These are the key women’s investment companies in South Africa: n Women’s Investment Portfolio This company is the mother of female-led investment companies. Last year it started a holding company to offer preferential shares to the female public. It expects to turn a profit by 2000. It has investments in financial services, the Bidvest group […]
Krisjan Lemmer The former head of the police forensic laboratory, General Lothar Neethling – whose dubious achievements include shutting down Max du Preez’s glorious rag, Vrye Weekblad, by suing them for libel over the suggestion he was a poisoner – was among those whom the Truth and Reconciliation Commission wanted to question this week about […]
Ferial Haffajee The controversy surrounding the top job in South African broadcasting continued this week, with indications that the SABC board could face charges of unfair labour practice. SABC deputy chief executive Govin Reddy, who did not get the position of chief executive, has levelled allegations of racism against the board. This week the board’s […]
No one can dispute the fact that the past has a lot to do with the mess our education system is in today. But when four years of democratic governance have gone by and conditions in most schools are as bad as ever, if not worse, it’s time to acknowledge that mistakes have been made […]
Two men who may be able to help the police investigation into the Bloemfontein arms heist have vanished. Marius Lamprecht, a member of the South African National Defence Force, and Drikus Haasbroek, both from Bloemfontein, were last seen in a white Ford Escort at Witpoortjie. The car has since been found abandoned. A cache of […]
TUESDAY, 8.30AM: TALKS over the looming teacher strike (see below) continued until late night, but indications on Tuesday morning are that the strike will go ahead as planned. Teachers belonging to the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union will attend school each day until 10.00AM before withdrawing. But talks, mediated by negotiator Brian Currin, will continue. […]
MONDAY, 6.30PM: THE strategic Somali town of Baidoa was on Monday once again in the hands of the militias of Hussein Mohamed Aidid, following a weekend of fighting. But the militias’ opponents, the Rahanwein Resistance Army, claim still to control the town’s airport. Baidoa is 150km north of Mogadishu and was the proposed venue for […]
MONDAY, 6.00PM: PRESIDENT Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso on Monday called for discussion rather than war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Compaore made his call in opening the summit meeting of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). He will assume chairmanship of the OAU at the end of the summit, the body’s 34th. Compaore also complimented […]
Despite economic crises, there’s money to be made on the stock exchange, writes Mark Allix Following the plunge of the Thai baht in July last year, the volatility on global stock exchanges is starting to take on biblical proportions – particularly the hellfire-and-brimstone warnings of the Old Testament variety. The 10th Commandment on covetousness and […]
David Beresford It was one of those definitive moments in South African history, a moment that Eugene de Kock had long been waiting for. His five heavily armed bodyguards had taken up nervous positions around the courtroom. PW Botha was sitting in a well-padded chair, placed next to the dock in vague acknowledgement that he […]