In a world of restless and edgy markets, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel managed to project a reassuring image of amiable calm during the delivery of his budget speech that shows, at the very least, that he has become a consummate salesman. Despite the innate conservatism of the budget, the gradual swing towards more investment […]

The community of a mine was the environment for one of the SABC’s most memorable dramas ever, but it’s unlikely The Villagers will provide any reference point – bar its common setting – for the SABC3’s new homegrown, four-day weekly soap. The as-yet unnamed serial, which is pinned for the 6.30pm slot Mondays to Thursdays, […]

Suzy Bell: In your ear It’s hard not to be impressed with East Coast Radio’s Newswatch team what with the catchy effervescence of the station’s news manager, Mary Papayya. When the station went commercial in May last year, Papayya was snapped up from the SABC where she served as an executive producer at Radio Lotus. […]

Philippa Garson Thanks to technological innovation, distance education is now the most viable way of extending the reach of education to the country’s forgotten corners – and people. Ambitious initiatives like the Technology Enhanced Learning Initiative in Southern Africa (Telisa) and the SABC’s educational broadcasting venture may be the saving grace for a government thus […]

Obituary Taffy and David Adler Ray Harmel (n,e Adler), veteran anti-apartheid activist and a member of the South African Communist Party, the Garment Workers Union and the African National Congress died in London on March 11 at the age of 91. Known for her tenacious, unswerving and principled support for worker and human rights, she […]

SABC3’s ratings have never been better. It has spent the last year or so fighting with M-Net for viewers -and now it has a narrow lead. But that doesn’t mean the war is over:the battle for the upper end of the market continues, and that’s good news for South African television viewers as each station […]

Stefaans Br?mmer and Lynda Gledhill Uncertainty surrounds the authenticity of two faxes that Ziggy Visser, husband of Virodene inventor Olga Visser, says he sent to the African National Congress in December which “proved” shares had not been earmarked for the party. This is one of the unresolved issues to be investigated by Public Protector Selby […]

Trevor Manuel’s budget held few surprises, writes Belinda Beresford Forget the call to restore flogging and other old-fashioned punishments for crimes. Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has a similar frontier penalty in mind for tax-dodgers – public shaming. Where once South Africans could keep an eye on their friends, neighbours and enemies via the gossip […]

Robert McBride was allegedly investigating the highway heists when he was arrested in Mozambique this week. Wally Mbhele and Stefaans Br?mmer report Robert McBride, who was arrested in Mozambique this week for alleged gunrunning, was apparently on a special undercover mission to investigate supply routes feeding the highway heists. Senior African National Congress and government […]

Sharon Hammond The mangled skeleton of a young woman who died 1 500 years ago could settle a 20-year argument about when the practice of bartering cattle for women first started in southern Africa. The woman’s remains were discovered outside Nelspruit, in Mpumalanga, after bulldozers excavating a site for the Lowveld’s first large-scale shopping mall […]