Charl Blignaut LEADING music concert promoter Attie van Wyk said this week he wants to bring international actors to South Africa in an effort to rejuvenate the country’s languishing theatre industry. He disclosed plans to add an International Theatre Division to his already successful Big Concerts promotions company. To be headed by Bernard Jay, entertainment […]

Jan Raath in Harare INVESTIGATIONS into allegations that former Zimbabwean president Reverend Canaan Banana repeatedly raped and sexually abused at least one police aide-de-camp have begun “in full seriousness”, a police source said here this week. “The commissioner [of police, Augustine Chiuri] said inquiries would begin immediately, and they did,” the source said. He would […]

Mungo Soggot OLIVER HILL, South Africa’s most wanted white-collar fugitive, could be back home in a matter of weeks, following the rejection this week by a London court of his appeal against extradition to South Africa. The court also torpedoed Hill’s attempts to further delay his return by denying him the right to appeal to […]

Marion Edmunds THE government is trying to revive the Presidential Review Commission, created to help reform the ailing public sector but paralysed by its own problems, which culminated recently in the resignation of its chairman. Professor Bax Nomvete, who by all accounts had a stormy relationship with the rest of the commission, has refused to […]

There is something a little distasteful about the Independent Group’s “confession” to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as to its sins during the apartheid era. Like its much-trumpeted “international advisory board” of consultants, the submission smacks more of a public relations exercise than a genuine contribution to South African journalism. The group’s apparent failure to […]

FINE ART:Hazel Friedman LAST year’s Unplugged exhibition will go down in South African art history as a supreme example of the “buddy system” at its worst. Initiated by artist Kendell Geers as a riposte to the traditional curatorial process – whereby the curator determines the content and presentation of an exhibition – Unplugged set itself […]

Lisa Buckingham and Alex Brummer A FRESH initiative to revamp bonuses and so stamp out the wildest risks taken by City of London derivative traders is expected to follow the $80-million scandal at NatWest Markets that this week helped to wipe nearly $900-million off the stock market value of the banking group. Anthony Bellchambers, chief […]

In a conversation with Benjamin Pogrund, Harry Oppenheimer reflects on his life in business and defends his companies’ stance on apartheid HARRY OPPENHEIMER carries his 88 years lightly. “I feel well and I enjoy life so I’m very lucky at my age,” he says. He’s a bit stooped and says his hearing is not what […]

JONATHAN ROMNEY speaks to cult Hollywood director Tim Burton about his freaks, frailties and fame – and his latest film Mars Attacks! TIM BURTON’S Mars Attacks! seems like a sure-fire recipe for box-office success – hordes of evil aliens, a cult director with a berserk visual imagination, and a prodigally illustrious cast (Nicholson, Close, DeVito, […]

Is there a place in the South African media for institutionalised ethnicity? Jacquie Golding-Duffy reports ‘WE are not anti-white, but pro-black,” says Abbey Makoe, chair of the steering committee of the Black Journalists Forum (BJF) – the lobby group recently launched and endorsed by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and SABC chief executive Zwelakhe Sisulu. The […]