Stefaans Br?mmer and Lynda Gledhill Uncertainty surrounds the authenticity of two faxes that Ziggy Visser, husband of Virodene inventor Olga Visser, says he sent to the African National Congress in December which “proved” shares had not been earmarked for the party. This is one of the unresolved issues to be investigated by Public Protector Selby […]

South Africa’s street-activist-turned-minister-of-finance effortlessly cruised through his second budget this week, delivering the bad news with wit and the good news with his trademark Cheshire-cat grin. It was a virtuoso performance by Trevor Manuel – except for the blaps at the end when he thanked President Nelson Mandela “in his absence” for his support. Mandela […]

Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele: RIGHT TO REPLY Your article, “Whatever happened to the dream of low-cost housing”, February 20 to 26, was sensational and alarmist. My office has been co-operating with the media in making sure that their information needs are met on time. There is nothing sinister about verifying statistics and maintaining their integrity before releasing […]

Chris Opperman Former foreign affairs minister Pik Botha and several senior retired Armscor officials will be among the key witnesses in a sensational case due to resume in a Paris court later this year. It is expected to expose details about South Africa’s top-secret international weapons transactions during the days of the arms embargo. A […]

Mukoni T Ratshitanga The African National Congress Youth League goes to its 20th national conference in Johannesburg next week amid fears that it is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the youth. Central to the criticisms levelled against the league is that it is only vocal on leadership matters within the ANC […]

WHO ARE . . . JOEL NETSHITENZHE AND YACOOB ABBA OMAR? Ferial Haffajee It’s appropriate that the modest Joel Netshitenzhe is reading Primary Colours. The novel about an obscure southern governor and his election trail to the White House is a testament to spin doctors – the powerful back-room advisers whose job it is to […]

SABC3’s ratings have never been better. It has spent the last year or so fighting with M-Net for viewers -and now it has a narrow lead. But that doesn’t mean the war is over:the battle for the upper end of the market continues, and that’s good news for South African television viewers as each station […]

Jack Schofield ‘Think of us as a networking company,” says Intel’s executive vice- president, Frank Gill. Intel is already the world’s largest chip manufacturer: its Pentium processors have about 80% of the desktop computer market, and a growing share of the market for the servers used to run corporate applications. Now it wants to provide […]

Janet Smith: Community jazz Trombones are polished to a shimmering golden glow. A beloved saxophone is fingered to tone perfection so smooth it shivers. Drums collect noise in tune with the mischievous guitar. And soon the players are ready. The venue may be charmingly tatty, a tad hot, but they’re going to perform till they […]

Mark Swilling The irony was not lost on Minister of Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development Valli Moosa when he unveiled the new White Paper on Local Government at a ceremony at the Castle in Cape Town this week. As the fortress that housed South Africa’s first colonial local government, it was a fitting venue to […]