Aventura bid Ann Eveleth Minister for Public Enterprises Stella Sigcau came under severe criticism this week for “acting beyond her authority” in the sale of tourism parastatal Aventura. A senior government official and a member of one of four consortiums expected to lose the bid this week said Sigcau and her privatisation advisers, HSBC Investment […]
Peter Mullan, winner of the best actor award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, has a tale to tell those who wonder if it all might go to his head. It stems from his experience working on Braveheart, Mel Gibson’s Oscar-winner about the exploits of William Wallace. Mullan remembers watching the director of the second […]
Ann Eveleth The development hopes of a poor rural community bordering the lucrative Sabi Sands game reserve have been delayed by bickering between conservationists vying for a slice of the community’s untapped treasure. The tiny community of Huntington in the fractious Bushbuckridge region in Mpumalanga plans to meet this weekend in an ongoing bid to […]
After nearly a decade of remaining in the doldrums, the motor sector of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange has doubled in less than two years, with some listed companies still showing upward growth potential. However, the ride to its present level of over 9 000 has been volatile. Before the 1994 election the index remained mostly […]
Stephen Bierley questions the sincerity of two potential tennis champions May in Paris and the great names are lined up for the French Open: Chiroubles, Fleurie, Morgon, Moulin-a- Vent. And then there are the tennis players. The intense heat of Melbourne, the mayhem of Flushing Meadow and the unremitting pressure of Wimbledon seem a world […]
Mzilikazi wa Afrika Police are investigating allegations that taxi bosses in Mpumalanga employed 40 Mozambicans as hired assassins. Investigators say taxi bosses hired the Mozambicans as the foreigners would be harder to track down than local hired assassins. “Our intelligence unit has found out that the Mozambican hit men are armed with powerful automatic rifles,” […]
Mail & Guardian reporter South Africa’s financial markets took a drubbing this week as the rand fell to an all-time low and the Reserve Bank raised its key lending rate by more than two percentage points to 18%. The rand dropped to R5,16 against the dollar on Monday after rumours in London and New York […]
Andrew Muchineripi Soccer When the World Cup draw was made in chilly Marseille last December, France and Denmark expressed happiness bordering on arrogance after being placed in the same group as minnows Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Recent events suggest it may not be quite so easy for the French and Danes with the Saudis […]
Stefaans Brmmer: A SECOND LOOK Nicholas Biwott is Kenya’s political bogeyman. The minister of state in the office of President Daniel Arap Moi has a reputation that embraces ruthless murder, kleptomaniacal patronage and cynical manipulation. Any edition of one of Kenya’s more adventurous journals is as likely as not to make reference to what they […]
Phillip Kakaza A melancholic nostalgia sweeps through Woza! – the Civic Theatre’s celebration of 40 years of South African musicals – as the soulful voices of Wendy Mseleku and Sibongile Mngoma and the tap-dancing feet of Somizi Mhlongo tour memory lane. King Kong’s blues number Back of the Moon and Ipi Ntombi’s Mama Thembu’s Wedding […]