Who says women are the weaker sex at sport? Sharon Krum Marion Jones wanted to win five gold medals at the Olympics last month, setting a new record in athletics the way Mark Spitz, with seven in 1972, set it in swimming. It did not happen but Jones, the fastest female in the world, clearly […]

Johnny Masilela The Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg will, from November 8 to 10, be the venue for the European Union/South Africa Film Symposium, a gathering poised to reposition the film industry as a significant player in the economic development of the country. Preparations for the all-important summit were unveiled at the end of a […]

Brenda Atkinson fine art Jonathan Dollimore said of Georges Bataille that “it is through eroticism that we are seduced by the pull of annihilation; we really do want death to ‘wreak its havoc at our expense’… death is experienced most intensely as desire.” In Memorials without Facts, Clive van den Berg’s exhibition of new works […]

After a decade director Oliver Schmitz has completed a film that challenges Hollywood’s black stereotypes Andrew Worsdale In 1988 a relatively unknown newcomer directed what was to become what is regarded as the best anti-apartheid feature film ever made – Mapantsula. It was the story of Panic, a small-time crook (played by the late Thomas […]

ITALY’S Agip and state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp signed a memorandum of understanding this week to jointly develop two new oil fields in an offshore Nigerian block. The signing followed NNPC’s selection of Agip Energy and Natural Resources Ltd last month as partner in developing the Okono and Okpho. Agip said it expected to produce […]

SOUTH Africa’s 2000/01 maize crop has begun in the east amid mixed reports on weather conditions in the west, cooperatives said. The maize crop is estimated to be 23.6% smaller according to intentions-to-plant released by the National Crop Estimates Committee in September. However, a number of big cooperatives said the figure meant very little and […]

SOUTH African financial services group FirstRand this week launched its R300m consumer e-commerce initiative called eBucks.com. The financial services portal will give users access to the group’s online product portfolio and will offer a secure online payment solution and an electronic currency. FirstRand, one of the country’s big four banking groups, will invest R300m over […]

ELLIS MNYANDU AND OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday SOUTH African Airways’ (SAA) efforts to extend its African reach moved a step further this week when the carrier announced three new weekly flights to the Ugandan city of Entebbe, starting on December 1. SAA Chief Executive Officer Coleman Andrews said the carrier also planned to increase […]

ZIMBABWE could lose its international tobacco market share if plantings, down by 20% over land grab worries, show no signs of recovery within the next two years, an industry official warned this week. Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA) Marketing Director Pat Davis said early indications were that tobacco output would fall to around 170m kg next […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday TELKOM has introduced a new fraud management system to clamp down on illegal use of its network which cost the South African telecommunications parastatal more than R300m last year. “The new system detects fraud as it is happening, which will greatly reduce our risks and losses,” said Ken Raley, managing […]