Smoking `ganja’ and growing dreads is our religious right, argue Rastafarians. Tell that to the constitutional court, say the prison authorities. Eddie Koch reports DO dreadlocks have rights? “Yo mon,” says Jupiter Jons of the Rastafari Unity Movement Alliance (Ruma). And two of the country’s leading experts on the new Bill of Rights agree. Jons’ […]

Eric Naki THE French car giant, Peugeot Motor Company, is considering opening an assembly plant in the Eastern Cape. The move — which would add another competitor to the club of South Africa’s already arguably overcrowded vehicle manufacturers — was confirmed by Eastern Cape MEC for Economic Affairs Smuts Ngonyama this last week. Ngonyama, who […]

THE royal battle between Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi and his rivals has grown bitter. Buthelezi last week pointed fingers at “latter-day busy-bodies” who were in the “forefront” of campaigns to “villify”him. He was referring to other players in the royal battle: Prince Clement. A former Iscor employee, he is now based inside the Royal Palace and […]

JOURNALISTS were barred for a second time this week from reporting on issues discussed in open parliamentary standing committees, despite the ANC’s repeated pledge to transparancy. Last week Labour Minister Tito Mboweni told journalists that his briefing to a standing committee was “off the record” and could not be reported. This week an ANC senator, […]

Pat Sidley THE new unity within the black churches of the Dutch Reformed family is being beset with bitter claims by black congregants for the land their churches have stood on for decades. The issue of land in the church rose after the Dutch Reformed Mission church (coloured) and Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (black) […]

Promises but little diversity characterised the African Institute of Art’s 10th birthday celebration. Bafana Khumalo was there AFTER years of cultural drought in Soweto, the first few drops of what could become a rainy season have started to fall. One of these raindrops splashed across the Funda Art Centre in Diepkloof last Saturday at an […]

The bond and capital markets still doubt the government’s ability to control its spending. Jacques Magliolo reports TRADERS in the bond or capital market remain pessimistic about the ability of the government to control inflation. This is the meaning of the continuing high interest rate of long-term bonds, the IOUs whose interest rate reflects expectations […]

GOLF: Jon Swift IT IS often difficult to get Brent Chalmers, tour director of the FNB professional golf tour, to be as moderate in his approach as to call a spade a shovel. He has never hesitated to say exactly what he thinks. It is, in an era of sports administration doublespeak, an often admirable […]

FINE ART: Ruth Sack `METALS seem to have been in fair supply for weapons and tools, but perhaps not in sufficient quantity to allow for much ornamental use, as only one bangle was found, and no other ornaments, of iron or copper …” So wrote archaeologist TM Maggs of findings from the Iron Age in […]

Critical Consumer Pat Sidley “AN equal opportunity killer needs equal opportunity management,” says consultant cardiologist Graham Jackson in an editorial in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). He was not talking about South Africa’s employment problems but about the fact that women get less — and inferior — treatment for heart disease. In a particularly damning […]