Mercedes Sayagues It used to be that every morning when Zimbabwe’s only English-language daily, The Herald, was delivered to my home, I would read it at leisure over coffee, or take it to the office for a mid-morning perusal. A quick read was enough, since the government-owned Herald served a bland porridge of watered-down local […]

Working overtime may lead to promotion, but it can ruin your life, writes Charlotte Denny The Japanese have a name for it: karoshi – death through overwork. During the recent Japanese financial crisis, a 38-year-old accountant employed by the failed securities firm Yamaichi worked 14 days straight without a break and then went home to […]

Heribert Adam: CROSSFIRE An unfortunate feature characterises the reasoning of Crossfire’s columnists about the role of the black bourgeoisie. Legitimate questions around empowerment and Afro-pessimism are racialised. The colour of Afro-pessimism’s face should be as irrelevant as whether black fat cats emulate white fat cats. What matters is their common exploitation, their undeserved perks at […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer Another Sunday, another hot Highveld afternoon, another match in the seemingly endless Castle Premiership programme. Fixture number 270 to be precise. Mid-table Moroka Swallows versus relegation candidates African Wanderers. The setting last weekend was George Goch Stadium, a modest, homely stadium one long goal kick from the M1 highway that, like so […]

Andy Capostagno Cricket Spare a thought for our national selectors. While the pyjama game goes merrily on its way around the country, attracting full houses from Johannesburg to Paarl, Peter Pollock and his cohorts have to sort out a squad to play proper cricket on a proper cricket tour. To whit, five tests against England […]

Wally Mbhele President Nelson Mandela this week threw his weight behind the theory that Robert McBride was set up in Mozambique by security force elements keen to give credibility to the discredited “Meiring” coup report. At a briefing for opposition leaders, Mandela said he had considered the possibility that McBride’s arrest was orchestrated to bolster […]

Charlene Smith Despite a recent drop in interest rates, and a further 1% to 2% drop expected later this year, property markets remain in the doldrums. Banks are under pressure too as defaults on mortgage bond payments increase. Housing sales are weak and industrial, commercial and retail rentals are stagnant or declining. The only city […]

Ten years from now, the solar system could be teeming with pint-sized space probes, each no larger than a baseball. That’s the claim of William Tang, of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), speaking last week at the 1998 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Aerospace Conference in Colorado. Tang works on micro-electro- mechanical systems, or […]

Matthew van der Want: Opinion Just Jinger, who supported U2 in Cape Town, recently spent some time in from Canada and New York, where they showcased their talent to some major label A&R people. South African DJs, journalists and label managers alike brim with national pride as they enthuse over the imminent discovery of a […]

The racist reporter Why should we be educating an illegal immigrant and providing him with a job, you racist idiots (“Man dies after four days in waiting room”, April 3 to 8). He belonged to another country, illegally entered ours, turned to crime and got what he deserved when he was shot by the police. […]