Government considered breaking the diamond=20 cartel to boost black economic empowerment,=20 writes Mungo Soggot The Ministry of Minerals and Energy has=20 investigated using apartheid-era=20 legislation, which gave local diamond=20 cutters a special deal, to promote black=20 empowerment in the cutting industry. The=20 strategy, which would have involved=20 restricting De Beers’s exports, reveals the=20 ministry’s antagonism […]

An initiative to promote young black=20 talent, spearheaded by advertising=20 stakeholders, could change the future of=20 the industry, writes Hazel Friedman When Relopile Magagula matriculated two=20 years ago, her ambitions extended no=20 further than a secretarial position in one=20 of those starchy corporate environments.=20 But when she walks into work next week, it=20 won’t be […]

Mungo Soggot The government has snapped into action=20 over the potentially disastrous drought=20 effects on the economy of El Ni=A4o. Several government departments are=20 contributing to a Cabinet memorandum on the=20 climatic phenomenon in an initiative driven=20 by Constitutional Affairs Minister Valli=20 Moosa, who chairs a Cabinet committee to=20 handle disasters. According to the Director=20 […]

Peta Thornycroft The leading contender for the National Party crown, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, was a paid agent of military intelligence. His salary, as president of the Afrikaans student organisation Jeugkrag, was paid from covert funds of the South African Defence Force during the mid-Eighties. And Van Schalkwyk lied to his colleagues in Jeugkrag about the […]

The Western Cape government’s answer to mass migration is to hire an apartheid land-planning consultant, writes Andy Duffy The man who oversaw apartheid land-planning in Cape Town is now a top consultant to the Western Cape government, devising plans to handle mass migration into the city. Bertie van Zyl ran the Cape Metropolitan Planning Committee […]

Hazel Friedman investigates what’s behind a=20 bitter battle in Gauteng’s arts council Members of the board at Pact (Performing=20 Arts Council of the Transvaal) are=20 embroiled in a bitter battle over=20 allegations of mismanagement. On one side=20 are Pact CEO Alan Joseph and Pact chairman=20 John Kani, with board members Meredie=20 Wixley and Arlette Franks […]

The World Bank sees economic policy reform=20 as its main pillar in an anti-corruption=20 strategy, writes Mark Tran in New York Corruption was a dirty word when James=20 Wolfensohn took over as World Bank=20 president over two years ago, and=20 studiously avoided in discussions with=20 government officials. Now the issue comes=20 up practically every time […]

THURSDAY, 6.00PM: The worse-than-expected consumer inflation figures released on Tuesday saw all indices on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange fall on Thursday. At the close, the all gold index had slipped 5,8 points to 1 024,9, the industrial index had shed 28,7 points to 9 076,5, and the all share index ended 10,8 points down at […]

Mail &Guardian reporter Zambian police assaulted and arrested an editor of The Post newspaper, Matsautso Phiri, last Saturday He was taking photographs of a police riot squad dispersing people at a rally in Kabwe organised by former president Kenneth Kaunda. The Post reported that police assaulted Phiri, seized his camera and ripped out his film […]

Mungo Soggot Alexkor, the state diamond producer, is=20 seeking a new head after the resignation of=20 its managing director amid severe tensions=20 over the struggling mine’s privatisation. A representative of the Ministry of Public=20 Enterprises, Wandile Zote, said this week=20 that JD Vermeulen, the managing director,=20 had resigned for health reasons. However,=20 it is understood […]