It seemed like the bad old days were back in the Free State this week when a white man was fined for beating a worker, writes Ann Eveleth A 38-year-old Free State farmer grinned in the Welkom Regional Court last Friday as he paid a R3 000 fine for beating and chaining a shepherd to […]

FRIDAY 10.30AM: The South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) says South Africa’s growth, employment and redistribution (Gear) economic strategy is protecting the country’s economy from the harsh international evaluations other emerging economies are suffering. Releasing Sacob’s business confidence index on Thursday for October — which remained unchanged from the previous month — economic policy director […]

Gustav Thiel Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi’s plans to tie the entire police force into performance contracts could be throttled by a lack of funds. The plans, which Mufamadi unveiled in February, were vaunted as a key step toward lifting police performance – rewarding the good and punishing slackers – in a strategy designed […]

Steve Morris : Rugby As expected, Louis Luyt has shaken off the hands which would grasp the tiller of South African rugby administration and confirmed himself as the kingpin of the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) by retaining his presidency. He did so in his accustomed imperious manner, ridding himself in the process of […]

Ann Eveleth The head of security at the SABC has dumped one of the broadcaster’s top private security firms after it blew the whistle on him. An internal SABC probe found that its protection services manager, Chris Solomon, had discussed employment with at least two companies while he negotiated the privatisation of SABC security operations […]

ANIMAL PICKETSANIMAL rights activisits picketed in Johannesburg on Saturday against Environmental minister Pallo Jordan, demanding that he resign for allowing a consignment of 40 baboons to be exported to a controversial French animal experiment laboratory. NOBODY NOTICES DIAZ The weekend marked the 500th anniversary of the event that launched the colonial age in Africa — […]

Marion Edmunds The Cape justice system was in the dock in Parliament this week when the province’s portly attorney general, Frank Kahn, was forced to acknowledge his impotence in the face of escalating gangsterism and crime. Angry Cape Flats residents filled the benches on one side of the old senate chamber, across the aisle from […]

V Roger Prabasarkar : Cricket Despite two wonderful victories against Pakistan and the West Indies on Monday and Tuesday, South Africa still had not made certain of a place in the final of the quadrangular one-day tournament, Hansie Cronje’s assertion to the contrary at the post-match prize giving function notwithstanding. With so many accidents befalling […]

Melvyn Minnaar : Potable pleasures Despite a multitude of folkloric fixes and other frivolities – or the remedies mothers-in-law dictate over the phone when the baby needs to be fed at dawn – there is no instant cure for the hangover. If you haven’t taken enough Essentiales or Prohep (that means a handful) the night […]

Andrew Tylecote The developing countries of East Asia, led by China, have been the locomotive of the world economy this decade. An enormous inflow of capital has allowed them to run large current account deficits. This has done a great deal to boost demand in the West. Any such capital inflow depends on confidence that […]