Judith Edstrom I WOULD like to address some of the perceptions and misconceptions about the World Bank in South Africa that have surfaced recently, at times with a degree of emotional fervour. First, what is the World Bank and what are we doing in South Africa? The World Bank is a co-operative bank owned by […]

Andy Duffy Transnet has uncovered fraud and theft thought to have been costing subsidiary South African Airways’s (SAA) duty-free operation at least R5-million a year – more than 10% of the operation’s annual sales. The group’s internal audit team paid Johannesburg-based private investigators R470 000 to undertake the six-month investigation into the operation. Its report […]

THE paradox facing the World Food Summit in Rome this week is no less grim for being very familiar. At an aggregate level, the world still has enough to eat. But individual people do not eat around an aggregate table. Many dine in comfort. Others continue to get by. And a large minority (800-million) struggle […]

Stefaans Brmmer LEAKED details from an unpublished United Nations report confirm the role of Willem ”Ters” Ehlers – former president PW Botha’s last private secretary – in the arms build- up in war-racked Central Africa. The recently completed third report of the UN commission investigating embargo-busting arms sales to Rwanda’s defeated Hutu forces contains an […]

Ann Eveleth PUBLIC Protector Selby Baqwa confirmed this week that he is investigating allegations – uncovered during a probe into the beleaguered University of Zululand’s fake degree scandal – against a senior academic at the institution. Associate professor of history, Jabulani Maphalala, is the vice-dean of the arts faculty and a member of the University […]

FINE ART: Chris Roper THE Absolut Secret exhibition at the Association for Visual Arts in Cape Town is about using the Absolut advertising gimmick to raise money for charity: the proceeds will be used to promote needy and deserving artists. It’s commerce putting the absolution into Absolut, if you will. It’s not only about that, […]

A London nightclub is launching a campaign to jolt the young into political awareness, writes Stephen Armstrong THE first ad is probably the most shocking. A huge, muscle-bound Eastender is shouting at the camera. ”This country isn’t ours any more!” he bellows, launching into a tirade that ends with ”I want this country run by […]

Following an anti-smoking editorial in The Star, R&R Tobacco have withdrawn their advertising, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy THE Rembrandt International group’s tobacco arm, R&R Tobacco has decided to pull more than one-million-rand’s worth of advertising from The Star newspaper following an editorial written by editor Peter Sullivan. Gauteng Newspapers managing director Deon du Plessis said one […]

Progress has been made in developing drugs to treat Aids. But much less attention has been given to developing a vaccine, writes Lesley Cowling TWO protease inhibitors – the “dramatically effective” Aids drugs – were registered in South Africa last week and a third is in the pipeline. Indinavir and ritonavir will soon be marketed […]

government’s heels Gaye Davis THE Democratic Party’s decision to reposition itself does not mean the terrier will stop snapping at the heels of government. But instead of just levelling criticism, it will also be offering solutions to problems facing the country, DP leader Tony Leon said this week. Its first offering – a strategy to […]