Neil Manthorp : Cricket South Africa’s coach Bob Woolmer is getting closer and closer to achieving his “dream team”. “If I could I would have all the all-rounders in the one-day side. Why not? Ten bowlers and 11 batsmen able to adapt to different requirements. The more options the better. The more bowling depth the […]

Janet Smith No razzmatazz accompanied SABC1’s repositioning this week, and nobody at the channel would say they’d had the decorators in, but new branding has definitely blown away the old Simunye. Gone are the gaudy retro colours of the studio set as glossy imaging spins onto screen. Gone are the cheesy mimes before and after […]

Ferial Haffajee : Design of the week Kudos this week to the Beyond Awareness Campaign for taking an international symbol and making it local. A community development project called Ilala Weavers in Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal, has taken the international symbol of the fight against Aids – the red ribbon – and recast it as a Zulu […]

Luke Harding Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson’s wife, is expecting the birth of a girl in February, a year after that of their first child, Prince Michael Jackson Jr. The daughter’s name, she said, would contain the names Michael, Paris (where she was conceived), Katherine (Michael Jackson’s mother), and, of course, Jackson. Together with two nannies […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer The match of the year in South Africa takes place at Ellis Park on Sunday evening with Bafana Bafana trying to avoid a third consecutive defeat while Brazil seek their 13th success in a row. Both countries are using the friendly as a final warm-up for the Confederations Cup from December 12 […]

Stefaans Brmmer A United States-based human rights organisation claims that South Africans have been deeply involved in the underground supply of arms and military assistance to warring parties in Burundi. It says senior government and African National Congress officials may have given the “green light” to such transactions, without actively participating. The allegations are contained […]

business Cheche Selepe Aspirant Soweto oil tycoon Nhlanhla Masango is a committed socialist. But despite his political beliefs, he is determined to compete with top companies in South Africa. The 22-year-old recently won the best business plan award and prize money of R15 000 in the Shell-sponsored youth entrepreneurship programme called LiveWire – something like […]

The septuplets born in November brought joy to Iowa, but doctors in Britain are not pleased by the news. Why? Because of fertility drugs, report Chris Mihill and Sarah Boseley The seven little McCaugheys would not have known, but they were making good-news headlines across the world last month: the second-known set of septuplets ever […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi General Bantu Holomisa’s newly formed United Democratic Movement (UDM) this week held an intense meeting with former Transkei ruler Chief Kaizer Mantanzima and his brothers George and Ngangomhlaba in the rural village of Qamata to solicit their support as the party begins its preparations for the 1999 rural elections. The meeting forms part […]

Until the day he died last week, Johannesburg was Dr Hastings Banda’s second African home. Timothy Walker traces his state visit to South Africa during the winter of 1971 Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who died on November 25 at the Garden City Clinic, was no stranger to Johannesburg. He first arrived on the Rand in […]