Coenraad Visser Tenors at the end of their careers. That is what the State Theatre’s production of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s I Pagliaci and the Three Tenors Bravo Africa Concert on Sunday at the Union Buildings have in common. In the bloody twins, Maurizio Frusoni manages Turridu with musicality and little voice, but then […]

Peter Dickson Just two months before the election, Eastern Cape chiefs, whose influential vote is the hotly contested key to victory for the African National Congress or the United Democratic Movement in the densely populated rural Transkei, have been given a massive salary increase that will cost taxpayers R30-million a year. Eastern Cape Premier Makhenkesi […]

TALKING on a cellphone while driving could be outlawed by the end of the year if a draft regulation by the Department of Transport is approved. The regulation was published in the Government Gazette on Wednesday for public comment, in line with legislation in Switzerland and Australia. Traffic Legislation Section manager Deidre Briech told SABC […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer The team and reserves walked on to the pitch holding hands Brazil-style, formed a circle, bowed heads and prayed, then kicked footballs into the sparse George Goch Stadium crowd. On the warm, partially cloudy weekend afternoon the future of Moroka Swallows Football Club was at stake when they tackled Dynamos from the […]

Ian Clayton Minister of Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development Valli Moosa announced this week that the government’s allocation to local authorities would be R2,3-billion during the current financial year, an increase from the R2,1-billion allocated in the last financial year. Moosa added that local authorities with greater need would “gradually” receive more direct government aid […]

M&Greporters The celebration of World Book Day on April 23 started in Spain and has spread around the world, receiving official recognition by Unesco. Last year, 38 countries celebrated books and reading on that day. April 23 is William Shakespeare’s birthday; in the wake of the success of the Oscar-winning film Shakespeare in Love, perhaps […]

exports Mungo Soggot The taxman is part of a team tasked with probing the way the state evaluates diamonds following an unprecedented finding that De Beers undervalued gems due for export. Minister of Minerals and Energy Penuell Maduna appointed the team of civil servants this week after meeting with De Beers. It emerged last week […]

Prominent journalists, friends and relatives who knew veteran photojournalist and TV newsman John Rubython crammed into Cape Town’s St George’s cathedral on Thursday to pay their last respects. Rubython (58) was stabbed to death in his Woodstock home early on Monday morning by a young burglar. Rubython’s partner, Melanie Junker, and their three-month-old baby, Marie-Hlen, […]

THE Nigerian government has ordered immediate payment of the approved minimum wage to end a public sector strike in 24 of Nigeria’s 36 states, a union leader said, according to reports on Friday. Sylvester Ogbeifun, a local chairman of the main trades union federation, the Nigeria Labour Congress, said the office of the chief of […]

Ivor Powell With mounting political violence and endemic intimidation in some areas threatening to disrupt the June 2 election, a leading violence monitor has called on the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to cancel polling in areas where political parties and their agents were prevented from operating. Speaking at a workshop on violence and the elections, […]