trust’s beneficiaries against Heystek and his fellow trustees. Clive Berman, the guardian of the two children who are beneficiaries to the multimillion rand trust, is asking […]
Gavin Dudley With the recent media emphasis on global telecommunications, meaning that more people around the world are in touch more of the time, we could reasonably expect our cellphones to continue working wherever we are in the world. Sadly this is still not the case, though this is not a limitation of telecommunications technology, […]
Ken Barris THE STOOPING OF AQUILA by Tony Spencer- Smith (Manx) Tony Spencer-Smith won the 1992 M-Net Book Prize for a teen novel, The Man Who Snarled at Flowers. The Stooping of Aquila, an “erotic thriller”, is his first for adults. The book is in the Wilbur Smith mould – villain Damion Storm is a […]
Drive-in movies are about to take on a whole new meaning as in-car entertainment gets under way. Ashley Norris reports Forget I-Spy! If the kids in the back of your car are restless, you’ll soon be able to entertain them with Rugrats: The Movie on digital versatile disc (DVD) in cinema-style surround sound. In the […]
Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week Celebrity is a major force in one’s life. Judy Garland, Bob Hope, Telly Savallas – you name it. At age 24, working in a video store while a film school student, I was ordered by huge black bodyguards to get “Mr Reynolds” a glass of water. I filled up […]
pesticides Mercedes Sayagues Activists are battling to stop a Danish- funded project to burn pesticides in a dilapidated cement factory in Matola, near Maputo. Burning toxic waste in cement kilns creates dangerous cancer-causing compounds known as dioxins and furans. Strict standards must be maintained for safety. It is doubtful whether the Portuguese-owned factory, which has […]