Marianne Merten A debt-collecting company, International Debt Control (IDC), chaired by former minister of finance Barend Du Plessis, has been expelled from the industry control body after being found guilty of unconscionable behaviour, acting dishonestly and failing to account for collected money. It is the second time IDC has been censured by the Association of […]

Donna Block President Robert Mugabe’s government is now targeting top Zimbabwean businesspeople who are independent of the ruling Zanu-PF party as land invasions and violence against farmers and opposition supporters continue. The head of Zimbabwe’s third-largest company, Strive Masiyiwa, is now pondering his future surrounded by bodyguards in London after being warned by sympathetic security […]

Richard Tomlinson CROSSFIRE South Africa’s cities are notorious for the exclusion of a significant proportion of the population from economic opportunities and social services. This exclusion has, in part, to do with the apartheid form of our cities: low- density, high-income, well-serviced, formerly white suburbs close to work opportunities; and large, impoverished, sprawling, poorly serviced […]

Glenda Daniels BODY LANGUAGE I’m not a fan of coats of arms because to me they’re symbols of pride – for men at war. But I was curious about the new coat of arms, which took a long time coming. The motto in Khoisan, !KE E: /XARRA //KE – loosely translated to mean Unity in […]

Frank Keating Power inside the International Cricket Council (ICC) may have been rudely wrested from the fuddy dominion’s base at Lord’s, but this week it at least managed a traditional British answer to a thorny problem – set up a committee to report back in the fullness of time. Tell you what, no betting man […]

Robert Kirby CHANNELVISION The new local sitcom, Going Down Gorgeous, will stand to the eternal credit of the SABC. At long last that beleaguered corporation has produced a television programme which not only shows a uniquely South African comedic and satiric genius surmounting the very pinnacle of his powers, but which is, in itself, another […]

Durban will once more play host to a wide range of literary luminaries when the fourth annual Poetry Africa Festival, hosted by the University of Natal’s Centre for the Creative Arts, begins on Monday May 8 at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. It runs until Saturday May 13. There are also additional events outside the theatre […]

Internal union disputes caused the problems at VW’s Uitenhage branch in January Glenda Daniels One of the largest unions in South Africa says it has learned some serious lessons from the strike at the Uitenhage Volkswagen (VW) plant in January – and wants to ensure it can never happen again. National Union of Metalworkers of […]

DEON POTGIETER, Johannesburg | Friday 12.35pm STERLING McPherson, manager of Francois Botha and the man responsible for landing his charge’s July 15 date with Lennox Lewis, believes Botha stands a good chance of winning the bout and earning a rematch with Mike Tyson. ”If Botha wins we’re going straight to Tyson for a rematch,” said […]

THE US agriculture department has eased restrictions on imports of South African beef and lamb, but not if they include meat from neighbouring countries such as Botswana and Namibia. The Business Day reports the US now considers SA free of both rinderpest – the last diagnosed case was in 1903 – and, excluding Kruger National […]