Why should the conservation fraternity be let off the hook, asks Farieda Khan In recent months we have witnessed the spheres of medicine and journalism being placed under the spotlight of the truth commission. If editors have to answer accusations of collusion and silence when confronted by the excesses of apartheid, and medical authorities have […]

FRIDAY, 10.00AM: Bankers Capital Alliance have bought Decimax, days after the derivative traders lost R30-million in the stock market crash. In the R80-million deal, Decimax management’s holdings have been cut from 65% to 30%, with Capital Alliance in control of the balance. Financial services firm Theta sold its 35% stake to Capital Alliance for R30-million […]

THURSDAY, 9.00AM: A CONFIDENTIAL meeting between ministers and provincial premiers in Cape Town on Wednesday (see below) was told that KwaZulu-Natal only managed to pay pensions after persuading the bank not to bounce all the cheques. The combined overspending by the provinces for the year was over R6 billion, with KwaZulu-Natal the worst offender with […]

THURSDAY, 9.30AM: CONSTRUCTION has begun on Richards Bay Minerals’ massive new titanium plant. The project, budgeted to cost more than R900-million, forms the major part of a five-year, R1,3-billion upgrade of RBM operations. The new mine, situated in the Zulti North lease area, is intended to enable RBM to maintain existing production levels and keep […]

THURSDAY, 3:30PM: SWAPO has found itself in a legal row with Namibia’s Electoral Commission — because it has lost the local elections in Rundu by failing to submit its candidates list in time. Swapo has asked for a court interdict tomorrow (Friday) preventing the Electoral Commission from eliminating the party from the final list of […]

THURSDAY, 10.00AM: THE Department of Public Works announced yesterday that it was to be streamlined to less than half its size over the next five years. However, its community-based public works programme would be extended for at least 15 years. At the launch of a white paper on public works, Minister Jeff Radebe said that […]

THURSDAY, 10.30AM: A DRAFT white paper covering affirmative action in government requires the public service to have 50% black managers and 30% women by 1999. At present 38% of managers are black and 11% of middle to senior managers are women. Although 79% of public servants are black, only 38% at the level of director […]

THURSDAY, 9.20AM: THE Italian national rugby coach George Coste believes that Springbok line-out giants Krynauw Otto and Mark Andrews will be the match winners on Saturday when Italy host South Africa in Bologna. “We have always had problems at lock. In Italy we don’t have the same height or bulk as South Africa,” said the […]

THURSDAY, 5.00PM: The South African government need not revise its growth estimates, despite last week’s market turmoil, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Thursday. Nor is there any question of revising its 4% budget deficit target “We don’t see the need for any panic in respect of the fiscal targets we have set,” he said. […]

THURSDAY, 5PM: The Rev Ndabaningi Sithole, father of the armed struggle against white rule in Zimbabwe, is the latest veteran of the liberation war to complain that the government is holding back on promised benefits. Sithole, now 77, led the Zimbabwe African National Union in the early 1960s and 1970s. He said this week he […]