Simon Segal One of the key components of Finance Minister Chris Liebenberg’s Budget is to address fears around the budget deficit and government debt. These blight an otherwise impressive economic record that boasts the most buoyant growth, lowest inflation, largest net capital inflows and most sizeable fixed investment in two decades. Liebenberg’s numbers for the […]
Xhosa chiefs are not convinced that a skull found in Scotland is that of King Hintsa; they have confiscated it for DNA tests, writes Eddie Koch The president, the Prince of Wales, the Xhosa paramount chief, the British prime minister, the Eastern Cape premier and a prominent paleo-anthropologist have all been dragged into South Africa’s […]
PW Botha’s ex-private secretary has denied rumours of illegal cargo flying. But that’s not the end of the story, reports Stefaans Brummer EX-President PW Botha’s arms-dealing former aide, implicated by the Namibian government in illegal cargo flights to Angola, this week denied direct involvement — yet a complex tale has emerged of contacts in high […]
The World Cross Country Championships should be a boost to athletics in the country, but Athletics South Africa isn’t taking advantage of the event, writes Julian Drew THE biggest athletics event ever staged in South Africa will take place in Stellenbosch next Saturday amid growing concerns that Athletics South Africa (ASA) has failed to capitalise […]
on fiscal policy Job creation in South Africa remains a blot on the economic horizon, reports Madeleine Wackernagel Economic growth last year was the best on record since 1988, despite setbacks in the agricultural and mining sectors and a slip in the fourth quarter owing to a decline in manufacturing output. But the doomsters are […]
The new Constitution could give local government a better place in the hierarchy, writes Marion Edmunds The new Constitution is likely to raise local government from its Cinderella status to a position in the new South Africa where it can compete with its two ugly sisters, national and provincial government, for revenue and political status. […]
Reunited with Sipho Mchunu for just one concert, Johnny Clegg succumbs to nostalgia, and celebrates change, in conversation with HAZEL FRIEDMAN IF there exists a single structure which encapsulates the apartheid era in all its banal brutality, it is the George Goch hostel in Jeppestown. A concrete monolith housing male, Zulu-speaking migrant workers, the drab […]
Madeleine Wackernagel When the Katz Commission presented its third report, the outcry from the Life Offices Association was predictable, and for once, it was fighting in the same corner as Cosatu, because the recommendations applied to provident and pension funds alike. Michael Katz had initially proposed a 30% tax on the rental, interest and other […]
People who know Diepkloof prison say the AWB men could never have escaped unassisted, reports Justin Pearce While Correctional Services remain “embarrassed” about four alleged bombers who escaped from prison last week, people who know the jail have poured scorn on initial claims that the men escaped by sawing through security gates. “I’ve welded those […]
The settlement of the Makgoba crisis at Wits was the result of weeks of behind-the-scenes work, writes Philippa Garson Weeks of secret negotiations brokered by lawyers Dennis Davis and Cecil Wulfsohn delivered the deal which effectively ended the six-month-long “Makgoba” crisis at the University of the Witwatersrand. The Mail & Guardian has pieced together the […]