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 […]

Iden Wetherell Televised scenes of demonstrators being teargassed and robust editorials in the country’s leading daily have so angered Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe that he has ordered a radical shake-up of the state-owned media that will see his already tight grip reinforced. Traditionally a faithful ally of Zimbabwe’s entrenched political establishment, the government media have […]

Charl Blignaut On stage in Johannesburg Three-quarters of the way through Kere Nyawo’s gritty prison comedy Hola Majita, a young male prisoner is forced to don a frock and perform the duties of a whore. Where is all this leading, I wonder. Another quaint, stereotypical comic device pretending to be something more than a handy […]

Several million people and their families will be affected by the listings of South Africa’s two largest life insurance groups on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) within the next 18 months. For more than a year market observers have been expecting Sanlam and Old Mutual to announce their plans to demutualise and list on the […]

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 […]

Wally Lambert As stock markets across the globe continue to react with no apparent logic to troubles in the East, there are few investors who haven’t considered cashing in their unit trusts for a holiday destination where nobody’s heard of “Asian flu”. Others will be looking to their “friendly” financial advisers while scouring the economic […]

Ferial Haffajee A leaner, meaner Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) went on show this week at the start of its most gruelling licence hearings yet. By the end of March it must decide which of seven strong contenders will win the coveted private television licence. That’s a decision likely to be contested whichever way it goes […]

Shaun de Waal CD of the week Despite the recent lionisation of (Sir) Paul McCartney, mostly on the back of a bunch of old Beatles leftovers, he is still less interesting than the other half of pop’s most famous songwriting partnership. John Lennon’s post-Beatles output was uneven (blame Yoko!), but at least he kept pushing […]

Attempts at reconciling the ANC’s Gauteng region have failed dismally, writes Sechaba ka’Nkosi Fresh allegations of serious misconduct and abuse of authority hit the inner circles of the African National Congress’s Gauteng region this week, less than two months before the party holds its provincial conference. At the centre of the furore is Safety and […]

president’s son John Grobler The questions directed at a defiant former president PW Botha by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission last month could equally have been directed at Botha’s mysterious counsel, Pretoria attorney Ernst Penzhorn. As a sort of legal agent-cum-fixer extraordinaire for the previous dispensation, entrusted with operations which still raise as many questions […]