hearted Donna Block SHAREWORLD I can’t go anywhere these days without someone, anyone, asking me about the stock markets. It’s like they’re having a love affair with shares and all they want is to get more and more information and get involved on one exchange or another. But love affairs, like share prices, are precarious […]

The South African government wants Anglo American to hand over land containing substantial platinum deposits Jaspreet Kindra and Belinda Beresford The Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs has asked Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) to return the mineral rights to 24 platinum-rich farms located in the former Lebowa territory in Northern Province. Amplats, the world’s largest […]

Charlotte Denny Resumption of global trade talks seems unlikely following the failure of the latest attempt at compromise. Hopes that concessions to the world’s poorest countries will revive the talks were dashed this week when the big four trading powers refused to open areas of their markets. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) had backed tariff-free […]

Wemmer Pan killer Heather Hogan The police have launched a criminal investigation into two prison warders at a Johannesburg prison after they allegedly assaulted Cedric Maake, the Wemmer Pan serial killer sentenced to 27 life sentences. On March 16 this year, shortly after he was admitted to Johannesburg Medium prison, Maake was allegedly assaulted by […]

A land claimants organisation says its members are tired of waiting for their claims to be addressed Barry Streek An organisation representing 3E000 households, which claim they were stripped of their land during apartheid, have warned President Thabo Mbeki that they are considering embarking on land invasions because of the government’s delays in dealing with […]

Robert Kirby LOOSECANNON As a quintessence of the dark obscenity that is the Hansie Cronje affair we need look no further than the hastily doctored television commercial for Standard Bank, sponsors of the current one-day cricket series. This must rate as a prototype of the cheap absolutions of the marketing mind. To the well-known advert, […]

The north-eastern Cape highlands are a haven for birders, bikers, hikers, fishermen – and even skiers Angus Begg At the foothills of the southern Dra- kensberg, deep in the north-eastern Cape, is a quaint village of 25 people. Hemmed in by high, imposing mountains on one side and large rolling hills on the other, it […]

Matthew Krouse Malcolm Purkey’s current student production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet goes for relevance without being self-consciously ”relevant”. The simplicity with which this age-old tale is treated is indicated by the minimalist set designed by drama students Bruce Meier and Nick Petters. The production takes a contemporary look at the post-adolescent traumas of the […]

Last Saturday, 16 Face of Africa entrants went bopping down Adderley Street in homespun couture Michelle Matthews Face of Africa producer Jan Malan bustles about Bloomsbury’s, the luxury car dealers in Buitengragt Street, Cape Town. ”Tuck in your panty-lines, girls,” he warns the models perched on the Mercedes convertibles, their black satin pants riding down […]

I was astonished and saddened to read the editorial in the Mail&Guardian headed ”The M&G’s not for burning” (April 7 to 13). Three-quarters of the editorial was devoted to an attack on the submission of the editor of The Sunday Independent to the Human Rights Commission’s (HRC) investigation into racism in the media. Firstly, I […]