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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Some film-makers feel the SABC is not being fair and equitable to both in-house and independent producers, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy While the SABC is committed to independent production, some independent film-makers are frustrated and are accusing the corporation of foot-dragging its implementation of commissioning procedures. A commissioning procedures task group, with representatives from the SABC […]

Marion Edmunds The R-word hit the newspaper headlines with meaning for the first time this week, after ANC hard-liner MP Pravin Gordhan warned minority parties that if negotiations failed, a referendum would be a reality. At a time when parties are shaping up to negotiate the worst of the disputes in the final constitution, this […]

The SABC’s grand relaunch: Was it worth the money? Did anyone learn anything? Will advertisers support the new-look state television station? Jeff Zerbst found the SABC’s grand relaunch of its TV stations to be a spectacle loaded with symbolism for the new South Africa IT was in a spirit of awe and reverence that one […]

Gaye Davis TWENTY months after it first convened in Cape Town, what do South Africans think of their new Parliament? Perhaps predictably, opinion is mixed and differs along racial lines. The Public Opinion Service of the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa (Idasa) surveyed a sample of 2 674 South Africans between September […]

Hazel Friedman The SABCs drama department is filled with intrigue, but not of the scripted variety. The mystery revolves around the criteria used to commission scripts for drama series and sitcom programmes. Independent film-makers claim they are being discriminated against as they are SABC outsiders, while the SABC drama department insists everything is being done […]

Bop Broadcasting is forging ahead with new programmes despite the prospect of losing its government funding, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation (BopBC) is digging in its heels against integration with the SABC, despite having only two months before government funding is cut-off. Representative of the North-West premier Willie Modise said BopBC were intending to […]