chequebook Labour is debating investment schemes and how they can benefit union members.Eddie Koch and Jim Day report When Neil Aggett, the union activist who died in a John Vorster Square prison cell in early 1982 after being tortured by men from the special branch, was busy mobilising workers into the African Food and Canning […]

Will Namibia’s President Sam Nujoma change the Constitution to suit himself? Graham Hopwood reports from Windhoek THERE is growing speculation in Namibia that President Sam Nujoma will not stand down as president in 1999 as demanded by the country’s Constitution, but run for a third term in office. Support for Nujoma to run for another […]

Experts wonder why researchers did not come to them with their startling find. Science editor Lesley Cowling reports THREE Pretoria scientists broke every rule of scientific method this week when they took their research to a Cabinet meeting, saying they might have a cure for Aids. But the man representing them says they did this […]

RESEARCHERS at Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute are working on a new vaccine that could open up South African horse-racing to international competition. South Africa is home to a virus called African horsesickness, which is endemic in most of sub-Saharan Africa. Horses are infected by a species of blood-sucking midges called Culicoides. In trekker days, it led […]

Stuart Hess FOUR people have emerged as frontrunners for South Africa’s top soccer job following the resignation of soccer supremo Solomon “Stix” Morewa. Prominent members of the South African soccer fraternity this week named former South African National Football Association (Sanfa) chief George Thabe, former South African Soccer Association (Sasa) vice- president Thembi Mtokwane, the […]

SA musicians have come together to relaunch the main stage at Johannesburg’s Market Theatre. We profile who’s who of the old and the new – and look at why they’re making waves Maria McCloy on Kwaito CONTRARY to what he said in the press over the past two weeks, Arthur Mafokate, kwaito star and owner […]

Julia Grey Measuring the reach of the goggle box HOW do TV broadcasters figure out audience ratings for their programmes? – Laura, Gauteng * SOME theories about how broadcasters measure the number of people watching each programme really tickle the imagination. “The waterboard,” say some. “The sudden surge of water supplied to households during ad […]

THE extraordinary Cabinet meeting this week in which ministers stood up and applauded a “breakthrough” in Aids research raises intriguing questions about Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma’s approach to the crisis. Still smarting from the R14,2-million Sarafina II debacle, Zuma turned down the scientists’ request for funding from her department late last year, claiming she could […]

Mark Tran in New York Banc One, one of the United States’s top regional banks, this week vaulted into the top tier of US credit card companies by announcing the acquisition of First USA for $7,5-billion. The deal will make Banc One the third biggest credit card issuer behind Citicorp and MBNA with $33-billion in […]

`I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player at 20 have so much’ – Bobby Robson on Barcelona’s boy wonder Ronaldo, who this week was named world player of 1996 SOCCER: Christopher Clarey RONALDO may or may not be the next Pele, Diego Maradona or Marco van Basten. How can anyone know for certain what […]