Foreign investors want growth, not deregulation, argues ANC MP Rob Davies THE announcement of the appointment of a Cabinet “super-committee” to co-ordinate government strategy to promote economic growth has provoked a good deal of media comment. Some have seen the establishment of this committee as an implicit acknowledgment by the Government of National Unity of […]

Karen Harverson. More than 2 000 companies were liquidated in 1994 alone, resulting in thousands of employees not only losing their jobs but also losing out on unpaid salaries, accrued leave and various other benefits. When it comes to protecting the rights of employees of insolvent companies, South Africa’s laws lag far behind international norms. […]

Reg Rumney The shape of new competition policy is becoming clearer. Trade & Industry Minister Trevor Manuel in a speech last week revealed some of the proposals soon to be circulated in a draft Bill. Among the main objectives, said Manuel, were that: * The linkages between firms, be they through vertical integration, horizontal collusion […]

Stephanie Dippenaar NATIONAL Party cabinet ministers Pik Botha and Dawie de Villiers appear to be on a collision course over strip mining in the Northern Province’s environmentally sensitive Madimbo corridor. While the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs, for which Botha is the responsible minister, issued a prospecting permit to a diamond-mining company in May, […]

Neil Bierbaum THE recent release of the All Media and Product Survey (Amps) shows that, with a few exceptions, magazines suffered a significant loss of black readership, according to Tony Banahan of Lindsay-Smithers FCB. Interpreting the Amps figures, Banahan says particularly hard hit were women’s magazines. Cosmopolitan (-4,9 percent), Femina (-13,6 ),Living & Loving (-19,3), […]

RUGBY: Jon Swift SUDDENLY, at a stroke if you like, the rugby season has taken a different slant, a different emphasis. Transvaal, the power province that the steely will and vast resources of Louis Luyt assembled and the deep insightful thinking of Kitch Christie honed to perfection in the 1993 season, have relinquished their hold […]

THEATRE: David Le Page The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me represents a medium familiar to South Africans, and one that is oft- reviled: it is protest theatre. The issue is not race, it is gay rights, but the anger and rhetoric are familiar. Frequently the stage becomes a podium, and Robert Finlayson, the sole performer, […]

IT seems that on the question of transparency some MPs want to have their cake and eat it. They claim to be transparent, but want to dictate the terms. The National Party and IFP are opposing a full financial disclosure code for parliamentarians. The ANC and other parties have given notice they intend fighting the […]

A striking aspect of debate on matters of public interest in South Africa nowadays is the racial sub- text. Developers produce a scheme for the transformation of Johannesburg’s Zoo Lake. The issues are environmental. The sub-text is black business empowerment. Eugene Nyati is accused of creaming off public funds. The issue is financial accountability. Nyati […]