Ferial Haffajee TopSport chief executive officer Edward Griffiths has landed a cushy agreement with the SABC which would see him working in South Africa for one week a month. The SABC has met negotiators who want to buy TopSport – its basket of television sports programmes – which is about to make a profit for […]

Paul Whelan and David Schmidt Across the world, societies wrestle with the problems of how best to govern their metropolitan conurbations, so critical to national economies and the livelihoods of millions of people. Metropolitan governance is a difficult and rather messy affair. Metros are complex, they tend to concentrate major social problems, they outgrow their […]

Howard Barrell Over a Barrel We South Africans may have scored something of a first this week in the annals of foreign policy-making. We may well be the only country ever to complete what appears to be a full-scale somersault in foreign policy and to invade a neighbouring state while our president, deputy president, foreign […]

Ann Eveleth Almost four million households could soon benefit from subsidised electricity in a move expected to save hundreds of millions of rands in health costs associated with the use of inferior fuels. The National Electricity Regulator told Parliament last week it plans to introduce a subsidy, or poverty tariff, to reduce basic cooking and […]

the right note John Higgins The silence was broken by a series of fragile notes from the bared mechanism of an old, abandoned musical-box. Some 80 people – crammed into a room meant to hold 50 – sat or stood in rapt attention as the British poet, Tom Raworth, fed a sheet of card through […]

Khareen Pech In an extraordinary display of power, right-wing ringleader Johan Niemoeller and two hefty sidekicks, Jannie Smith and Roy Smith, tasked a private army of about 14 former security cops to intimidate me at a busy Johannesburg shopping mall last week. Jannie Smith first lured me to a meeting at Eastgate shopping mall by […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 11.45am. SOUTH African Double Olympic champion Penny Heyns broke the 50m breaststroke national and Africa record at the South African short course championships in Cape Town on Friday morning. Heyns, who set a world mark of 30,95 seconds for the first 50m of the Goodwill Games 100m, in a regular […]

future Tim Radford Kevin Warwick has just made history. The 44- year-old professor of cybernetics at Reading University, United Kingdom, got his own doctor to implant him with a silicon chip. He then opened a doorway into the future. Actually, he opened a doorway into his own university department. As he stepped into the building, […]

Tracy Murinik On show in Cape Town ‘Put the mauve bowl with that green one, and grab that vase: they’re just fantastic together!” she screamed. Such was my humble introduction to the Beezy Bailey Art Factory and Shop, and ”she” was an obviously excited and ardent shopper who had (obviously) just discovered the perfect match […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 9.00pm. WESTERN Cape premier Gerald Morkel on Thursday announced a complete reshuffle of his provincial cabinet which sees popular former Cape Town mayor Leon Markowitz taking over the finance portfolio. A second newcomer, former chief executive of the Helderberg municipality Frieda Adams will assume the post of MEC in […]