In 1983 Oliver Tambo declared that ”there is no force more powerful than the spirit of a people who have decided to endure torture, imprisonment, assassinations, hangings and massacres as the price of freedom, of liberation.” This was very upsetting news for fans of Victor Hugo, who for years had lived by his observation that there is no force more powerful than an idea whose time has come.
The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) was deluged with red in noon trade on Friday, following a sell-off on world markets. A weaker rand failed to stem the tide. By noon, the all-share index weakened 1,02%. Industrials lost 0,38% and financials fell 1,19%. Resources retreated 1,6% and the gold-mining index surrendered 1,08%.
Top seed Maria Sharapova beat France’s Mary Pierce in an absorbing third-round match to reach the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters on Thursday. The reigning Wimbledon champion won a thrilling contest 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in exactly two hours to reach the last eight and keep alive her dream of becoming world number one for the very first time.
Angry fans of Manchester United were threatening massive protests on Friday after United States tycoon Malcolm Glazer neared success in his bid for the celebrated English football team, a takeover supporters say is unwanted and will saddle the club with massive debt.
Neal Collins writes why Crystal Palace, Norwich, Southampton and West Brom deserve to stay up, heading towards the final day of the season with no club officially relegated for the first time since the Premiership started in 1992. And there are plenty more reasons to be hopeful, he says.
”I hate the play-offs when my team finishes third,” said David Sheepshanks. The Ipswich Town chairperson and Football Association board member has always been one of the most progressive of football’s power brokers but, if he was being entirely selfish, he might advocate a return to the pre-war days of election to the top division.
The tail is wagging a howling dog. All the enraged energy in the Premiership’s closing weeks comes from the swishing and flailing of the clubs in the relegation zone. Norwich, Southampton, Crystal Palace and West Brom all went unbeaten at the weekend and no one was dumbfounded.
”Opinion in England is divided over whether Jimmy Hill is an institution or ought to be put in one. We found out what Jimmy Hill would do if he ran the country and, as a follow-up, I’d like to hear what the country would do if it ran Jimmy Hill. I have only ever seen Hill once in public,” writes Harry Pearson.
Old Mutual, South Africa’s largest financial services group, is in preliminary talks to acquire Skandia Insurance Company of Sweden, Old Mutual confirmed on Friday. In a statement, Old Mutual said discussions are at an early stage and may or may not lead to it making an offer for Skandia.
Bulelani Ngcuka’s Amabubesi Investments company has acquired a majority stake in a lucrative golf and luxury residential estate industry near George — in a development headed by a former Special Forces operator and employing as conservation consultant Colonel Jan Breytenbach, the recce who founded 32 Battalion.