The first inquiry into the diamond industry in 25 years could see a shake-up in the market, reports Max Gebhardt THE diamond industry will come under the microscope next month as the government- appointed Commission of Inquiry kicks into gear. South African diamond giant De Beers is bound to feel the intense scrutiny of the […]

South Africa’s financial institutions come under fire for failing to bankroll technology ventures, writes Lynda Loxton SOUTH AFRICA’S financial institutions are facing increasing criticism because of their perceived timidity in funding non- traditional industries that could strengthen the country’s technological edge. Such is the frustration in some sectors that special initiatives are being planned to […]

Wall St’ In an effort to pressureUS companies into hiring more blacks, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson is opening up office on Wall Street, reports Mark Tran in New York JESSE JACKSON, the civil rights leader, is taking on Wall Street and corporate United States after humbling oil group Texaco, which recently agreed to settle […]

Caitlin Davies THE Okavango Delta, mainstay of Botswana’s=20 tourism industry and home to a breathtaking=20 array of wildlife, is about to be fenced=20 in, although no environmental impact=20 assessment studies have been done and local=20 communities have not been consulted. An outbreak of cattle lung disease – a=20 fatal airborne bovine pneumonia – in the=20 […]

opposed Marion Edmunds THE Welfare Ministry faces mounting=20 opposition to its recommendation that state=20 maintenance payments – which under=20 apartheid were available only to white and=20 coloured mothers – be limited now to the=20 poorest of the poor. =20 The recommendations, which came out of last=20 year’s report by the Lund Commission, were=20 well received […]

GOLF:Jon Swift THERE has always been an intense feeling of=20 calm about the way Mark McNulty has gone=20 about his chosen profession. In many ways=20 he is the model every aspirant professional=20 golfer should strive to emulate. This unflappability probably first came to=20 the fore at a rain-soaked Bryanston Country=20 Club course fully two decades […]

THE Algerian agony gets worse. It also=20 becomes an even more intractable conflict.=20 More than 200 people have died since the=20 start of Ramadan. Those murdered by=20 government militia or in reprisals on=20 civilians are not listed. It is, like all=20 internal conflicts, vicious on both sides. The regime’s security forces use napalm,=20 torture prisoners […]

Closing radio stations may be part of SABC’s contingency plan to solve its cash crisis, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy THE SABC has identified Radio SAfm and Radio Sonder Grense as two key operations it would consider closing should the corporation fail to resolve its cash crisis. These radio stations are only two of 11 loss-making stations […]

TELEVISION: Bafana Khumalo IF you’re ever up beyond 11pm on Sunday you=20 have probably been through the arty fare at=20 varying degrees of taking itself far too=20 seriously on SABC3. At this time you might =20 have had an experience called Our Voices.=20 This is a talk show in true talking-head=20 fashion. It is no […]

Shaun de Waal MARILYN MANSON: Antichrist Superstar (BMG) MARILYN MANSON has been called the Alice=20 Cooper of the Nineties, and he and his band=20 certainly have the appropriate schlock- horror look and act. The SABC has even=20 bestowed additional credibility on them by=20 refusing to show their latest video. The=20 music, partly produced by Nine […]