Andy Colquhoun in Christchurch It’s cold in Christchurch. The city clenches its shoulders against the freshening breeze coming off the Pacific or tumbling out of the freezer of the southern Alps. No one dawdles in the streets, the tables and chairs optimistically placed on the pavement by cafe proprietors sit empty. It’s as far from […]

Bill Elliot golf Five hundred years after it was first used for something that at least vaguely approached golf as we know it, the jury is still out on whether the Old Course at St Andrews is a work of erratic, supernatural genius or just an erratic work. Views vary from the reverential tone of […]

Jaspreet Kindra The African National Congress has launched a concerted effort to woo the Afrikaner community ahead of the local government elections. A sense of urgency has been added to the recruiting drive with the launch of the newly formed Democratic Alliance (DA) of the Democratic Party and the New National Party. The ANC is […]

The new book by Pamela Jooste, prize- winning author of Dance with a Poor Man’s Daughter, is out Shirley Kossick Like Water in Wild Places (Doubleday) is Pamela Jooste’s third novel, following the prize-winning Dance with a Poor Man’s Daughter (1998) and Frieda and Min (1999). Like Water in Wild Places tells the story of […]

Nicky Blumenfeld If anyone deserved superstar status at this year’s South African Music Awards, it was the Venda musician, Amon Mvula. His appearance provided refreshing relief from the rather dry gratitude and platitudes. On winning his second consecutive award, for the best Venda album, Mvula stood up and thanked his fans for their loyalty, in […]

The future is uncertain for tertiary institutions following far-reaching proposals for fundamentally restructuring higher education David Macfarlane Seismic upheavals are in store for South African higher education, if the government accepts recommendations formally delivered in a report to the minister of education this week. Likely to prove most explosive are proposals that institutions be combined […]

There is something bizarrely, tragically and profoundly wrong in the way our government is thinking about the nation’s health in the light of the HIV/Aids crisis. Heaven knows this point has been made to government leaders often enough before now – with evidence provided – by us and very many others better qualified to do […]

Chris Visser The biggest challenge facing the average investor is to structure a portfolio that affords the best possible returns for the lowest possible risk. Evidence published in the April 1998 issue of Insurance and Investments indicated that an investor with an offshore element in his portfolio can earn the same return as available domestically, […]

workers’ ownership scheme Thuli Nhlapo The Northern Province government has blocked a Tzaneen farmer’s efforts to sell land to his employees after accusing the farmer of trying to short-change his workers. The farm workers have denied the government’s claim and stood by their employer and the plan of owning shares on the avocado farm. In […]

Deon Potgieter boxing With the current proliferation of world- title-sanctioning bodies, fight fans are often left in the dark as to who the “real” world champions are. Added to the equation is wide-ranging evidence of corruption and favouritism in those selfsame bodies. There is light at the end of the tunnel, however. The boxing task […]