By Reg Rumney I have been ripped off – not once, but many times. And to my shame I didn’t even know it at the time. I am one of the many people tempted by the cheapness of the TDK tapes on offer from roadside hawkers. It is a brand known for its quality worldwide. […]

Jacques Magliolo reports on black business’ opposition to proposed JSE changes this year BLACK business cannot bid for the Anglo-controlled JCI if proposed changes to present regulations relating to pyramids go ahead this year. New Africa Investment Limited’s chairman, Dr Nthato Motlana, one of South Africa’s most prominent black businessmen, says: “We will oppose the […]

Steuart Wright in East London EASTERN Cape health officials, battling to form a unified administration, are being distracted by constant firefighting as the health system crumbles around them. But they are coming up with some innovative ways to cope with the situation. In recent weeks senior health officials have been forced to run from one […]

As early as 1910 a South African court declared that all men were created equal. It’s a pity a clause in the Bill of rights dilutes that principle, argues David Beresford There must be a particular satisfaction, if a slightly selfish one, in being right while in a minority. An instance particularly to be envied […]

THE “Deeble” option for a national health insurance policy — the one favoured by the Ministry of Health –may be the best of the three currently under consideration. That has yet to be proven. In fact, a number of highly-respected health policy experts have suggested that it is flawed and the government is allowing itself […]

FW DE KLERK’S first instinct when confronted with the information that 3 500 security force members and two cabinet ministers had secretly applied for indemnity on the eve of the April elections was to defend his men. He later changed his tune, going along, it seems, with a cabinet decision not to recognise the validity […]

Sankie Mthembi-Nkondo is a poet and writer and, more recently, minister of housing. Mark Gevisser met and read her `DEAR Comrade Wife,” wrote ANC poet and diplomat Zinjiva Nkondo to his wife, Sankie, during their years of separation in exile, “I know you are not afraid/ of spears/ your thighs and breasts of humanhood/ have […]

Reg Rumney LOOK skywards at the Cairo skyline to get a glimpse of where newly established MultiChoice Egypt, launched in Cairo at the weekend, sees future growth. The buildings bristle with costly satellite dishes, testimony to the desire of Egyptians for alternatives to the output of state-owned Egyptian Radio and Television Union, the Egyptian equivalent […]

Native tongue Bafana Khumalo WE were about to clinch the deal and I was hoping that nothing would happen at this crucial moment to jeopardise my opportunity to gain worldwide fame. You know how important fame is to me, don’t you? This was my chance to write for an insignificant American publication. My byline was […]

He was endearingly messy and relaxed in life — and so was his farewell. Mark Gevisser reports on the symbolism that emerged at Joe Slovo’s funeral AS I drove the 12 kilometres from Orlando to Avalon on Sunday, crawling through the human avenue of thousands of people, a young man rushed up to me, carrying […]