Now well into his 70s, painter Robert Hodgins is still=20 to surprise his audience — and himself. He spoke to Ivor=20 IT is at least as exhilarating as it is ironic that=20 painter Robert Hodgins is finally, as the term has it,=20 ”arriving” — what with a New York dealer having bought=20 nine of the […]

DANCE: Stanley Peskin THE first season staged by the excellent Pact Dance=20 Company this year features one new ballet (Susan=20 Abraham’s Heritage) and two familiar works (Robyn Orlin’s=20 As Fall Women, So Fall Women and Christopher Kindo’s Me=20 and You). Orlin’s work has at its centre three duets which explore=20 the relationship of women to […]

The government is threatening to use the law against=20 tax advisers who come up with fancy avoidance schemes,=20 reports Reg Rumney THE first Budget of the new Government of National=20 Unity studiously avoided gnashing its teeth at anyone=20 other than those who use dodgy tax avoidance schemes. Finance Minister Chris Liebenberg took these schemes to=20 […]

The poor middle class taxpayer has lost out most in the Budget — again, writes Reg Rumney The Budget presented to Parliament by Finance Minister Chris Liebenberg this week tightens the tax clamp on South Africa’s middle class, particularly professionals. The top marginal rate was raised, tax tables were not adjusted to counter inflation, excise […]

Stefaans Brummer BOTSWANA authorities are reviewing charges of trust fund embezzlement against South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Safety and Security, Joe Matthews — who skipped bail there in 1985 — and may ask for his An official in the Botswana attorney-general’s office this week said charges against Matthews “have not been withdrawn, neither have they […]

With a dose of South African wit and a whipping by the=20 British team, the local brand of rugby league kicked=20 off last week RUGBY LEAGUE: Luke Alfred THE recent test between the Rhinos (the South African=20 amateur Rugby League side) and their amateur=20 counterparts from Britain was the ideal laboratory to=20 test the following […]

Gaye Davis FREEDOM Front member Tom Langley’s nomination as South Africa’s ambassador to Portugal has sparked frantic behind-the-scenes lobbying in a bid to stop his Sources told the Weekly Mail & Guardian there was deep concern in Portugal over the move to post Langley, a former National Party and Conservative Party MP, to the country. […]

Pat Sidley SOUTH AFRICANS will not be able to see the full effects=20 of the first budget of the government of national unity=20 until the nine provinces present their budgets to their=20 provincial legislatures within the next few weeks. The budget presented in parliament this week reflected=20 the amounts allocated for various national government=20 departments […]

The scrapping of non-resident shareholders’ tax is a=20 strong move to attract foreign investment, reports=20 Jacques Magliolo The scrapping of non-resident shareholders’ tax (NRST)=20 and remaining import surcharges has elicited a positive=20 response from the market during this week’s Budget=20 Experts perceived it as one of the most positive=20 Budgets in decades as it aimed […]

The SANDF has come clean on covert links with African countries during the 1980s, writes Stefaans Brummer THE National Defence Force has owned up to a secret mid-eighties project to help build a military base in the West African state of Gabon — part of Pretoria’s efforts to forge covert links with African states whose […]