MONDAY, 11.00AM: A LEADING labour consultancy has estimated that the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill, if enacted in its present form, could lead to an 18% escalation in labour costs in SA. The prediction was made by Andrew Levy & Associates, published at the weekend in the Ecometrix Bulletin. The employment Bill was overwhelmingly voted […]

MONDAY, 12.30PM: SOUTH Africa and Poland shared the spoils after they drew their sixth and final men’s hockey international at Epson Queensmead in Durban on Sunday. Poor finishing by South Africa cost them the game. Sunday’s game had all the ingredients of an explosive clash after the two teams played to a 2-2 draw at […]

MONDAY, 12.30PM: KAIZER Chiefs dropped two valuable points as they played to a 1-1 draw with Supersport United in a Premiership match at Rand Stadium on Sunday. United’s Chicco Lawrence opened the score in the 12th minute after a Thomas Madigage cross. Thembinkosi Biyela equalised for Amakhosi after receiving a pass from Mark Williams in […]

Mungo Soggot investigates an extraordinary deal undertaken by the Central Energy Fund A confidant of two of Africa’s most notoriously corrupt leaders has landed an extraordinary R3-million-a-year contract as an adviser to South Africa’s state-run oil company, the Central Energy Fund. Former Liberian finance minister Emanuel Shaw II and his son, Emanuel Shaw III, pulled […]

THURSDAY, 9.00PM: THE National Assembly has approved the controversial employment Bill after almost a year of controversy, by 228 votes to 78. Inkatha and the Pan Africanist Congress joined the ANC in supporting the bill, opposed by the other parties. Cosatu has raised objections that its 49 proposed amendments to the bill, agreed to with […]

Madeleine Wackernagel Two years and much diplomatic negotiation later, the new legislation on insider trading is ready. Mervyn King, who chaired the commission, says it was one of the hardest job he’s ever done. By their very nature, such commissions have to reflect a range of opinions: in this case, there were many interests, vested […]

A powerful lobby is fighting for free commercial speech, writes Hazel Friedman Graham Langmead is an unashamed fag hater. But if there is one thing he hates more than fags it is any attempt to ban advertising them. And while he believes breast is best, he virulently opposes restrictions on advertising substitutes. Just in case […]

hoping for peace Angella Johnson Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was about to step into the shower before setting off to the mosque for his morning prayers, when he switched on the special radio he always carried to monitor military activities and heard that a group of soldiers had taken control of Sierra Leone; he was […]

Marion Edmunds The Department of Defence wants to cut the army’s crucial crime-fighting activities, claiming its thinning resources should be concentrated on reshaping the defence force. Officials say the military cannot sustain its support for the police – which costs it around R1,2-billion a year – and its funds should be spent instead on strengthening […]

Andrew Muchineripi : Soccer When the “spin doctors” sent by the British Labour government to promote parliamentary democracy have completed their work, perhaps they could drop in at South African Football Association (Safa) headquarters on the outskirts of Soweto. The national association has had image problems for longer than my mind can recall and much […]