THIS week, millions of people all over the globe will be falling over themselves to buy a product that hardly any of them will ever see. It is a revised set of instructions to run the basic functions of IBM- compatible computers. The product is not innovative (its rival has been selling something similar for […]

Despite a Constitutional Court ruling, children are still being sentenced to whippings as punishment for petty offences, writes Annicia Reddiar WHIPPING of juvenile offenders has not stopped in all of South Africa, in spite of a Constitutional Court ban more than two months ago. And fingers are being pointed at Justice Minister Dullah Omar for […]

FINE ART: Ivor Powell THE Johannesburg art world is in a condition which might be compared with a crisis in the stock market — where bullshit leads to bearishness. The centre of gravity has shifted; the game is no longer being played inside this country. Our art is increasingly perceived and marketed as an export […]

Eddie Koch It took the Pondo sangoma, Mercy Manci, exactly 40 minutes after walking through a thicket of thorn trees at the entrance of the Klipriviersberg nature reserve south of Johannesburg to locate a plant called ugobo whose root bulbs are used by members of her profession to treat sexually transmitted diseases and to collect […]

Marion Edmunds Labour Minister Tito Mboweni lobbied all political players this week — from National Party leader FW de Klerk to the African Christian Democratic Party — in a bid to save the Labour Relations Bill from unravelling in Parliament. The round of meetings with political parties came in the wake of a decision by […]

According to the as yet unreleased IBA report, the SABC will be divested of one of its channels, to be sold to private interests, reports Justin Pearce The South African Broadcasting Corporation will lose one of its three television channels at the end of 1997, to make room for South Africa’s first privately owned, free […]

Competition Board chairman Pierre Brooks is sharply critical of a culture of anti-competitive behaviour in South African business, Reg Rumney reports Tougher competition policy is necessary and is on the way, promises Competition Board chairman Pierre Brooks. In an interview with Business Mail this week Brooks sharply criticised the pervasive disregard for anti- competitive behaviour […]

White doctors spoke out vociferously against the ‘Deeble plan’ for national health insurance. Black doctors, however, are upset that this plan is being diluted, reports Pat Sidley JOHN Deeble’s virtues, or lack of them, are in the eye of the beholder. To many general practitioners in this country, the Australian health care expert’s original ideas […]

Duncan Mackay explains how the dash for cash is manipulated by the world’s top athletes A FUNNY thing happened to Moses Kiptanui on his way to winning a third 3 000m steeplechase title in Gothenburg recently. He suddenly slowed down when he realised he might break the world record. “I want to save that for […]

It has been well said that South African journalism has been reduced to a wasteland during the apartheid years — censorship and oppression driving some of its brighter talents out of the industry, or out of the country, and Bantu Education doing its best to ensure immediately succeeding generations were ill-qualified to fill the vacuum. […]