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 […]

Sentiment has improved, but to capitalise on the turnaround, Trevor Manuel must define the strategy for implementing Gear, argues Madeleine Wackernagel SO, Trevor Manuel will get to present his first Budget after all, despite rumours of a Cabinet reshuffle earlier this year. Already he has quietened his detractors by showing the deficit target is on […]

Running at altitude, South African athletes are going to struggle to beat the qualifying marks for the world championships ATHLETICS:Julian Drew SOUTH AFRICA’S top athletes go to Potchefstroom’s peculiarly shaped Kenneth McArthur Oval this weekend knowing that a national title along with a performance which betters Athletic South Africa’s (ASA) qualifying standards will automatically gain […]

A joint-venture deal with Naledi Petroleum has exposed Sasol’s policy of taking over petrol stations ahead of deregulation, writes Mungo Soggot SASOL has been quietly buying up prime petrol station sites in Gauteng in anticipation of a relaxation of regulations that bar it from retailing fuel, the synthetic fuel giant confirmed this week. Sasol communications […]

Guest writer Pippa Green watches the truth commission catch fire THERE is a monument outside Pretoria’s vast municipal complex, a broken arch of triumph. Its dedication reads: “To all victims of terrorism.” It stands on the corner of Munitoria, a distinctly Pretorian name in a city where names like Cartoria for a major vehicle dealer […]

As the Grand Prix season opens in Melbourne on Sunday, Villeneuve has the hot car while frustrated Hill needs heavenly help to defend the title MOTORRACING:Maurice Hamilton IT is at times such as this that grand prix teams, struggling to make final preparations for the new season, remember 1989. Nigel Mansell had joined Ferrari and […]

A departmental inquiry into Sarafina II has cleared three officials and slapped a fourth on the wrist, reports Jim Day FOUR officials investigated by the Department of Health for their role in Sarafina II, the ill-fated Aids awareness play that cost taxpayers several million rands, have escaped with their jobs. Responding to a request by […]

A series of sensational allegations against SABC bosses about a top-selling TV show will result in arbitration, reports Peta Thornycroft THE heads of SABC1 and 2 have been accused of illegally removing property from the offices of an independent television producer. This is one of a series of sensational allegations involving prominent television and media […]

Seventeen years after independence, white Rhodesians are going back to Zim in their droves, reports Iden Wetherell THE Rhodesians are coming! Thousands of citizens of rebel prime minister Ian Smith’s former white bastion who fled majority rule in 1980 to seek refuge in apartheid South Africa are now flocking back across the border. And they […]