Mungo Soggot THE African National Congress is hiring out its Cabinet ministers as guest speakers and MCs in a drive to swell the party’s coffers. Among the ministers available for such lucrative engagements are Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel and his colleague Minister of Trade and Industry Alec Erwin. Both are highly prized as guests […]

SOCCER:Andrew Muchineripi AS Manning Rangers bask in the glory of winning the inaugural Castle Premiership soccer championship, several key figures within the squad have continually created headlines. Coach Gordon Igesund has received due praise for moulding a team of virtual nonentities into one good enough to finish eight points clear of Kaizer Chiefs and 10 […]

Anne Eveleth DYNAMO Investments Chairman Oscar Dhlomo says he promised full editorial independence to staff at City Press – South Africa’s largest black weekly – before a consortium led by his company bought a controlling share of the newspaper from Naspers. The R110-million sale of 51% of the paper – to Dynamo, Ukhozi Investments and […]

account Marion Edmunds CONFUSION and administrative chaos have bedevilled the National Council of Provinces, the body which replaced the senate in February. The politicians and technocrats who dreamed the council up at constitutional negotiations have been trying to breathe life into it. In a bold move this week, the Cabinet endorsed an ambitious plan to […]

Stephen Gray attended the clannish celebration of writer, doctor and cook Louis Leipoldt in the Cedarberg area. On a warm winter West Coast long weekend … over an old Republic Day … ‘ Twas nostalgia all the way … the village churchbells chimed and rimed. Season to commemorate the folk poet with the jug ears […]

DOWN THE TUBE BOUNCING between programmes on Sunday night, the best viewing night of the week by far, one was stuck once again in that awful TV clash between Carte Blanche and 50/50. This time 50/50 won, because of a brilliant BBC/ABC programme on the crazy attitudes humans have to animals. There they all were […]

Sarah Boseley SUPERMODEL Naomi Campbell was recovering in the Canary Islands this week after reports of a suspected drug overdose, said to have been taken following a row with her lover, the flamenco dancer Joaquin Cortes. The reports were vigorously denied by a spokesman for Campbell. He claimed she had suffered an allergic reaction to […]

Gustav Thiel speaks to the psychiatrist accused of electrocuting gay soldiers T HE psychiatrist accused this week of using electric shocks to reprogramme gay soldiers has bitten back, claiming he only used drugs and a “battery-operated device” on his patients. Speaking from Canada, Dr Aubrey Levine said he flashed pornographic pictures in front of the […]

Criticism that SA’s bid is not African enough lies behind the latest row, write Julian Drew and Stefaans Brmmer THE furore around Cape Town Olympic bid chief Chris Ball’s “nepotism” and autocratic style was sparked by outside criticism that the bid is not African enough. Intervention last week by a Cabinet sub- committee, and a […]

Mungo Soggot THE suspended chief executive officer of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) miscalculated the organisation’s budget by nearly R6-million, forcing the IBA to close the door on its spendthrift ways. Harris Gxaweni, who was suspended last month amid mismanagement allegations, told the IBA’s council earlier this year that there was still R2-million left in […]