FRIDAY, 10.15AM: THE South African rugby team suffered a double blow on Thursday — two injured Springboks were ruled out of the third Test Match against the British Lions at Ellis Park stadium on Saturday. Fullback Andre Joubert suffered a groin Injury during a training session in Johannesburg, and reserve flyhalf Boeta Wessels strained a […]
The old regime has been blamed for a large discrepancy in the Census 96 figures. But the man who built the apartheid model defends his numbers. Gaye Davis and Mungo Soggot report THE old guard in charge of counting South Africa’s population has crossed swords with the new in the wake of this week’s revelation […]
Numsa’s new general secretary aims to bridge the gap between the rank-and-file and union leadership, reports Ferial Haffajee THE switchboard-operator of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) is used to it by now. “That’s Mbuyi, M-B-U-Y-I,” she spells out for callers who want to speak to the union’s new leader. Numsa’s general […]
Ann Eveleth JOE DIESCHO, the most senior black administrator at the University of South Africa, has been gagged, demoted and deprived of his official car. He is the public relations director, but stands accused of publicly criticising the university. These actions follow two press interviews earlier this year in which he echoed growing campus criticisms […]
Visiting author Ariel Dorfman tells how writing Widows mirrored his struggle to come to terms with Chile’s terrible past CHILE and South Africa are linked by their experience of tyranny. The parallels come especially to mind with the current visit of Chilean playwright and novelist Ariel Dorfman, who is speaking at the Grahamstown Festival and […]
FRIDAY, 11.30AM The gold price, already under severe pressure for some time, plummeted on Thursday as the Australian reserve bank cut its reserves by a third, selling 167 tons of the precious metal. Gold closed in New York ahead of the Independence Day holiday $5,90 lower, at $325,25/oz. Some analysts had expected prevailing conditions to […]
brigade Don’t make jocular remarks about the prime minister of Mauritius, warns Humphrey Harrison, who was jailed on the island I GAZED around the tiny ant- and mosquito- infested cell and mused at how misleading those glossy brochures about Mauritius had been. Even so, I should try to look on the bright side: at least […]
FRIDAY, 12.10PM: NATIONAL marathon champion Helene Joubert has been dropped from the South African squad which left on Thursday for Hungary to prepare for next month’s world track and field championships in Athens. Joubert was dropped after she unwittingly broke the rules and ran in last month’s Comrades Marathon. Banele Sindani of Athletics South Africa […]
FRIDAY, 1.00PM BUSINESS confidence in the second quarter fell sharply against the first three months of the year, according to Stellenbosch University’s Bureau for Economic Research. The BER’s business confidence index fell to 34,4 in the second quarter, from 45,2 in the first, continuing a trend of falling confidence since the last quarter of 1995. […]
UK COPS ARRIVE A BRITISH police team arrived in South Africa at the end of June to work closely with the Derpartment of Safety and Security and the South African Police Services. The team will review management systems and help in training, evaluation and monitoring of the department. It will draw up a report with […]