British prime minister John Major led a host of international sports stars and the media around township sports facilities, writes Paul Martin WITH Wednesday’s rival attractions conveniently divided by that compulsory cricket tradition, the lunch-break, cognoscenti had the mouth-watering prospect of admiring the 12 or so balls Brian Lara stroked in the Soweto nets after […]

What has happened to Penny Siopis, painter of lush excess? Hazel Friedman asked her whether she has `gone conceptual’ REACTIONS to Penny Siopis’ current exhibition range from slight discomfort to outright dismay. Maybe it’s got something to do with the cloying smell of mothballs and cheap perfume wafting from her sarcophagus-like installations; the neatly arranged […]

Gaye Davis JOHANNESBURG City Council is owed more than R44-million by residents of its south-western townships and Lenasia. If the debt is not written off by central government, it will almost double the council’s accumulated operating deficit of R54,7-million. Roger McCulloch, assistant general secretary of the Civic Associations of Johannesburg (CAJ), blames a National Party […]

Lesley Cowling and Chris Louw QUESTIONS about the state’s funding of General Lothar Neethling’s defamation case against the Weekly Mail & Guardian are to be raised in parliament. ANC MP Dave Dalling has given notice that he wants Minister of Safety and Security Sidney Mufamadi to reveal the total cost to the state of Neethling’s […]

THE Storyland Carnival — part of the Arts Alive festivities — offers a golden opportunity to keep the children busy and entertained for a day. A host of thrilling events will take place, from an appearance by the popular Capetonian rap group Prophets of da City to participation in a crafts workshop — plus a […]

ENGLAND and Wales are likely to make a joint bid to stage the 1999 World Cup. This week Dudley Wood, the Rugby Football Union secretary, said his union would be considering a formal bid along with the Welsh Rugby Union, though so far neither union has discussed the matter at executive committee level. Wood believes […]

CINEMA: Buddy Bradley QUO VADIS the action movie? Who among us has not posed this fundamental question on returning, sick at heart, from the local cineplex after enduring yet another actioner which seemed promising … but then totally sucked? This year’s roll of dishonour is already a long one, including stinkers like Beverly Hills Cop […]

Media & Marketing By Clive Simkins KEEPING a finger right on the pulse of market change is vital. Here are two more of Ogilvy & Mather’s seven recently researched trends, unique to South Africa, that fly with joyous abandon in the face of Faith Popcorn’s American “future”: Informalism: The sheer inability of economic growth, as […]

Armscor and the Ministry of Defence are at loggerheads over a consignment of weapons allegedly destined for civil war-torn Yemen. Eddie Koch and Paul Stober investigate ARMSCOR and Defence Minister Joe Modise are caught in a growing storm over allegations that South Africa sent a large consignment of AK-47 assault rifles to Yemen in contravention […]

Annie Mapoma MILLIONS of South Africans have taken the chance of winning big money for the cost of two or three rands since organised lotteries began two years ago, generating more than R80-million for welfare trusts and even bigger profits for the lottery companies themselves. The popularity of the lotteries has led to the launching […]