M&G reporters After battling to integrate former enemies into South Africa’s National Defence Force, the SANDF is now facing an even bigger challenge: how to demobilise 30 000 soldiers. Jakkie Cilliers, Director of the Institute of Defence Policy (IDP), says it was a mistake to integrate before demobilising. “Now, after they have decided who joins […]

Justin Pearce THE boy whose designer tackies went up in flames=20 decided things had gone a bit too far. He’d come along=20 to an honest techno rave, was minding his own business=20 at 120 beats per minute, when this flaming tennis ball=20 came rolling across the floor, reducing R500 worth of=20 footwear to a charred […]

Reg Rumney The South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) has=20 cautioned against bringing in “dedicated” taxes and=20 levies such the one suggested to fund a new health=20 Opposition to such taxes is set out in the chamber’s=20 submission on corporate tax to the Katz Tax Commission,=20 released this week. “The whole rationale for dedicated taxes […]

Justin Pearce South Africa is lagging way behind its neighbours in committing itself to internationally recognised human rights agreements — and Amnesty International (AI) has urged the government to rectify the situation and make the promotion of human rights a cornerstone of its foreign policy. “South Africa has a tremendous reputation and prestige in the […]

Chris Ball, CEO of the Cape Town 2004 Olympic Bid=20 Company for one month now, talks to Julian Drew about=20 the current state of the bid CHRIS BALL believes the 2004 Olympic Games “is quite=20 simply the biggest economic opportunity that South=20 Africa will ever have”. It is for this reason that he decided to […]

South Africa may have to forego its high-tech medical achievements in order to meet the needs of its many citizens. Rehana Rossouw reports Have a heart, says the head of Groote Schuur Hospital’s transplant unit, Dr Del Khan, to health authorities who are considering clamping down on high-tech surgery across the country. “Most people might […]

Reg Rumney Between 1990 and 1994 the income of squatters in=20 Gauteng declined in real, or adjusted-for-inflation,=20 terms while that of hostel residents stayed much the=20 same and those living in houses were much better off. This is the finding of a Unisa Bureau of Market=20 Research report on income and spending of black=20 households […]

THEATRE: Mark Gevisser FAUSTUS in Africa! is a work of inventive genius; a=20 total vision fashioned by artist/film-maker/director=20 William Kentridge and puppeteers Adrian Kohler and=20 Basil Jones. As with Woyzeck on the Highveld, these=20 three collaborators have used a classic German text –=20 this time Goethe’s Faust — as an excuse, really, to=20 invent a […]

Parliament is too big for its building and most political parties believe that the number of MPs should eventually be reduced, writes Marion Edmunds SIZE does count — especially when it comes to organs of government. Many people believe that the national Parliament could function more effectively if the National Assembly and the Senate were […]

RUGBY: Jon Swift YOU can hardly blame the average rugby supporter for=20 being a bit confused about the future of the game. On the one hand, you have the International Rugby Board=20 (IRB), which meets in Paris next month to attempt to=20 sort out — among a host of things — the=20 dissatisfaction among the […]