Neil Thomas What a start to the millennium! Investment professionals’ forecasts have basically been wrong, but unit trust investors who stuck to their own views have largely been well rewarded. So scratch up one point for individual investors, nil for the investment industry. Late last year, among much nervousness about Y2K and an accompanying shift […]
Is Crawford a school for nobs or a great leap forward in progressive education? Nawaal Deane investigates Growing up in government schools – school uniforms, a bleak and boring landscape seen through grimy windows, lunch bought over the fence – doesn’t prepare you for Crawford. Visiting a Crawford College is like landing on another planet. […]
Ebrahim Harvey LEFT FIELD The dramatic mass demonstrations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) conference in Seattle and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a few months ago, and that which took place last week at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings in Washington, has starkly spelled out the kind of […]
Jean Spear ‘Wealthy gentleman living in Beverly Hills is looking for a petite, adventurous, intelligent female travel mate to the exotic islands of Thailand. Must have photos. E-mail now and cruise with me.” Internet travel sites are filled with similar notices from travellers seeking the ideal travel companion to tour the globe with. From the […]
Justin Arenstein A group of international investors is threatening to sue the National Intelligence Agency (NIA)and the South African Secret Service for $14-million after getting ripped off in a complex scam by spies using apartheid-era front companies. The American investors were already granted a US district court judgment for $10,9-million in 1998, but are struggling […]
Andy Capostagno RUGBY It is week nine of the Super 12 and for South African teams it has all become academic. This is the nightmare which the organisers of the competition have long feared, in which one country falls so far behind the other two that the motto of the competition – strength versus strength […]
Khadija Magardie AFRICAN RENAISSANCE edited by Malegapuru William Makgoba (Mafube/Tafelberg) This collection of conference papers makes a surprisingly refreshing departure from the “Timbuktu glory days” rhetoric of the “African renaissance” idea. To its credit, the book does not confine itself to waxing lyrical about the revival of vague categories like moral values and African culture, […]
David Le Page One of the easiest ways to improve access to investments is to make the whole process of purchasing them far easier. This is the motivation behind Old Mutual’s investment in a “mobile portfolio management system” for its clients. Meanwhile, online stockbroker Tradek has also launched a new product to allow customers to […]
George Ellis A SECOND LOOK The issue of racism is clearly strongly felt in this country, with deep divides between various views. It is therefore important that we are clear in our minds what we are talking about when we confront the issue. As stated by Claudia Braude in her report commissioned by the South […]
As jobs are shed at a terrifying rate, it’s time for a national debate on what to do about it Glenda Daniels More than half-a-million jobs have been lost in the country over the past six years. Nearly 40 out of every 100 people of working age are unemployed – about 4,5-million people – and […]