Mungo Soggot CLAIMS that the Mossgas sale was an expensive botch were bolstered this week after it emerged that yet another consultancy was hired by the government at the last minute to help massage the process. Officials have confirmed that British consultancy Chem Systems was recruited to evaluate bids for the troubled project in the […]

Judith Watt THE Grande Arche de la Defense is not a practical venue for a fashion show, but anything is possible during the Paris shows — and last Friday Belgian designer Dirk Bikkembergs presented his 1997 menswear collection there. As about 20 briefly clad male models marched on like automata, the final boot was given […]

Victoria Brittain and Larry Elliott THE wealth of the world’s 358 billionaires is greater than the combined annual incomes of nearly half the world’s people, according to a United Nations report highlighting the growing gulf between rich and poor countries. Warning that the disparity threatens an instability that can only be tackled by a new […]

Stefaans BrUmmer and Marion Edmunds THE auditor who “exposed” mismanagement of R7,8- million by the former leadership of the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) is an old contact of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela — and was embroiled in the controversy surrounding Hazel Crane’s failed “gift” of a luxury Cape Town house to Madikizela-Mandela. ANC spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa this […]

It was business as usual at Brixton Murder and Robbery police unit this week. Despite the loss of its controversial commander Charlie Landman — suspended on corruption charges — the country’s most effective investigative police squad was soldiering on. “But without our chief, it is like taking the engine out of a car and replacing […]

THERE was a touch of irony about the goal which signalled the end of a long unbeaten run by Orlando Pirates last weekend and effectively handed the Coca-Cola Challenge Cup to arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs. Vaal Professionals are the Wimbledon of South African football, a Route One team who play it long and straight and hard, […]

Black empowerment and affirmative action in ad agencies have come under fire for being inadequate, writes Jacquie Golding-Duffy The R3-billion advertising industry is facing its biggest challenge in the new South Africa — it has to embrace not only affirmative action, but also real black empowerment. Managing director of Lintas ad agency Lew Slade says […]

Everybody wants Keanu Reeves. But is it a case of great body, shame about the brain? ADAM SWEETING investigated while Reeves was in London with his rock group, Dogstar NOT even Keanu Reeves’s best friends think his rock group, Dogstar, is much good, but that hasn’t hindered it. It has been the support band for […]

Has the government gone too far, too fast in its drive to make Transnet an affirmative action role model? Mungo Soggot reports TRANSNET has one of South Africa’s most aggressive affirmative action programmes, and deputy managing director Saki Macozoma concedes it is not only hitting the company’s “Broederbond” contingent but is affecting morale and performance. […]

Unions have received a welcome R2,5-million for training to prepare for the Labour Relations Act, writes Madeleine Wackernagel While the implementation of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) proceeds at a snail’s pace, with promulgation next month now increasingly unlikely, the unions have received a welcome boost in preparing for the new order. The African-American Labour […]