South Africa got it wrong in the quarter-final against the West Indies, but on the public relations front they got it right every time CRICKET: Mark Lamport-Stokes SOUTH AFRICA may have suffered the extreme disappointment of exiting stage left from cricket’s World Cup after their quarter-final defeat against a resurgent West Indies in Karachi on […]
Finance Minister Chris Liebenberg was quick this week to deflect any charges that his Budget was a holding exercise, insisting that “this must be the year to get points on the scoreboard”. He is trying to get the government’s fiscal ducks in a row and, while this is commendable, the route he has taken has […]
Ann Eveleth many of the 20 accused in the Magnus Malan trial this week dropped their erstwhile stoicism and began to fidget nervously when a slight, bookish ex-soldier, Johan Pieter “JP” Opperman (38), took the stand on Tuesday. Former defence minister Malan’s jowls worked constantly during the proceedings in a bizarre facial exercise routine, while […]
1996 BUDGET Few surprises and lacking in boldness Lynda Loxton There was a predictably mixed reaction from political parties to Finance Minister Chris Liebenberg’s 1996/97 budget on Wednesday. The African National Congress welcomed the fact that Liebenberg had not succumbed to the “short-sighted and insensitive free advice” of the likes of the South African Foundation […]
Cawe Mahlati, acting CEO of Bop Broadcasting, in The Mark Gevisser Profile NIGHT has fallen over dirty-grey veld around Mmabatho; the sun has set behind the hulking Rhino Recording Studios, built by Bop Broadcasting during the height of its deluded grandeur. Cawe Mahlati and I wander through the boma and along a water feature, back […]
HAZEL FRIEDMAN bids farewell to once fted, now forgotten rural woodcarver Doctor Phutuma Seoka FEW people would have noticed the small farewell to a “well-known woodcarver from the Northern Province” which recently appeared in the Mail & Guardian personals column. Doc Phutuma Seoka died on February 22 at Duiwelskloof “after a long illness”, the notice […]
Finance Minister Chris Liebenberg denies a trade-off between labour and the pensions industry, reports Madeleine Wackernagel This year’s Budget had not been expected to raise the roof, nor did it. But Chris Liebenberg, the Minister of Finance, was quietly confident it would be well received by the markets, big business and labour alike. He insisted […]
A high-ranking policeman faces charges in what is thought to touch on a much larger probe into police corruption, writes Stefaans Brummer TOP policeman Charlie Landman, head of Johannesburg’s Brixton Murder and Robbery squad, is facing charges in what well-placed sources say is “chapter one” of a probe into massive high-level police corruption. Transvaal Attorney […]
Simon Segal One of the key components of Finance Minister Chris Liebenberg’s Budget is to address fears around the budget deficit and government debt. These blight an otherwise impressive economic record that boasts the most buoyant growth, lowest inflation, largest net capital inflows and most sizeable fixed investment in two decades. Liebenberg’s numbers for the […]
The World Cross Country Championships should be a boost to athletics in the country, but Athletics South Africa isn’t taking advantage of the event, writes Julian Drew THE biggest athletics event ever staged in South Africa will take place in Stellenbosch next Saturday amid growing concerns that Athletics South Africa (ASA) has failed to capitalise […]