TUESDAY, 11.45AM: THE price of white maize futures on the SA Futures Exchange last week continued the slide that began in December following the late start of summer rains. Safex agricultural markets GM Rod Gravel-Blondin said on Monday that maize futures contract prices fell a further R50 last week and, with the exception of December […]

MONDAY, 11.30AM: AFTER playing well during their follow-on innings in the first Test against Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe were decisively beaten on the final day in Asgiriya on Sunday Zimbabwe started the day at 289/7, still needing 40 runs to make Sri Lanka bat again. Paul Strang ensured that Sri Lanka bat again after he cut […]

FRIDAY, 2.30PM: A SIX-member International Monetary Fund delegation arrives in Zimbabwe on Tuesday for its second visit since November, to launch a US$183-million stand-by credit arrangement to prop up the country’s fast-deteriorating balance of payments position. It is expected that the funds will be disbursed in two tranches, with a first payment available immediately after […]

Tom Quoin : Architecture Our deurmekaar country is filled with maddening contrasts. None more stomach- churning than the bald differences between the spacious settings in which planners and politicians live and the crushed layouts they’ve dumped on most of their fellow citizens. Though each rises on the same scattered suburban pattern — single plots for […]

Stephen Gray : Unspoilt places All roads into Warmbaths lead to the Elephant Springs Hotel. This is the resort’s old bed-and-brandy joint, the Bronnehof, reclad for all modern travellers wishing to arrive in the Waterberg district. For an introduction try the wooden deck over the main drag, where a menu of genius rejuvenates the weary […]

Mungo Soggot The panel appointed to investigate Emanuel Shaw II’s top state oil job finished its probe this week after hearing testimony from Gordon Sibiya, the senior government official leading the charge against Shaw’s R3-million appointment. The acting director general of the Department of Minerals and Energy, Dick Bakker, said this week that after hearing […]

Julian Drew : Swimming Eighteen months is a long time in swimming. At the 1994 world swimming championships in Rome Penny Heyns placed sixth in the 100m breastroke final in a time of 1:10.46 and fifth in the B final over 200m in 2:33.57. Those performances received barely a mention in the nation’s sports pages […]

Madeleine Wackernagel : Taking Stock Looking for a cheery subject to start the new year, I thought of the massive influx of foreigners and all that lovely foreign exchange providing a welcome boost to our beleaguered economy. But events conspired against me. Lurid tales of foreign visitors mindlessly slaughtered around the country will deal a […]

police Andy Duffy The top detective brought in amid huge fanfare late last year to revive crime- fighting efforts on the troubled Cape Flats spent just six weeks in Cape Town before returning to Gauteng. Police management deployed Director Ivor Human to the Western Cape last October to lead investigations into the spiralling violence, and […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi Newly elected African National Congress secretary general Kgalema Mothlante had a hectic first week at the party’s Shell House headquarters, drafting its anniversary statement and preparing the ground for talks with other political organisations. His orientation included daily two-hour meetings with his predecessor Cheryl Carolus, and a session with his new boss, ANC […]