WAGE negotiations between municipal workers and the government were resolved on Thursday by the Centre for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. The South Africa Municipal Workers’ Union said the parties agreed to settle on the greater of R230 per month or a 5,5% salary increase. For the first time, municipal workers will receive a minimum wage […]
If you begin at the spatial beginning of Joni Brenner’s Off the Wall (in the entrance, adjunct to the vast gallery space), you begin with two works that are small and strong. Chip off the Old Block and Recollect – Reconnect each use as their material and visual inspiration two worn postcard images of Rodin’s […]
A TEAM of French firefighters headed to Cote d’Ivoire’s economic capital on Friday to help control a gigantic blaze that threatening oil stocks near west Africa’s biggest refinery. A vast column of black smoke billowed over Abidjan as flames 12m continued to rage from GESTOCI, the oil stocks plant immediately next to the refinery. Late […]
CABINET decisions on Wednesday included the approval of a notice exempting money-lending transactions up to R10000 from the provisions of the Usury Act, if they had a loan term of less than 36 months. This could be bad news for borrowers at the low end of the credit scale, who may face upnitive interest rates […]
Review of the week Alex Dodd There’s this theory – a kind of conspiracy for chemically inspired dreamers. What would happen if some lateral guerrilla managed to put massive doses of Ecstasy in Johannesburg’s water supply. Would the murder and rape rates flatten out for one dizzy day? Would hijackers be disarmed by a strange […]
William Keegan There is speculation in international financial circles that Alan Greenspan may be offered a fourth term as chair of the United States Federal Reserve. Greenspan (73) was appointed by president Ronald Reagan in 1987, and subsequently reappointed by presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton. His third term expires in June 2000, but 2000 […]
Aids is now the main killer disease in Africa which is also the continent where malaria is most prevalent, according to UN agencies engaged in combatting disease. “Aids has been with us for just 20 years and it has already killed more people than any other infectious disease,” said Dr. Peter Piot, the executive director […]
CD of the week David Shapshak Kaolin Thomson could well be the next Alanis Morissette. It’s quite an accolade but it’s quite deserved. The multi-talented 22-year-old has all the attributes of stardom: she has a syrupy voice with an incredible range, plays the flute, sax, keyboards and percussion, and is drop-dead gorgeous. Being 1,8 metres […]
Cameron Duodu Letter from the North The refrain which the Chinese used to chant in the Sixties and Seventies – “the United States imperialists are paper tigers” – seemed a bit unrealistic. After all, the US had the most powerful nuclear weapons on earth. It also had a vast arsenal of conventional weapons, which could […]
Firoz Cachalia A common theme runs through last week’s editorial and Howard Barrell’s column in the Mail & Guardian. Under Thabo Mbeki’s leadership, they assert, the African National Congress is centralising power in ways which undermine democracy and the Constitution. Both are critical of the manner in which the ANC has appointed candidate premiers, and […]