Dan Atkinson in London Gathering storm clouds overshadowed bumper half-year profits from diamond conglomerate De Beers this week. The sliding value of the rand and renewed uncertainty over a critical trade deal with the Russian government, combined to cast doubt on the survival of the company’s worldwide marketing cartel. Director Gary Ralfe said two weeks […]
A photograph of an award-winning artwork designed to provoke debate about the status of women has caused the deputy speaker to call for art censorship, reports Hazel Friedman The deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Kgositsile, has stirred up furious controversy in the art community with an attack on the Mail & Guardian for […]
With the government unlikely to increase subsidies for tertiary education in the next 10 years, a large-scale student-aid fund is desperately needed, argues Philippa Garson SERIOUS problems lie ahead for the higher education sector if student fees continue to rocket in the absence of a viable student loan scheme. While the sector is set to […]
Discriminatory pension laws that exclude permanent residents may compromise their human rights, reports Marion Edmunds Permanent residents no longer qualify for state pensions or social assistance grants, following the implementation on March 1 of the Social Assistance Act, drafted and passed by the National Party government. And the Black Sash says it will take this […]
A leading member of People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) claims his organisation has been sidetracked by militant activists and fears it will falter in the coming weeks. The member, who asked not to be named but who said he intended raising his misgivings within the organisation, said unless Pagad reverted to its original form […]
If there was ever an occasion to give thanks that we have a Bill of Rights it was on Tuesday when The Star published an attack on the Mail & Guardian by the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Kgositsile, under the headline: ”Poor taste must not pose as art.” The article was confused, […]
Two major developments should dramatically alter the way the truth commission works, reports Eddie Koch The truth commission’s announcement this week that it will subpoena suspects in some of the most prominent political atrocities of the apartheid era comes on the eve of two other major developments that could dramatically alter the way the body […]
The recent killing of a sports writer at a high- profile function left the black journalistic community reeling. What happened, and why? Angella Johnson reports When sports writer Sipho Mthembu calmly walked into Brixton Murder and Robbery police station to hand himself over in connection with the death of fellow journalist Sibusiso Mabaso, few people […]
Vernon Seymour AMERICAN efforts to strengthen its economic blockade on Cuba by penalising foreign businesses that trade with the Caribbean state, have come under severe criticism from the World Trade Organisation. Last week US President Bill Clinton, under pressure from foreign allies, suspended part of the operation of the Helms-Burton anti-Cuba law — which tightens […]
Rapid growth in income inequality threatens the world’s economic future as the skills gap increases in the West. Edward Balls reports from London The scourge of inequality is back on the political agenda. Reports published over the past few weeks have highlighted the rapid growth in wage and income inequality and the threat this poses […]