No one prospered more than the Suharto clan as Indonesia escaped from grinding poverty, writes Paul Hunt FOUR government ministers mingled in a crowd of thousands at the launch in Jakarta of the Cakra and Nanngala, characters in the Ramayana epic whose names now adorn two sleek saloon cars. Organisers laid on models, traditional puppet […]
As the rand hits an all-time low, Reserve Bank governor Chris Stals tells the M&G that he has no intention of resigning, reports Madeleine Wackernagel Massive dollar buying at home and abroad — not his impending resignation — was behind the rand’s plunge to record lows against the deutschemark and sterling this week, says Dr […]
Black empowerment means more than just having black faces in the newsroom, argues Jacquie Golding-Duffy MAJOR newspaper companies seem to be lagging behind on the issue of black empowerment, focussing instead on doing their bit for affirmative action by training journalists and other staff. Although some print conglomerates have attempted to address black empowerment, others […]
Justin Pearce Sponsored programming continues on the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in defiance of its own policy. Until last year, a regulatory vacuum left the way open for programmes which promoted commercial products under the guise of educational material, in return for sponsorship. Late last year, the SABC introduced a policy restricting the screening […]
Elsa Semmelink A platform for South African businesses to establish new contacts in the United States and Canada has been established by Rainbow Business Network International (RBNI), a Gauteng-based company which will present trade and tourism networking sessions and mini-expos lasting two days in major commercial centres in the US and Canada in October and […]
Jacquie Golding-Duffy IN the next five years, the effect of strikes in the clothing industry will be minimal as the clothing sector will have collapsed. South Africa will be forced to embrace imports, argues Econometrix economist Tony Twine. Twine says the economy, while in a transitional phase, will not benefit from a strike in the […]
Mungo Soggot THE Mossgas market testing exercise revealed that one company suspects the sea-bed off Mossel Bay contained huge gas reserves, officials said this week. The company, a United States exploration operation, expressed interest in buying the rights to the gas. If the deal went through, the company, which has asked to remain anonymous, would […]
John Duncan THE Olympic torch has become the symbol of the Games, but it is not the ancient symbol many imagine: it was introduced by the Nazis in 1936 because Adolf Hitler wanted to draw an association between the Nazi regime and ancient Greece. Somehow it has stuck. Lit on Mount Olympus, the flame must […]
Cindy Shiner in Obuasi, Ghana JUST beyond the yellow “no trespassing” sign, a burly fellow who calls himself “Jangu-man” stood ankle-deep in chemical-laced black muck. He scooped some into a wooden gutter with a dented old army helmet and washed it, letting promising particles gather into a porous brown cloth. Quicksand-like pits have claimed the […]
Last week this newspaper reported an event which brought back just what the old South Africa was like. We pictured a 1991 meeting involving the governor of the Reserve Bank, a Cabinet minister and a former chief justice at which the bank’s extraordinary secret decision to hand out money to an ailing bank was discussed […]