Nigeria’s exiled democracy campaigner Wole Soyinka =20 tells Bartholomeus Grill about his disappointment at =20 the way South Africa’s leaders are turning a blind eye =20 to the excesses of Sani Abacha’s military regime=20 WRITER Wole Soyinka, Nigeria’s foremost democracy =20 campaigner-in-exile, has spoken angrily about the =20 failure of President Nelson Mandela — the […]

It’s time that the insured stood up for their insurance, reports Karen Harverson Insurance law in South Africa, unlike some European countries, is far more favourable to the insurer than the insured. The onus rests on the insured at the time of taking out a policy to disclose all material facts to the insurer of […]

Neil Bierbaum SCOPE is to become a general interest men’s magazine minus the girlie photographs — entering a domain so far occupied exclusively by the small but growing men’s lifestyle magazine Directions (formerly bigblue). A major repositioning of Scope is expected following a decision by the board of Republican Press to stop trying to compete […]

THE ANC: Will madam ever vote for Eve?=20 Justin Pearce=20 Eve Jammy usually does her canvassing by phone. But on =20 a rare occasion when she does canvas house to house, =20 it’s easy to see why she prefers the phone. =20 Jammy is a local election candidate for Ward 11 in =20 Johannesburg’s posh […]

Musical posts=20 THE University of Cape Town’s Professor David Woods has =20 been appointed vice chancellor of Rhodes University, =20 ending a drawn-out saga in the search for a replacement =20 for Dr Derek Henderson, who retires next year. Woods =20 was also one of two candidates presented to the UCT =20 Senate in a […]

Leon Perlman The days of sitting bored and probably scared during a mini-bus journey could soon be over. A Gauteng-based company, Maxtel, has developed the world’s first dedicated taxi phone which passengers can use to distract themselves. These South African-designed and manufactured devices, called “Taxi Talk”, will be available through global systems mobile (GSM) Service […]

NONE of the violence and gang warfare I saw in my youth =20 in the Cape Flats prepared me for the carnage which =20 unfolded before my eyes in Thornton Road, Athlone, Cape =20 Town on a sunny Tuesday afternoon this week.=20 As I drove down Belgravia Road, Athlone, my eyes were =20 burning and […]

Theatre: David Le Page Watching the first minutes of The Choice (Civic Theatre) is like being steeped in a wash of pop- psychology epigrams. If Ray and Sal were actually people, they would have to memorise reams of material from women’s magazines and Readers’ Digest “10 Steps to a better Marriage/Relationship”-type articles to be able […]

Very brief.=20 — Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment , when asked — breaking =20 the world longevity record this week at 120 years and =20 238 days — how she sees the future=20 We were victims of technology.=20 — A BBC spokesperson on how a secret fax about =20 privatising the BBC was sent by accident to […]

IT wasn’t just the rain that George Smiley missed in =20 Johannesburg. It was also the knowledge that the spying =20 trade would never be the same again. =20 With his hands wrapped around a balloon glass of 10-=20 year-old KWV, and his body enveloped in the soft =20 cushions of a large leather armchair, […]