Andrew O’Hagan CRIES UNHEARD by Gitta Sereny (Macmillan, R88) There is nothing more stupid and corrupt than the collective mind of Britain’s tabloid newspapers. In a spirit of moral outrage they set out to molest the very people who often require protection, sympathy, understanding. The cry of the mob is vicious and total. In full […]
Janet Smith When SABC3 announced early this year that it was to screen a two-part South African documentary called Death, TV writers muttered darkly about a bleak society, an odious world view and the depths to which our national psyche had sunk. Then the documentary from writer-director Luiz DeBarros and producer Mark Schwinges won three […]
A bold new album deal and a minor national controversy have made it quite a week for top local band Boom Shaka. Charl Blignaut reports The mutterings began more than a fortnight ago, at the afterparty of the 1998 FNB South African Music Awards (Samas). It was evident, before the first glass of wine had […]
David Lewis and Jayendra Naidoo South Africa has chosen a path of social dialogue – but is it working? Social dialogue reflects the unique national pressures and circumstances of a state making a transition to democracy and introducing far-reaching economic reforms. A social partnership that is associated with a reduction in inequalities of wealth, income […]
Paul Wilson FA Cup Final If Arsenal against Newcastle United has the ring of a real cup final about it, for all the traditional reasons, then it is also a final in which neutral viewers would traditionally have known which side to support. But if a week is a long time in politics, a couple […]
Krisjan Lemmer Mrs H Bingham, a resident at a Johannesburg retirement village, would like it to be known that her name is Henrietta, not Hugh. And no – she does not know the whereabouts of that aristocratic desperado, Lord Lucan. Henrietta has been inundated with calls from investigative journalists convinced she is Hugh Bingham, the […]
Mark Tran When Kirk Kerkorian started buying shares in Chrysler in December 1990, his closest advisers feared that the famously reclusive corporate raider had gone senile. James Aljian, who had worked with him for 25 years, declared it was “the stupidest thing I ever heard” and Alex Yemenidjian, Kerkorian’s right-hand man, thought: “He’s finally lost […]
Janet Smith Anand Naidoo spent his last night on a recent trip home to Johannesburg strolling famously through his old haunt, the SABC. He went to see his mentor Chris Gibbons presenting News Hour on SABC3, and came away impressed – and not a little nostalgic. News Hour is, after all, not quite the same […]
Saul Klein A business exists to satisfy its customers. But South Africa’s poor service attitude is an important factor in the country regularly being ranked near the bottom in terms of competitiveness. One component of competitiveness that captures our poor performance has to do with the market orientation of local business. Market orientation means designing […]
Phola Park’s economy Sechaba ka’Nkosi A housing project that started as part of the Reconstruction and Development Programme in the one-time battlefield of Phola Park on the East Rand is paying dividends to the community. The project – a joint venture between low-cost housing contractors Ecodev, the Gauteng Department of Housing and Land Affairs and […]