Changes in the unit trust industry could work to your advantage, writes Charlene Smith There is no doubt that the unit trust industry is profitable, for investors and trust-fund managers, but what new developments should the investor be sensitive too? Overall, unit trusts are performing better than the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s (JSE) all share index, […]
Suzy Bell On stage in Durban Five years ago a young lad called John was living in London. He woke up one freezing winter’s morning and decided to come home and promised himself that if he was not touring his country as a stand-up comedian by the age of 25, he’d become a panel beater […]
Craig Bishop The launch of the National Environment Management Bill this week is expected to give communities a “lot more political muscle in dealing with companies”, says Chris Albertyn, national co-ordinator of the Environmental Justice Networking Forum. “The new Bill recognises that the government has very little capacity to deal with companies breaking environmental laws. […]
Chris Gordon The in-your-face style of marketing practised in downtown Luanda, Angola, is a normal hazard of life on the dishevelled and risky streets of the capital. Young men and children, mainly refugees from the provinces, sell anything from chewing gum to clothes, pushing it through car windows, following potential customers down the street, disbelieving […]
Stefaans Brmmer Staff in the Gauteng premier’s office were to attend a compulsory workshop on Friday to discuss the prevention of leaks of government information. A copy of the “invitation” was leaked to the Mail & Guardian. The “confidentiality workshop” – addressed by National Intelligence Agency staff – was convened amid growing acrimony between Gauteng […]
Andrew Worsdale Movies of the week I don’t have any friends I still know from my schooldays. It’s probably just as well. Most of them weren’t really friends because I was such a wise-ass. But two films opening this week give unique insight into the world of children and growing up. Both are rites- of-passage […]
Anna Borzello in Kampala The 42 Sudanese prisoners sat at the edge of Entebbe airport. Despite spending more than a year in military prison, they looked in reasonable health – with the exception of a man who was said to have gone mad in captivity. A Sudanese government delegation arrived by jet from Khartoum and […]
Greg Bowes Johannesburg nightlife Suddenly on Saturday nights in Johannesburg there’s a welcome and regular alternative to the usual mundane mega- raves – and one that’s showcasing local talent on the fringes of live music. And I’ll be damned, people are still dancing! The Stylus Lounge takes place every weekend at the stunning but seldom […]
Andrew Clements CDs of the week Naxos deserves an award. Using archive material supplied by the Canadian-based Immortal Performances of Recorded Music Society, they’ve secured the commercial release of operatic radio broadcasts, taken from live performances from 1937 to 1943, some of them hitherto only available as expensive bootlegs. Not everyone will like these: recording […]
`Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” the inscription on the Statue of Liberty urges the world. In South Africa, which we pride as a “land of liberty”, we electrocute them, detain them, deport them and, on occasion, lynch them. Even when they are not poor and huddled we […]