Now you can field your calls while you field the tennis balls. Julia Hartley- Brewer reports It looks like a chunky digital watch, is not much bigger than a matchbox and weighs only 39g. Its resemblance to a Star Trek transmitter enables the owner to do a convincing impression of Captain Kirk. This is the […]

Stephen Friedman WORM’S EYE VIEW Our judiciary has landed in a series of storms – over its work rate, its sensitivity to concern about crime and, after Judge John Foxcroft’s judgment, its attitude to violence against women. So judges are understandably nervous about the future of the courts. Their independence, they say, is under greater […]

It’s still north versus south in this weekend’s World Cup quarter-finals, writes Andy Capostagno The pecking order of world rugby will be decided this weekend in the four quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup and there is a very clear demarcation line to be drawn. If the three teams that contest the Tri- Nations are […]

David Le Page First stop on a tour of websites dealing with unit trusts in South Africa must be the Association of Unit Trusts, www. aut.org.za. The association is the industry’s promoter and watchdog, and its website, though not properly kept up to date, is a good introduction to the industry. Its “guided tour” explains […]

Whatever fund managers may claim, Wall Street is dangerously overvalued. Larry Elliott reports April, said TS Eliot, is the cruellest month. Not as far as the markets are concerned. As Professor Tim Congdon pointed out recently, there seems to be something about October and declining share prices. This week was the 12th anniversary of the […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The deputy vice-chancellor at Vista University, Professor Kingston Nyamapfene, has been accused of running a private education business from the institution, using its resources. CompuVista, a computer literacy business, allegedly uses Vista’s Bloemfontein computers, facilities and lecturers. This accusation is one of several allegations of corruption contained in a report compiled […]

Shaun Harris The idea is certainly appealing – a luxury yacht, available for your use every year at an international location of your choice, hedged against the rand and returning hard currency earnings and tax benefits. Sounds like much more fun than putting money into a global unit trust fund. That’s the concept behind Sunsail, […]

Aaron Nicodemus, Marianne Merten and Mungo Soggot The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is planning to bankroll the legal defence of three white farmers who are being sued for allegedly blinding and torturing an Mpumalanga farm worker. The farmers belong to the Wakkerstroom Commando, one of the civilian army units set up countrywide under […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni It’s Tuesday afternoon in Bochum, Northern Province. Inside a filthy classroom, also used as a staffroom, a teacher is typing a document on an old typewriter. Goats roam the schoolyard, while pupils watch a passing cart through the broken windows of an overcrowded classroom. This is Sekgoni High School in Diepsloot. […]

John Matshikiza WITH THE LID OFF ‘Who steals my purse steals trash,” says Iago to Othello: “’tis something, nothing; ’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands: but he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed.” Theft takes all sorts […]