TENNIS: Jon Swift THE Davis Cup presents a very different face from the dour business of collecting ATP points. It showed in the seamless polite conversation at this weeks draw where glasses clinked during the announcements and gloved waiters passed around trays of genteel canapes druing question time. You have to believe that this difference […]

Madeleine Wackernagel Thabo Mbeki and his team returned tired but triumphant from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Wednesday. The deputy president was well-received, with fund managers clamouring to get a slice of the most popular emerging markets cake. While nothing concrete in the form of rands and cents came out of the five-day […]

Ricardo Dunn THE first national exhibition of gay and lesbian art has got tongues wagging in Bloemfontein, where religious groups and concerned citizens have bombarded the press with complaints since the exhibitions opening at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum in January. The organisers of Gay Rights Rites Rewrites smelt trouble from the start when the director […]

The all-white Potgietersrus Primary School is invoking the constitution in its efforts to remain exclusive, writes Justin Pearce OUR tradition-rich school is our pride reads the slogan in the prospectus for Potgietersrus Primary, a booklet illustrated with photographs of verdant school grounds and industrious white children. Just what this pride entails will be examined before […]

A senior official in the safety and security secretariat stands charged with child molestation, reports Philippa Garson A top official in the safety and security secretariat has been suspended, pending the outcome of a court case against him involving charges of indecent assault against two female minors. Etienne Dirk Marais, chief director of liaison and […]

Selby Baqwa, the official appointed to fight the abuse of power, is himself tangled up in red tape, reports Gaye Davis PUBLIC protector Selby Baqwa may be one of the most powerful people in the country, but he has run into major problems over the appointment of the nine provincial public protectors he needs to […]

Its not only top batsmen and bowlers the South Africans have to face in the World Cup, but the threat of bombs and violence on the volatile Indian sub-continent CRICKET: Jon Swift AGAINST a background of violent instability, Hansie Cronjes blend of hardened veterans and exciting new talent have voiced a collective determination to emulate […]

Visiting Johannesburg this week, renowned composer Kevin Volans spoke to GWEN ANSELL about music past and present, African and European SERIOUS music in the late 20th century is an esoteric and fragmented world in which performers and composers find survival a struggle. Audiences tend to be rigid adherents of one school or another, and fairly […]

Lynda Loxton The huge disparities in income distribution in South Africa make it vital that any tax system takes into account ways in which to lessen the impact on the poorest of the poor. One easy and obvious way would be to zero-rate as many basic necessities from value-added tax (VAT) as possible. At the […]

The hype and glory of the African Nations Cup created new enthusiasm for soccer in South Africa. Now it has to be harnessed for the good of the local game SOCCER: Mark Gleeson IT is amazing how quickly the poor crowd attendance, erratic shooting and errant referees were forgotten in the euphoria of South Africas […]