Jane Starfield REVOLUTIONS IN MY LIFE=20 by Baruch Hirson=20 (Witwatersrand University Press, R86,15) SOUTH African historical writing is low on=20 Trotskyists. Although there have been several=20 eminent Trotskyist politicians (for example, Gana=20 Makabeni and Max Gordon), Baruch Hirson is probably=20 our most famous (under the old government, read=20 “notorious”; they banned his first book for […]

When will Stals ease up on interest rates and give=20 homeowners a break, asks Reg Rumney Real interest rates _ adjusted for inflation _ in=20 South Africa are punitively high, especially for=20 those buying a new home, but the reaction from=20 economists and the man-in-the-street is curiously=20 muted. The prime rate, the rate banks are […]

THEATRE: David Le Page DESCEND to the very lowest level of society, and=20 you are in the perfect position to thrust hard into=20 the softest part of its bloated, pallid underbelly.=20 If you are a playwright named Itumeleng Wa- Lehulere, you will not content yourself with a=20 single thrust of the weapon of words; you’ll […]

My Fleeting Moment with Nelson Mandela (in his=20 absence, of course) THE first time I was in the presence of the man=20 whose influence was to permeate South Africa was in=20 the early 1970s. He was thousands of miles away,=20 but hey, I was in his presence _ in his house in=20 Orlando West, which […]

Reg Rumney First National BANK (FNB) announced bottom-line=20 earnings up almost 23 percent this week at R920- million for the year to end-September. The bank saw strong growth in advances and in non- interest revenues. Those advances were driven=20 mainly by consumer demand. Margins were squeezed, as interest expenditure rose=20 40 percent while interest income […]

The McDonald’s trademark battle flares up as local=20 MacDonald’s opens. Karen Harverson reports Pipping United States McDonald’s at the post _ the=20 South African version, MacDonald’s, opened its=20 doors in central Johannesburg this week, just 24=20 hours before the grand launch of its American rival=20 in Randburg. The store, situated on the corner of Commissioner=20 […]

Karen Harverson Brands, though intangible, are often the most=20 valuable asset of a company, more so than its real=20 estate, equipment, stock, investments and=20 technology. “A brand has an economic value because of the=20 relationship that it creates between the supplier=20 and the customer,” says Raymond Perrier, executive=20 director of Interbrand, a specialist in the […]

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan will this week put a former leading ”Moonie” in charge of the UN’s biggest humanitarian aid agency after vigorous lobbying by the Bush administration. Josette Sheeran is to be appointed executive director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), according to diplomatic and UN sources.

* Following Oom Krisjan’s observations about the Democratic Party being the party with not only guts but gore as well, the party came out with a new slogan: “Less gravy — more meat”. The manne in the bar, always keen for a braaivleis, are awaiting the next election campaign with interest. True colours * Talking […]

The Third Force: Apartheid’s chickens come home to roost with the arrest of retired generals and a former defence minister Mail and Guardian reporters General Magnus Malan and 10 former colleagues were arrested because police seized top-secret documents linking them to an Inkatha hit-squad and the birth of the “Third Force”. KwaZulu-Natal’s cautious Attorney General […]