Cheche Selepe Life has not been the same for the Malebane household in Katlehong, near Germiston, since the brutal rape and subsequent murder of six-year-old Mamokgethi Malebane last year. Mamokgethi’s younger sister Emma and the other children in the neighbourhood are obeying the new law of the household: never shake the hand of any male […]
THURSDAY, 12.30PM: WORLDWIDE demand for gold rose 16% last year as falling prices led to a higher demand for gold in jewellery, electronics and coin production. Total demand rose to 4 025 tons from the 1996 figure of 3 477 tons. The rise, however, was offset by record sales of above-ground gold by central banks, […]
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 […]
FRIDAY, 4.30PM: THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange ended Friday 1% down amid continuing fears that Asian markets have not yet seen the end of their financial crisis. Dealers said sentiment was bearish, not only in South Africa, but on around the world, as investors are getting to grips with the impact on corporate earnings of the […]
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 […]
Everyone involved in educating this country’s children, from Minister of Education Sibusiso Bengu to the most junior teacher, should be forced to sit an exam this week, a test containing a single question: define the word responsibility. If they can define it, they might wantto consider how the word applies tothemselves. For these people together […]
Wonder Hlongwa and Mungo Soggot President Nelson Mandela overruled truth commission legislation guidelines to ensure former state president PW Botha’s legal team was paid almost double the going rate for representing a potential witness. This week Minister of Justice Dullah Omar – who had been part of the negotiations on the massive bill – said […]
Andrew Muchineripi : Soccer After the carefully selected, diplomatically correct words of Clive Barker, new Bafana Bafana coach Jomo Sono has hit the scene like a bolt of lightning from the blue. Sono resembles those gunslingers we worshipped as children at the bioscope. He walks with the same self-belief and is ready to let rip […]
Robert Kirby : Loose cannon The Christmas hols done with, it’s time once again to reflect on how we did as a nation honouring this fine occasion. As of going to press, South Africa’s extermination road network was doing quite well in its disciplined attempt to outstrip last year’s carnage. With but a day or […]
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 […]