Steve Morris : Rugby The acid test for South Africa’s new regionalised Super 12 system does not come on Friday February 27, when the southern hemisphere’s provincial championship kicks off in Cape Town where the Western Stormers face Wellington at Newlands. Neither will it really come should one of the local composite teams make the […]

Once upon a time, long before the heady days of El Nino, South African TV drama was as soft as an English muffin and as wet as English weather. The Importance of Being Earnest and Charlie’s Aunt were the primary ingredients of our homemade white bread in the 1970s and 1980s — and you may […]

When a man’s gotta go … Charl Blignaut ‘You’re late,” barks Eleanor Moore as if she had stepped straight out of a bad movie and into the swish Radio 702 reception area. “Six minutes,” I want to say. “What’s six minutes?” But the powerhouse producer of John Berks’s late afternoon show is already heading down […]

Philippa Garson Etienne Marais, a director in the Safety and Security Secretariat found guilty last week of sexually abusing two girls, will face a disciplinary hearing or be dismissed, unless he resigns first. Marais, chief director of liaison and communication, was found guilty of masturbating in front of two girls, aged seven and 12 at […]

Eddie Butler : Rugby For all its reputation of being the dearest, dearest institution never to have been added to the government’s sacred “listed events”, the Five Nations Championship has a decidedly murky history. There may not have been much that even the home unions committee could do about the world wars that interrupted the […]

Maria McCloy The management of national music chain Musica and the advertising agency Jupiter Drawing Room are surprised by the “extreme” reaction to a Valentine’s Day poster campaign that went up on Friday January 23 and was torn down by Monday January 26. Four naked couples in loving embraces, each accompanied by appropriate words from […]

morality Sexual scandal in politics has always been attended by hypocrisy, most frequently on the part of the media in their efforts to justify the public ventilation of private activities. When a British minister of defence, John Profumo, bedded a prostitute and was caught, the British press justified its prurient coverage of the scandal on […]

FRIDAY, 10.30AM: ALL-Africa pole vault record holder Okkert Brits has been suspended from competing in Friday night’s European indoor meeting in Germany after Athletics South Africa informed the International Amateur Athletics Federation that he is on SA’s team to take on Russia in a Test match in Pretoria on Saturday and therefore does not have […]

Belinda Beresford Guardian of the rand and watchdog of inflation, the Reserve Bank probably has as much impact on every South African’s finances as anything the government does. But, unlike Nelson Mandela, the bank is not national property. Unlike most of its counterparts across the globe, South Africa’s central bank is a private company which […]

Belinda Beresford Investor or tourist, gift-giver or generous parent bailing out stranded offspring, how can you best get your money out of the country? The quickest way of taking money overseas is to use your credit or debit card, although this can be expensive. Internationally, credit-card transactions are operated in dollars. A withdrawal in yen […]