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 […]

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 […]

Dan Ncayiyana Right to Reply I feel constrained to respond to the letter by my friend and colleague, Professor Cecil Abrahams (May 8 to 14), in which he purports to write “in my capacity as an acknowledged scholar of African studies”. Whatever that distinction may mean (I am not aware of an academic discipline called […]

William Makgoba: A SECOND LOOK “Freedom is not enough. You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: `Now you are free to go where you want, do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please.’ You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate […]

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 […]

The end is in sight for endless banking queues, writes Charlene Smith The bank client of the future will hardly ever go into his or her bank. Indeed, today already the way to save on frustrations and bank charges is to bank electronically. Increasingly we are moving toward a cashless society with petrol cards, debit […]

Design and concept partnership Eleutheria has made a name for itself on the off-beat beat, writes Ferial Haffajee It takes courage to step out of the comfort zone that a salaried job offers. The pension. The regular pay-check. Medical aid. “It’s a jump into the unknown,” says Mark Smith of design company Eleutheria, which he […]

Charlene Smith Since April last year, Old Mutual has invested R2,3-billion in 26 black empowerment deals and says there is no cap on how much more it is prepared to invest. The company’s commitment to economic empowerment is the biggest and most significant initiative from a South African financial institution. Its portfolio manager in charge […]

For a few weeks in May ’68 in Paris, students and workers united in a wave of strikes and demonstrations that seemed poised to overturn the old order. Peter Lennon was in the thick of things I don’t remember the precise incident that made it clear to me that this time, this particular turmoil was […]

Neil Manthorp Cricket Few tours begin with such mutual agreement on the key factors; the turning point, if you like, has been firmly decided upon, even though the tour-bus has hardly left its London garage. The four most talked-about men since South Africa arrived have been Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Alec Stewart and Michael Atherton. […]