Finance Minister Chris Liebenberg denies a trade-off between labour and the pensions industry, reports Madeleine Wackernagel This year’s Budget had not been expected to raise the roof, nor did it. But Chris Liebenberg, the Minister of Finance, was quietly confident it would be well received by the markets, big business and labour alike. He insisted […]

Budget Karen Harverson There are positive features about the Budget, the most important of which is government’s plan to reduce the deficit to 5,1% of Gross Domestic Product, said Leslie Boyd, chairman of Business South Africa and Anglo American Industrial Corporation. He added that it was, however, difficult to describe the new Budget as bold […]

Bafana Khumalo I GIVE up on old movies. I am one of those people who condescendingly complain that “they don’t make them like they used to”. I have always believed that anything made after I was 10 years old is just plain old garbage. And on Saturday night, I had the opportunity to see something […]

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. […]