SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Monday 5.00pm. LOCAL markets had a fairly flat day on Monday with almost no movement in the key indices, with the exception of the all gold index which ended significantly lower on profit taking. Dealers said the day was vacuous, with the market just holding its ground after last week’s heavy […]

ROB DAVIES, Johannesburg | Saturday 7.30pm. THE South African rugby side on Saturday came close to an embarrassing defeat when they beat an incredibly spirited Welsh side 28-20 at Wembley Stadium in London. The Springboks looked completely out of depth against the full-strength Welsh side, drilled to perfection by former Auckland Blues coach Graham Henry. […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday 4.15pm. POST and Telecommunications Minister Jay Naidoo on the weekend unveiled South Africa’s first ever locally-built satellite which will be launched by Nasa in January. The micro-satellite, called Sunsat, cost about $6-million to build and was constructed by post-graduate engineering students at Stellenbosch University. Unveiling the satellite, Naidoo said […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 12.30pm. KAIZER Chiefs reached the the final of the Rothmans Cup soccer championships, despite losing 1-0 to Orlando Pirates in the second leg semifinal at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday. Chiefs carried a valuable two goal cushion from their 3-1 win in the first leg into Saturday’s match, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 5.00pm. FRANCE and South Africa signed on Thursday two agreements to expand their relations, notably with joint ventures and financial aid. One agreement calls for the appointment of a French expert charged with determining the best options for joint ventures and facilitating their establishment. Sectors deemed best suited for such […]

Friday night : Charl Blignaut It’s Friday night and you’re driving through Pretoria – the new, improved Pretoria. If it weren’t for the lingering scent of Jacaranda blossoms, you’d hardly recognise the place. There are trendy cafs and happy, shiny people where once were butch Tukkies engineering students with bad hairstyles. (Once I witnessed a […]

Lauren Shantall A B-grade Barbie-rella babe in a yellow polka dot rubber bikini steps s on to the stage. Armed with a hairdryer-cum-ray gun she begins to blow up a flaccid yellow blob while the soundtrack blares a kooky, surreal mix of Plan Nine From Outer Space meets Mars Attack on an operating table. As […]

Chiara Carter and Marianne Merten A legend who lived a fast life and died a hard death is the inevitable epitaph for slain Cape Town gang leader Jackie Lonte. Lonte – born Neville Heroldt -scripted his life like a B-grade gangster movie and mythologised himself in a city where his gang, the Americans, has resonance […]

appeasement “The only defence that can be offered is that the issue was intensely debated by the commission, which ultimately succumbed to the fears of those who argued that Buthelezi’s appearance would give him a platform from which to oppose the commission and would stoke the flames of violence in KwaZulu-Natal, as indeed he himself […]

Denise Rack Louw `Seeing how the violence around us has affected the lives of the youth I work with is what motivated me to write this show,” says dramatist and director Jerry Pooe of his musical, Peace in the Valley, currently enjoying a run at Durban’s Bat Centre. Singer, guitarist and actress Tu Nokwe composed […]