Mungo Soggot THE probe into the state’s oil trading arm, the Strategic Fuel Fund, is now expected to be finished by the middle of next month after hitting some delays. The investigation’s preliminary findings in late March led to the suspension of the fund’s boss, Kobus van Zyl. Don Mkhwanazi, chairman of the Central Energy […]
Ann Eveleth PRESSURE is mounting in educational circles for a re-think on timeframes for implementing the new school curriculum as funding shortages, training backlogs and staff vacancies pile up. Gauteng and Eastern Cape education officials this week called on the national government to scale down plans to put the new outcomes-based education system into effect […]
to Africa South Africa’s attempts at diplomacy failed, but the rebels succeeded and Zaire became Congo. Africa will benefit from these developments but the West is alarmed Despite jitters in the West, Laurent Kabila’s victory is potentially the most stabilising development in Central Africa in many years. Chris McGreal reports from Kinshasa ZAIRE disappeared at […]
It is once more time for South Africa’s most lavish fiction award – but now it’s adults only, writes SHAUN DE WAAL IN the absence of the CNA Literary Award, which was discontinued earlier this year, the M-Net Book Prize for a South African novel takes on a new importance. It always was the most […]
Sactwu has shown that capitalist investment can work not only for workers, but for their children too. Ferial Haffajee reports SCORES of clothing workers’ children graced this week’s launch of a clothing union’s bursary fund: among them was one who has done particularly well. Finance Minister Trevor Manuel introduced himself as “the son of a […]
games Jon Henderson feels the Sampras factor rather than marriage is behind the decline of a moody genius PETE SAMPRAS’S favourite line from literature is from The Catcher In The Rye: “Don’t ever tell anybody anything.” Andre Agassi, Sampras’s great rival on the tennis court, is from the opposing, let-it-all- hang-out corner. The silent approach […]
LIVE MUSIC: Sam Taylor IRISH band U2’s PopMart world tour kicked off in Las Vegas last week with a stage set as spectacularly kitsch as any of the giant theme hotels that adorn the Vegas Strip. Dominated by the world’s biggest LED screen and a golden arch, like half of a McDonald’s “M”, the set […]
Gary Younge NIGERIAN art treasures are being looted from museums to supply an underground network of dealers, most of them based in London and New York. The multi-million pound trade, which contravenes a United Nations convention on the sale and smuggling of stolen artwork, has left some museums in the country virtually empty. The looting […]
The mopane caterpillar is a dietary staple for many people – and a vital agent in keeping the veld healthy, writes Ellen Bartlett THE larva of Gonimbrasia belina, the emperor moth, is fat and spiny and mottled black and gray. It does not immediately spring to mind as food.But G belina, better known as the […]
South Africa stands accused of bully-boy tactics in trade with Zimbabwe and of dominating its economy, argues Richard Saunders in Harare DESPITE words of assurance from Nelson Mandela during his state visit this week that tense business relations between South Africa and Zimbabwe would be smoothed in efforts to promote greater regional economic integration, business […]