The heralded tour by the Bolshoi Ballet presents classical high points, but no real luminaries Ballet Andrew Gilder I could not help wondering, on the way to watch a performance of the Bolshoi Ballet, whether the troupe visiting South Africa was the same as that which performed for the recent meeting of the International Olympic […]
South Africans heaved a collective sigh of relief when the world community of 186 nations with the notable exception of the United States adopted the Kyoto protocol on climate change this week. Not only does the protocol promise to reduce pollution; if it had not been signed there would have been the very real possibility […]
David Macfarlane The University of the Transkei (Unitra) could close within three months. Students at the tottering institution returned this week from their mid-year vacation to hear that huge debts in the form of unpaid student fees, tax arrears and a bank overdraft mean that Unitra can keep going only till November. Past and present […]
Barry Streek The University of Transkei (Unitra), which has overdraft facilities of up to R78-million, is using its government subsidy to pay off its debt and will continue doing so in the next financial year, Minister of Education Kader Asmal has disclosed. ”The University of the Transkei has been in a critical financial position for […]
SOUTH Africa’s bourse opened lower on Tuesday, led by hefty losses in mining giants Anglo American and Billiton prompted by prospects of national strike by gold and coal workers. Johannesburg’s all-share index was down 0,89% to 8,627.7 points by 0716 GMT. Market heavyweight Anglo American, which has stakes in gold, coal and platinum mines, was […]
SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki announced on Thursday the institution of an ”urgent” commission of inquiry into corruption in prisons. ”Prisons are places where you lock up criminals that you catch and seek to rehabilitate, but some of them remain crooks to an extent that they congregate with warders, turning prisons into headquarters for crime,” […]
Johannesburg | Thursday SOUTH Africa’s jobless rate is still rising as new jobs are not being created fast enough to keep pace with the growing number of young people entering the market, the government said on Wednesday. In a five-year study covering changes which have taken place between 1995 and 1999, Statistics South Africa said […]
SOUTH African agricultural company Senwes said on Wednesday the maize harvest in its area was a month behind schedule, but that the grain quality was high. South Africa expects the 2000/01 harvest to be 7,193-million tons compared to last season’s bumper 10,1-million tons. ”The reason for the delay is the lack of cold weather. If […]
SOUTH African IT firm Siltek Limited said on Wednesday it planned to close its Australian operations following a fall in demand for IT products. ”The unalleviated downturn in demand for IT products in Australia has resulted in Siltek Australia continuing to incur losses,” the company, in which South African networking company Datatec holds a 23% […]
ZIMBABWEAN Finance Minister Simba Makoni said on Tuesday the country’s economy was in crisis and that poverty was spreading at an alarming rate. ”I would have to be foolish to deny what is evident to everybody in broad daylight, even in the darkness of night — this economy is in crisis,” Makoni said in a […]