Simon Segal WITH cellular telephones now virtually passe, satellite television is set to become the next yuppie symbol. Behind the scenes an intriguing corporate battle is unfolding between M-Nets Multichoice and SABC. There is potential for substantial losers and winners. The big question is whether SABCs decision to go analogue makes commercial sense in a […]

Stefaans Brummer CREDIT card giant MasterCard International has infuriated local police by flying a self-acknowledged South African crook overseas in a botched cloak-and- dagger operation intended to entrap members of a powerful South African fraud syndicate. Now MasterCard stands accused of bypassing South African police, withholding information and obstructing local investigations. MasterCard denies the charges, […]

Jacquie Golding-Duffy THE SABC’s failure to inform viewers and advertisers of what was planned for the new-look SABC because its relaunch was intended as a spectacular and not informative event could cost it a chunk of advertising support. Mixed reaction by the advertising industry to the SABC’s relaunch and programme reshuffling saw some advertising agencies […]

Selby Baqwa, the official appointed to fight the abuse of power, is himself tangled up in red tape, reports Gaye Davis PUBLIC protector Selby Baqwa may be one of the most powerful people in the country, but he has run into major problems over the appointment of the nine provincial public protectors he needs to […]

Ricardo Dunn THE first national exhibition of gay and lesbian art has got tongues wagging in Bloemfontein, where religious groups and concerned citizens have bombarded the press with complaints since the exhibitions opening at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum in January. The organisers of Gay Rights Rites Rewrites smelt trouble from the start when the director […]

Philippa Garson The government is in a double bind over whether to screen pregnant women for HIV, and key policy decisions are being delayed by intense debate around the issue. Although new research shows that steps taken during and after pregnancy can reduce the risk of HIV- positive mothers transmitting the virus to their babies, […]

Nicole Fritz Television critics at South Africa’s largest daily newspapers have generally given the thumbs-up to the SABC’s new programme line-up on its three television channels. But Beeld’s critic Andries Cornelissen is critical of the continued use of dubbing. If the SABC wants to reflect South African society, it musn’t look to dubbed programmes. Afrikaans […]

BALLET: Stanley Peskin IT would be silly to expect any ballet (or, for that matter, film or stage play) based on Leo Tolstoys majestic Anna Karenina to be Tolstoyan in impact. In fact, Andre Prokovskys adaptation of the novel for ballet in 1979 (now a standard work in Pact Ballets repertory) owes more to Clarence […]

Its not only top batsmen and bowlers the South Africans have to face in the World Cup, but the threat of bombs and violence on the volatile Indian sub-continent CRICKET: Jon Swift AGAINST a background of violent instability, Hansie Cronjes blend of hardened veterans and exciting new talent have voiced a collective determination to emulate […]

A one percent party has taught the Inkatha Freedom Party a lesson of biblical proportions, writes Ann Eveleth When push finally came to shove it took a political David to bring Goliath to his knees and turn KwaZulu- Natal’s interminable constitutional process on its head. Holding out for a controversial clause prohibiting abortion, the minuscule […]