The recent icy weather has added another danger to the many already faced by circumcision initiates Khadija Magardie Police in the Free State town of Bethlehem have opened a murder docket after three boys attending a circumcision school at nearby Frisgewag farm died of exposure. Temperatures in the area have plummeted during the recent spell […]

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 […]

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 […]

While Hansie Cronje tries to make money off the field, the Proteas are struggling on it Peter Robinson So just what does a disgraced former Test captain do with his spare time these days? In the case of Hansie Cronje, it would seem, the trick is to set up a long-range book deal. In the […]