The JSE Securities Exchange South Africa (JSE) was marginally firmer in noon trade on Thursday, propped up by Richemont and BHP Billiton, which were up strongly offshore. However, overall the market was quiet and, when compared to the last couple of days, volumes thin.
South Africa itself doesn’t have the same internal shape it had 10 years ago. The new World Atlas for South Africans has a special 32-page section just on South Africa. Maureen Brady reviews.
Bungled red tape has put the brakes on a potentially groundbreaking meeting between Deputy President Jacob Zuma and representatives of the Burundian rebel group, holding up the peace process. Zuma, who is the chief mediator in the process aimed at ending a decade of civil war that has cost 300 000 lives, was due to meet representatives of the National Liberation Forces in Nairobi last week.
Leading international drinks companies Heineken, Diageo and Namibia Breweries have finalised the shareholder agreements for their new joint venture company in South Africa, the companies announced on Thursday. The joint venture combines the sales, marketing and distribution businesses in South Africa of the three shareholders.
During January 2004, 168 897 overseas travellers visited South Africa, a 0,8% y/y decrease, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Thursday. This compared with 192 625 overseas travellers in December 2003.
Nine rooms of utterly stupendous art, by more than 150 artists, await you at the Iziko: South African National Gallery. Wonderfully curated, beautifully displayed, the artworks of <i>A Decade of Democracy</i> lead you into 10 years of diverse, combative, epiphanic art production, says Chris Roper.
In the sleeve notes of <i>Patience</i>, George Michael says his colleagues know the meaning of patience, as the album took five years to make. He also thanks his fans for waiting patiently. But if one is going to make people wait this long for something, their patience had better be rewarded, writes Riaan Wolmarans.
‘Why should artists vote for you?" This was the question posed to the fishers-of-votes by arts organisations in different provinces over the past month. Generally, it is pretty hard for arts-related concerns to get on to the radar screens of political parties, but in the game of elections, even artists qualify as players, writes Mike van Graan.
Given the seemingly obvious connection between fiction, history and politics, it is surprising that relatively little of substance has been written on how history is articulated in "popular" (as opposed to "literary") South African fiction. Until now, writes Anthony Egan.
A row is brewing over the award of a five-year R26-million contract to manage Durban’s city centre street parking — and over the contents of a report by the eThekwini Metro ombudsman that allegedly confirmed irregularities in the adjudication of the tender.
Blowing the whistle-blowers