The public service is run by a code so detailed and archaic that it prescribes acceptable body weights for job applicants and provides endless blockages to government progress, reports Anton Harber ONE issue, more than any other, will determine the extent to which President Nelson Mandela’s government succeeds this year in its ambitious mission. It […]

The hype and glory of the African Nations Cup created new enthusiasm for soccer in South Africa. Now it has to be harnessed for the good of the local game SOCCER: Mark Gleeson IT is amazing how quickly the poor crowd attendance, erratic shooting and errant referees were forgotten in the euphoria of South Africas […]

Business believes it has the answer to marketing tourism in South Africa, reports Karen Harverson South Africa is the fastest-growing tourist destination in the world but this is due more to its flavour of the month status initiated by the 1994 elections than its marketing activities overseas. With a shoe-string budget of R48-million for 1996 […]

CARNAGE in the streets of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, where more than 80 people were killed and about 1 300 injured last week by suspected Tamil suicide bombers, is a terrible reminder of the human cost of civil war and of the limits of force in solving chronic ethnic conflicts. The violence shows no […]

Government is committed to reducing the national debt, but South Africa must not expect overnight miracles, reports Madeleine Wackernagel Chris Liebenberg, the Minister of Finance, has primed the markets for an overrun on the budget deficit to about 6% of gross domestic product (GDP) this year. Longer term, his aim is to trim it by […]

The minister of health said her department could not have been expected to consult every NGO about a R14- million Aids play. Vuyo Mvoko and Justin Pearce report Minister of Health Nkosazana Zuma has defended her department’s decision to spend R14,27-million on the production of a play on Aids awareness, despite massive criticism from non-governmental […]

leon Perlman Faced with shrinking margins, not everyone welcomes the return of multi-national information technology (IT) companies to South Africa. The re-entry of major IT companies is proving to be a mixed blessing for some local hardware and software distributors. Some say that local users might have to start forking out more for what they […]

Visiting Johannesburg this week, renowned composer Kevin Volans spoke to GWEN ANSELL about music past and present, African and European SERIOUS music in the late 20th century is an esoteric and fragmented world in which performers and composers find survival a struggle. Audiences tend to be rigid adherents of one school or another, and fairly […]

ATHLETICS: Julian Drew AT the Old Mutual South African Cross Country Trials on Saturday the cream of South Africas middle-distance running talent will do battle over the same Stellenbosch course that in six weeks time will play host to the world cross country championships. The world championships will be the biggest and most prestigious athletics […]

Rudolph Mulder, convicted of cruelty to animals after a Guy Fawke’s prank, has already contravened part of his sentence, reports Ricardo Dunn Just 24 hours after being sentenced, dog torturer Rudolph Dawid Mulder (41) went awol and was sentenced to 72 hours in jail last weekend. He disappeared three times during the night while under […]