We evaluate the peformances of South Africa’s ministers over the past year Keeping score: What the marks mean A –Brilliant. On top of the job, innovative, delivering. Vote yourself a salary increase. B — Very good. Could do better. C — Average. Needs quite a lot of brushing up. D — Mediocre. Not up to […]

As we enter the third millennium, will the heavens open or will some nutter detonate an explosive device next to you? Charl Blignaut grapples with what the year 2000 means At the start of my research for this article, I eagerly typed the word “millennium” into a standard Internet search engine, hoping that it would […]

Neil Manthorp : Cricket The biggest day, the biggest Test. Friday is the start of the first Test at the MCG. Boxing Day in Melbourne, one of the biggest cricket days in the world. Seventy thousand people are expected to watch the start of the rest of Hansie Cronje’s life. Not just Hansie’s. For seven […]

If 1997 will be remembered as the year in which broadcasting ruled media’s roost, then radio can crow loudest. Its revolution came in March when the Independent Broadcasting Authority dished out seven licences to the operators of new commercial radio stations: four in Gauteng, three in the Cape and a more recent licence in Durban. […]

MONDAY, 5.00PM: ANGLO AMERICAN and De Beers announced further restructuring on Monday to make De Beers fully independent of Anglo American management structures, and to concentrate all Anglo-related diamond interests in De Beers. Dealers treated the announcement with some scepticism, saying that the restructuring contained no surprises and had been timed to divert attention from […]

South African music hit some highs and sank to some lows in 1997. Our reviewers do a round-up of the local music scene Maria McCloy Kwaito/D’gong Kwaito/d’gong fans know how to get down and go crazy on dance floors — and there were a few songs that reached national anthem status in clubs and at […]

TUESDAY, 12.30PM Deputy President Thabo Mbeki’s spokesman, Thami Nthentheni, may face culpable homicide and drunken driving charges after a woman died of burns and three others were critically injured in a highway road accident. Nthentheni’s car, a BMW, appears to have struck a Volkswagen Passat in Midrand, between Johannesburg and Pretoria, on Monday night. The […]

HOLIDAY ROAD DEATHS TOP 414 The road death toll since the beginning of Christmas holdiays on December 1 had climbed to 414 by Monday morning, according to Arrive Alive. Although the figure is lower than for the corresponding period last year, it is expected to climb further, with most fatalities expected between Christmas and New […]

MONDAY, 11.30AM: FREE State consolidated their chances of qualifying for the final stages of the Standard Bank Cup when they hammered Boland by five wickets at Paarl on Sunday. Boland won the toss and elected to bat first. They put together 236 for four in their 45 overs. Then the visitors contributed 240 for five […]

MONDAY, 12.30PM: SOUTH African manufactured exports are on a roll, according to the Industrial Development Corporation, as local exporters take advantage of new markets. Latest figures released by the IDC show that manufactured exports rose 22% in the first three quarters of the year, against the same period the previous year. The increase in manufactured […]