Simon Segal THE great seven-year haggling game between divergent interest groups around the establishment of a regulated bond market appears at last to be moving towards a resolution. Last week the Bond Market Association (BMA) submitted its application to the Financial Services Board (FSB) to be licensed as South Africa’s bond market exchange. The FSB […]

Mike Loewe The most ambitious public relations stunt by a South African newspaper is degenerating into farce as two ill-prepared women climbers scramble for the top of Mount Everest. South African mountaineer Cathy O’Dowd, a Rhodes University photojournalism masters student and daughter of Anglo-American director Michael O’Dowd, will carry with her the hopes of her […]

ATHLETICS: Julian Drew FEW of the 1 500 or so crowd who actually showed up for last Sunday’s Pepsi All Africa International Athletics Meeting were still in the stadium when the highlight of the afternoon’s proceedings took place. The 800m, which was the last track event of the meeting, had just finished and the spectators […]

Soon you will be able to study to be a Nat politician, reports Marion Edmunds The National Party is setting up a political academy and its first group of 50 students begin training on August 1. While the detail of this academy is still under discussion, the shape and concept has been accepted. An NP […]

attitude Madeleine Wackernagel The rand retreated from its record lows this week, no thanks to Trevor Manuel’s insistence that the government’s position on exchange controls remains firm. The finance minister is labouring the point, said one economist. He should have made suitably reassuring noises at the onset of the crisis, and then let the markets […]

Philippa Garson A radical shake-up in tertiary education has been proposed by the National Commission on Higher Education. Chaired by Jairam Reddy, former rector of the University of Durban Westville, the commission appears to have met a wide range of needs without bowing to the specific demands of any group. It embraces a vision for […]

As government reconsiders its expenditure, certain ministries will suffer cuts to their budget votes. Lynda Loxton reports As parliamentary committees started examining the 1996/97 budget votes of the various ministries this week, it was clear that the Ministry of Defence is hurting the most from the reprioritisation of government spending. South African National Defence Force […]

South Africa’s about-face on Nigeria brings it more into line with the approach of other African countries, reports Stefaans BrUmmer FAR from Nelson Mandela’s trailblazing call last year for sanctions against Nigeria, South Africa was trying this week to pull the teeth from a United Nations resolution which slams the West African country’s human rights […]

Rehana Rossouw RECENTLY divorced President Nelson Mandela is not in the market for a first (or should it be third?) lady. He can cope perfectly well on his own, say his staff. But bachelor presidents are the exception rather than the rule, with most heads of state relying on their wives to lend a helping […]

FINE ART: Hazel Friedman SLEAZY hotel rooms belong to the “lay now, pay later” way of life. A conflation of private and public domains, with their starched sheets and lumpy mattresses, they are imbued with an air of erotic anonymity. And to the artists of Visible Traces (at the Market’s Rembrant van Rijn Gallery) — […]