The British Broadcasting Corporation’s coverage of Diana, Princess of Wales’s death was the longest session of live coverage in its history, reports Peta Thornycroft When the telephone rang at 12.45am, Peter Knowles was very deeply asleep. Semi- comatose, he thought he was still on his week’s holiday in Newcastle. Only after he had opened his […]

FRIDAY, 5.00PM ZIMBABWE’S Supreme Court delivered a stunning blow to President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu(PF) party today, by preventing the party from taking an entire state subsidy intended to encourage multi-party democracy. For the past five years, the Zanu(PF) dominated parliament has voted a sum of Z$225-million (about R94 million) to itself, on the grounds […]

High interest rates will not protect the rand long term, writes Charles Millward In his governor’s address in 1995, Chris Stals referred to certain economists who were calling for a substantial devaluation of the rand; such a devaluation would be, he said, no more than a panacea given that South Africa’s problems of competitiveness were […]

Marion Edmunds Government intelligence services are investigating reports that South African- produced weapons have been recovered on both sides of the conflict in Sudan. The National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) – the committee that regulates South African arms exports – denied this week that the government had authorised arms sales to the Sudanese government. […]

Ferial Haffajee South Africa’s biggest non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have launched a campaign to push for the restructuring of apartheid debt. Led by the NGO Coalition, they want to egg government on to make changes to debt payments to free up revenue for development. “There is real anxiety about the reconstruction and development programme among NGOs,” […]

Gwen Ansell A father who banned you from playing, and a childhood accident that lopped off the tips of a couple of fingers don’t sound like a promising start for a jazz musician. Bheki Mseleku in tomorrow’s (Saturday, September 6) final Joy of Jazz concert at the Pretoria State Theatre proves how remarkably you can […]

The energy ministry proposes to stop exports to boost local employment, writes Mungo Soggot The Minister of Minerals and Energy, Penuell Maduna, wants to cut or stop altogether the export of diamonds from South Africa – a strategy that would severely threaten the survival of the De Beers diamond cartel. The minister’s special adviser on […]

FRIDAY, 3.30PM SEPARATISTS on the Comoro island of Anjouan have put up such fierce resistance to government troops that the OAU has urged the government to withdraw. OAU special envoy Pierre Uere has urged the government to pull out its 300 troops after at least 30 were killed in an aborted invasion attempt that began […]

The Angella Johnson Interview Dingaan Thobela, two times boxing world champion and all-round Mr Nice Guy, has a rather unusual day job. When he’s not in the ring trying to knock people out, he’s putting them in the ground. The world-famous Rose of Soweto moonlights as a funeral director. Not that you’d think, looking at […]

Cape Talk is more than 702-speak, says the programme manager in an interview with Hazel Friedman Radio 702 – South Africa’s most successful commercial broadcaster – has spread its proverbial wings to the land of the mountain, sea and celebritydom in the form of Cape Talk Radio. And spearheading the launch which takes place on […]