Celia Weston EUROPE’S oil and gas companies face a $23- billion bill for disposing of offshore rigs and platforms in the wake of the resurgence of the political controversy which dogged the Brent Spar. This is the key finding of a confidential report commissioned for the European Union’s environment and energy directives and discussed at […]

The Minister of Public Enterprises is seeking direct control over Eskom’s equity, raising concerns of a backdoor attempt at nationalisation. Max Gebhardt reports THE Ministry of Public Enterprises has set the ball in motion to bring Eskom under direct government control, despite admitting that such a move could raise doubts among foreign investors over the […]

Helen Meintjies and Robert Aitken MA DLADLA doesn’t complain much about the absence of refuse removal or the long queues to get water from one of the five standpipes in her shanty town. She prioritises a different concern: paraffin is expensive and getting more so. She lives in a shack settlement with high levels of […]

Chris Dunton and M&G reporters NOT even Britain’s publicity-hungry Booker Prize could have come up with the scandal that rocked the French literary world last week. Calixthe Beyala, winner of the 100000-franc Acadmie Franaise’s Grand Prix du Roman, was accused of plagiarising Ben Okri’s 1991 Booker winner, The Famished Road. Beyala denied plagiarism: “I know […]

Frederick Chiluba’s new government is increasingly embroiled in controversy, reports Anthony Kunda in Lusaka EVIDENCE has emerged from election results released by the government-constituted Zambian Electoral Commission that the outcome of the polls on November 18 may well have been fixed before the polling day. There are several instances of strange and inexplicable uniformity in […]

Charlene Houston argues the land and money planned for the Olympics could be put to better use THE Development Action Group monitors the Olympic Bid because we work with poor people in Cape Town to address their housing needs and we are worried about the impact of the bid on the availability of well-located land […]

Mungo Soggot AS the consumer’s best friend, Isabel Jones has always been powerful. But with the help of a new Act that was quietly passed by the Gauteng legislature in September, the consumer journalist will now be able to shut down a business, strike down contracts, and impose fines of up to R200 000 and […]

Ann Eveleth PROVINCIAL and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mohammed Valli Moosa tried to control the ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal conference with an iron fist, but had to back down from plans to handpick a provincial secretary amid accusations that he was violating the party’s constitution. Delegates to the weekend conference in Durban said Valli Moosa delivered a National […]

The Cape Town Bid company will be rolling out the red carpet for the International Olympic Committee’s evaluation commission this week. But not everybody in the city welcomes the bid Julian Drew THE International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Evaluation Commission is due to fly into Cape Town at 7.35 on Friday (December 6) – its last […]

A proposal to hold truth hearings into the media has provoked much argument, writes Jacquie Golding-Duffy THERE is consensus among editors that the media should be investigated for the role it played during the apartheid era, but there are differing opinions on whether the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is the correct platform for the […]