Why do we go on forking out for insurance, asks Rich Chanelle from London I give away about R8 000 a year. I don’t give it to good causes or charities. I don’t even give it to people that I like! I give R8 000 away, every year, to tycoons and multicorporations. Why not give […]

Dan Atkinson explains why the diamond continues to sparkle around the world Ask any businessperson to forecast the outlook for a product which last year saw sales dive 20% in the Far East, which meant extensive smuggling and selling on illicit markets around the world and which even saw that product enjoy its own health […]

Barbara Ludman : Moveable feast Police say the rate of serious crime is falling, even if you’re staring a handgun in the face. And maybe they’re right. Who knows? Will tomorrow bring a better job, a retrenchment, a ”right-sizing”? Will the schools see out the year? Will the prosecutors get their overtime pay? Will the […]

THURSDAY, 12.30PM: A TASK team from the National Economic, Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) is on the threshold of finalising a draft social plan agreement to minimise the socio-economic effects of job losses on communities, local economies and the country as a whole. Yet to be finalised, the agreement stipulates a range of measures to […]

THURSDAY, 5.45PM: SHARES bounded forward on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Thursday, building on Wednesday’s record high on the financial index. Dealers said the trade was some of the best since last October. A flood of investor rands into the market signalled a return of confidence in stocks and the economy. All the indices went […]

THURSDAY, 4.15PM: POLITICAL violence between the Kalenjin supporters of Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi and Kikuyu supporters of opposition parties has nearly reached Nakuru, Kenya’s fourth largest town. Fifteen houses belonging to members of the Kikuyu tribe were torched during the night at a farm south-west of Nakuru, Father Stephen Mbugua said, and one person […]

THURSDAY, 12.30PM: ANGLO American and Gold Fields are getting closer to establishing a deal whereby the companies will jointly mine Driefontein gold mine. The deal will nullify conflict that has arisen over control of an asset both groups covet. Sources in the Industry on Wednesday indicated that Gold Fields — the result of a merger […]

IN BRIEF BEER SPAT MAY COST NAM NAMIBIA might have to wait for its 1997 pay-out from the Southern African Customs Union revenue pool after a dispute over a new duty strucuture on beer, pending a meeting of union officials in Pretoria on Wednesday. Namibia’s decision to grant 1997/98 duty rebates to small brewers — […]

WEDNESDAY, 11.30AM THE official inflation rate in December 1997 was an annualised 6,1%, according to the Central Statistical Service, 0,7 percentage points lower than November’s figure. However, the average inflation rate for the whole year was 8,6%, some 1,2 percentage points higher than the 7,4% recorded in 1996 and 0,1 percentage points lower than 1995’s […]

WEDNESDAY, 5.45PM: THE financial index on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange hit a new record high on Wednesday, helping the industrial and all share indices up 2% each. Unfortunately gold sank below the $299 per ounce level, carrying gold shares down more than 2,5%. After rising 290,2 points, the financial index closed at 11 075, beating […]