Karen Harverson The Department of Public Works will set aside an as yet unspecified percentage of contracts for small black emerging businesses. This is part of an initiative by the Public Works and the Department of Finance to reform procurement policies to give small businesses access to the public sector market. A meeting will be […]

The air force is trying to sell itself in the new South Africa. Jan Taljaard visited the Pretoria air show. Last weekend Top Gun blistered into town on augmented turbo-fans. Tokyo Sexwale briefly ruled Gauteng from the air; the American F16 took top honours in the phallic stakes; and the British Red Arrow aerobatic team […]

Dance: Craig Hedderwick FOR just under a month, coinciding with Johannesburg’s Arts Alive festival, the Dance Factory in Newtown has showcased some of the most exciting contemporary choreography around in Dance ’95, which closed on a high note last weekend with a programme of festival highlights. The Soweto Dance Theatre’s Elevated Underground, choreographed by Collen […]

Reg Rumney The investment of around 3 000 debenture holders in the troubled Owen Wiggins Trust group is still at risk. For the first time since March 9 the curators of Owen Wiggins, whose troubles bear similarities to the Masterbond saga, have formally contacted investors. The curators, in a circular dated September 29, have poured […]

The draft of the Bill of Rights is a victory for South Africa’s poor, writes Gaye Davis THE first complete draft of a new Bill of Rights, laid before a Constitutional Assembly committee this week, represents a major victory – not for any one party, but for the country’s poor and powerless. The draft includes […]

To trace the course of the Olifants River is to trace a history of appalling environmental degradation, writes Eddie Koch Look at a map of South Africa and you will see sprinkled over it names that reveal how rivers were once venerated by the early inhabitants, black and white, of this country. Amanzimtoti, the Sweetness […]

Classical Music: Coenraad Visser MAIN interest in Johannesburg this week was in two symphony concerts featuring Laura Mikkola, the young Finnish winner of last year’s Unisa/Transnet Piano Competition and recently silver medallist in the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels. Her performance of Schumann’s piano concerto, with the Transvaal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Christopher Dowdeswell, […]

Fine Art: Ruth Sack PAVED with good intentions, the Right to Hope project was perhaps destined to stumble into predictable pitfalls, especially given its ambition and its hopes. Consisting of three separate exhibitions in Johannesburg, one of which will tour the world for two years, and a multifarious educational component, it was set up to […]

CRICKET: Jon Swift LIKE many other eight year olds in this country, young Wynand is a cricket- mad kid. It drives his mother — proud as she obviously is of his abilities — to distraction. So, when the new set of four coaching videos entitled The Woolmer Way were released featuring the national coach and […]

Karen Harverson reports on the court verdict against McDonald’s and the burger giant’s preparation for appeal The first round of the David and Goliath trademark battle fought by local businessman George Sombonos against United States hamburger giant McDonald’s is over — with Sombonos emerging the victor. Despite the cries of outrage from the United States […]