South Africa have been installed as favourites to win the World Cup, but the squad is determined not to let this affect their performances. Neil Manthorp reports The belief that the World Cup can be won is tangible, especially after the 15-man squad get-together in Swellendam that was disguised as a “fun, bonding” weekend but […]

Mungo Soggot The co-chair of the Law Society of South Africa is embroiled in a disciplinary probe in which he is being accused of mishandling cases involving accident victims. The attorney, Willie Seriti, was due to appear before the Transvaal Law Society’s disciplinary panel on Wednesday, but sent a fax at 8.50am saying he was […]

A NEW epidemic of the Ebola virus has erupted in the east of the Democractic Republic of Congo (DRC), claiming 46 lives, Health Minister Mashako Mamba said on Friday. The epidemic is centered in an area in the rebel-controlled northeast of the country, near Sudan and Uganda, Mamba said over state radio, citing information provided […]

Shaun Harris Neil Thomas, a youngish manager with a large food company in Durban, survived last year’s crack in the stock market fairly well. His collection of unit trust investments actually gained a few percentage points growth over the calendar year – not bad seen against the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s (JSE) overall decline. Now Thomas […]

Howard Barrell The African National Congress has gained significant voter support in recent months, edging it closer to a two-thirds majority in elections in five weeks’ time. The ANC also looks set to control provincial legislatures or governments in eight of South Africa’s nine provinces – in all but the Western Cape. These are the […]

Mayday – the celebration of the eight-hour working day – was first celebrated in South Africa in 1904, by white workers. By the 1980s, it had become a major moment for black trade unionists, whose rallies included groundbreaking poetry and plays. These days, much of the Mayday fervour has been lost. And many South Africans, […]

Despite many obstacles, there are great opportunities for black economic empowerment in the ITand telecommunications sector, reports Donna Block The future of black economic empowerment in South Africa is wired. Not only do the information, communication and technology sectors offer opportunities for wealth creation in the form of apparently gravity- defying shares, but these industries […]

The David Gleason Column How should anyone price rough diamonds? This is part of the issue at the heart of the recently erupted row between the government diamond valuer and De Beers. Here are the real problems. De Beers mines diamonds in this country and sells them, almost entirely, abroad through its Central Selling Organisation […]

Mathews Phosa’s political career may be at an end, but he won’t go down without a fight. Wally Mbhele and Makhosini Nkosi report As the African National Congress late this week announced its far-reaching findings on the political divisions behind the collapse of provincial structures in Mpumalanga, outgoing Premier Mathews Phosa came out blazing and […]

Richard O Boyer travelled extensively with the great bandleader and his orchestra in the early Forties. Here he captures the spirit of the time It was on a day coach, rolling through the Ohio and Pennsylvania night that Duke Ellington wrote most of New World A-Coming, a symphonic work which had its premiere at Carnegie […]