Mark Tran When Kirk Kerkorian started buying shares in Chrysler in December 1990, his closest advisers feared that the famously reclusive corporate raider had gone senile. James Aljian, who had worked with him for 25 years, declared it was “the stupidest thing I ever heard” and Alex Yemenidjian, Kerkorian’s right-hand man, thought: “He’s finally lost […]

Janet Smith Anand Naidoo spent his last night on a recent trip home to Johannesburg strolling famously through his old haunt, the SABC. He went to see his mentor Chris Gibbons presenting News Hour on SABC3, and came away impressed – and not a little nostalgic. News Hour is, after all, not quite the same […]

Phola Park’s economy Sechaba ka’Nkosi A housing project that started as part of the Reconstruction and Development Programme in the one-time battlefield of Phola Park on the East Rand is paying dividends to the community. The project – a joint venture between low-cost housing contractors Ecodev, the Gauteng Department of Housing and Land Affairs and […]

Dan Ncayiyana Right to Reply I feel constrained to respond to the letter by my friend and colleague, Professor Cecil Abrahams (May 8 to 14), in which he purports to write “in my capacity as an acknowledged scholar of African studies”. Whatever that distinction may mean (I am not aware of an academic discipline called […]

Rupert Jones Banks and building societies in the United Kingdom are pouring money into ever-more sophisticated services, but are they focusing on tomorrow at the expense of today’s mundane issues, such as customer complaints and lunchtime queues? There have been a spate of personal computer (PC) and Internet banking initiatives. This week, Royal Bank of […]

William Makgoba: A SECOND LOOK “Freedom is not enough. You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: `Now you are free to go where you want, do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please.’ You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate […]

Charlene Smith Since April last year, Old Mutual has invested R2,3-billion in 26 black empowerment deals and says there is no cap on how much more it is prepared to invest. The company’s commitment to economic empowerment is the biggest and most significant initiative from a South African financial institution. Its portfolio manager in charge […]

What people think of Boom Shaka’s Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika Lucky arch’ Lucinoaka (25), kwaito vocalist, Skeem: “I love it. It’s vibey and it’s appealing to the youth. But we still have to stick to the formal way of singing the anthem. We can sing the Boom Shaka version whenever we are celebrating victory.” Dudu Mpokela […]

Ed O’Loughlin Despite lurid reports to the contrary, the pursuit of the civil war in Sierra Leone has had little to do with British mercenaries, illegally imported Bulgarian weapons, Executive Outcomes, Foreign Office intrigue or the crew of HMS Cornwall. Whatever the British government may or may not have known about the activities of the […]

For a few weeks in May ’68 in Paris, students and workers united in a wave of strikes and demonstrations that seemed poised to overturn the old order. Peter Lennon was in the thick of things I don’t remember the precise incident that made it clear to me that this time, this particular turmoil was […]