immunity What did businessman and banker Christo Wiese have to hide from the inquiry into the reasons for the collapse of Cape- based conglomerate Tollgate? Absolutely nothing, he says. Then why did he seek to do a deal which involved him repaying R900 000 to the Tollgate liquidators in exchange for a guarantee that he […]

THE second journalist captured by rebels in Sierra Leone capital Freetown was freed on Wednesday. Spanish journalist Javier Espinoza said he was surprised to have been freed, who had held him for two days. Espinoza, a reporter for the daily El Mundo, was detained with French reporter Patrick Saint-Paul on Monday when they crossed into […]

force Belinda Beresford The furore surrounding a Hartebeespoort landowner who gave some of his land away has spurred on the local council, farmers and developers to undertake to provide 1 000 black families in the area with their own houses by the new millennium. Already 14 developers have promised to donate land for housing – […]

ANGOLA called on Thursday for the United Nations to publish results of its enquiry into the June plane crash which killed UN envoy Alioune Blondin Beye. Beye spent the last two years of his life mediating in Angola’s peace process between the Luanda government and Unita rebels. He was killed last June when the light […]

Duncan Mackay Juan Antonio Samaranch used to dream of winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his work as president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He pointed proudly to having eliminated the hypocrisy of “shamateurism”, put the games on a firm financial footing and, through diplomacy and globe- trotting, ended the political boycotts of the […]

DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday officially launched a revised government website from the State Theatre in Pretoria, saying it will help government communications. It carries legislation, records of parliamentary proceedings, speeches, press releases and background on members of the government, national and provincial. Most of it works.

Coenraad Visser Opera as unashamed extravaganza. That is what the audience can expect when Operama’s production of Verdi’s Aida is presented at the Minolta Loftus Superstadium on Saturday night. Verdi’s moving love triangle is set in ancient Egypt. It tells the simple story of the love of Aida, daughter of the Ethiopian king and prisoner […]

Sifiso Nkabinde ordered a hit on his own mother, writes a Mail & Guardian reporter The Mail & Guardian is in possession of two statements by former members of slain United Democratic Movement secretary general Sifiso Nkabinde’s Richmond self- defence unit alleging that in late 1989 Nkabinde ordered the assassination of his mother and one […]

SOME 120 projects worth over $561,3-million were committed to Maputo province in Mozambique during 1998, the Mozambique’s Centre for Investment Promotion said on Thursday. The centre said that South Africa is the largest single direct investor into Mozambique, accounting for 180 projects worth $762,3-million. Portugal is the second largest foreign investor, with 225 projects worth […]

Cuban music’s local cult status is soaring with the re-release of some legendary jam sessions by Cuba’s greatest musos, writes Peter Makurube Born of a country in which politics and passion are the order of the day, Cuban music has always enjoyed cult status in South Africa. But its following grew to massive proportions last […]