OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 7.00pm. SOUTH African business confidence fell to its lowest level in 12 years during August as the fragility of emerging markets was exposed in the global market instability, figures released by the South African Chamber of Business on Monday indicated. Business confidence fell 4,1 points during the 4,1 points over […]

SARAH BULLEN in Johannesburg | Friday 5.30pm. LOCAL stock toasted the end to a turbulent week by ending firmer on Friday, leaving gold pundits smirking as the all gold index gained 11,71% on the day. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s rise came despite an overnight fall in the New York stock market which was expected to […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 6.00pm. SOUTH African oil-from-gas producer Mossgas on Friday signed a R2,2-billion alliance agreement with United Kingdom-based Dresser-Kellogg Energy Service to develop the EM gasfield in the Bredasdorp Basin. The companies have formed what is known as the Bredasdorp Alliance which is the largest contract ever in South Africa using alliance […]

Mail & Guardian reporter The Mail & Guardian has had a glimpse of the financial rewards enjoyed by Don Mkhwanazi, the former chair of the Central Energy Fund whose decision to hire Emanuel Shaw II, his friend and businesss associate, triggered the state oil scandal. Documents obtained by the M&G show that in 1996 Mkhwanazi […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lusaka | Friday 4.30pm. ZAMBIAN Home Affairs Minister Peter Machungwa on Friday threatened to arrest the leaders of a newly formed movement of gays and lesbians should they try to register the association. Homosexuality is a felony which carries a a minimum prison sentence of 14 years in Zambia and is, Machungwa explained, […]

Many thousands of women undergo plastic surgery to alter their looks, but when Orlan does it, it’s called art. Alex Dodd reports `In the future we will change our bodies as easily as we change our hair colour,” says radical French performance artist Orlan, currently in Johannesburg. She is participating in a conference at the […]

Mercedes Sayagues First Person I was recently in Bulawayo, city of dreams and of shebeen queens. It has remained in a time warp because there has been little construction, because its economy is in the doldrums, because Harare has taken first place. Bulawayo is full of pretty colonial buildings and exudes a laid-back charm. Close […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer Those good people who occupy the houses around Minolta Loftus in a beautiful, tree-lined Pretoria suburb are accustomed to the blue banners of the Blue Bulls and the smell of braaied boerewors. Come noon on Sunday the streets around the citadel of Pretoria rugby are in for a cultural shock as thousands […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi A high-level investigation headed by Eastern Cape Premier Makhenkesi Stofile into allegations that three senior provincial African National Congress members are “ANC members during the day and United Democratic Movement members by night” has run into snags. The people who first made the allegations against the three party members have failed to provide […]

The investigation into the Mpumalanga Parks Board’s dodgy deals is to be carried out in secret, reports Justin Arenstein from Nelspruit Judge Willem Heath personally took control this week of investigations into a dodgy R340-million offshore loan deal set up by the Mpumalanga Parks Board, and promptly threw a blanket of secrecy over his special […]