Phillip van Niekerk:FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK On Monday morning I arrived at work and received the following e-mail from Charlene Smith, one of our correspondents: “I was attacked in my home on Thursday night and raped. I am writing about it, not only because I think `victims’ should speak out, but because, except for the […]
Ferial Haffajee A Second Look It is Charlene Smith’s pen that will ensure she is no victim. A rape survivor, her brave and searing account of this most personal and violent violation is a wake-up call. It takes many thousands of words to capture the smell of her fear, the fear of death and the […]
Jane Rosenthal THE TIKIELINE YUPPIE by Mehlaleng Mosotho (Vivlia) NIGHTS OF IMMORALITY by Colin “Jiggs” Smuts (Vivlia) In their different ways both these books indicate that more than a decade ago change and transformation were alive and well in downtown Johannesburg. Both have dark- skinned protagonists, booze flows freely, women abound (not only as objects […]
Are you a good citizen? Do you prefer Hansa to Castle? Market research reveals it all to the advertising industry, reports David le Page How do marketers and advertisers decide whether their bombardment of messages, subliminal or otherwise, is sinking into our collective consciousness with sufficient force to make their efforts worthwhile and cost-effective? Well, […]
The government’s new diamond valuer has challenged the big daddy of the diamond industry, writes Mungo Soggot A row which could involve millions of rands of tax revenue is brewing between De Beers and the South African government’s official diamond valuer. The valuer has rejected De Beers’s evaluation of a consignment of rough diamonds due […]
KENYAN security forces have closed the border with southern Somalia’s Bulo-Hawo district to stop fighting between factions of the Somali Nation Front from spilling into Kenya, police officials said on Friday. Kenyan security started preventing people from crossing the border from Somalia on Thursday after the killing in Bula-Hawo of SNF faction leader Ali Nur […]
Howard Barrell The African National Congress and the smaller opposition parties expect voter support for the New National Party to collapse in coming weeks as high-profile defections by NNP leaders continue. Some rival party strategists are now suggesting that, on June 2, the NNP may get only a quarter of the votes it achieved in […]
Ann Eveleth Four years ago President Nelson Mandela jetted into Weenen – the “place of weeping” – to preach the gospel of government land reform to an audience of landless farmworkers, insecure labour tenants and recalcitrant white farmers. Launching KwaZulu-Natal’s R35-million pilot land reform programme in 1995, Mandela promised to reverse land apartheid and bridge […]
POP megastar Michael Jackson is close to signing an agreement to purchase a quarter share in Sun International, the company that operates Sun City, SABC TV news reports. The report said the North-West Development Corporation is keen to sell its Sun International shares to Jackson to raise funding for development projects. The report said an […]
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela arrived in Bahrain on Thursday on the second leg of a mini-tour of the Gulf. Mandela is due to present his condolences to the Gulf island state’s new emir, Sheikh Hamad ibn Issa al-Khalifa, who succeeded to power last month following the death of his father. Mandela is accompanied by Foreign Minister […]