THE Austrian National Bank said this week it had sold 30 tonnes of gold, ending intense market speculation about who was behind sales that came to light in European Central Bank figures on Wednesday. Rudolf Trink, head of the Austrian National Bank’s Treasury Department, said the sales brought to 60 tonnes the amount recently sold […]
THE depreciation of the South African Rand should not be seen in isolation to developments in other financial markets, says Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. The volatility of the local currency was “not a uniquely South African phenomenon”, he told journalists in Cape Town. Recent uncertainty in other developing economies, such as Turkey and Argentina, and […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Saturday SOUTH Africa and Mozambique signed an agreement on Friday to build a pipeline to bring natural gas to South Africa from fields in southern Mozambique, Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin announced. Construction of the 895km pipeline, at an estimated cost of R4.8bn will start later this year, he told […]
MARIAM ISA, Johannesburg | Friday THE weakening rand, and associated inflation concerns, have ended the prospect of a cut in South African interest rates this year – and they might even have to rise, say analysts. Domestic money markets are now pricing in unchanged rates for the rest of the year after recent increases in […]
REBELS in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have withdrawn a monopoly on exports of coltan, an expensive mineral used in the fabrication of high-tech products, granted to a sole mining firm. An official in the Rwandan-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), who asked not to be named, said that the Great Lakes Mining Company […]
Producers of the James Bond movies believe that the Oscar-winning star of Gladiator would appeal to both men and women as the suave secret agent.
Robert Kirby LOOSE CANNON Using the African National Congress website as his medium, President Thabo Mbeki recently published some impressions of South Africa he acquired from a visiting Martian lady. He revealed these in a melancholy Letter from the President headed “Clamour over Zimbabwe reveals continuing racial prejudice in SA”. While Mbeki was giving his […]
Bruce Whitfield Specialised Outsourcing could lose its biggest client and have to pay more than half its cash to Umgeni Water, which is claiming there were gross irregularities at the time the original contract was awarded. An internal investigation at Umgeni Water has found evidence of bribery in the award- ing of the contract in […]
Market commentator, stockbroker and MD of SG Securities David Shapiro spoke to us about art and Arsenal, among other things Katy Chance How would you describe your management style? Relaxed and laid back. I think one has to lead from the front, particularly in broking. You have to be fully aware of the markets and […]
Brian Vel A New National Party permanent delegate to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is being investigated for drawing two salaries from the government. Johannes Horne (55) is both a senator and a postman in the employ of the South African Post Office in Carnarvon, Northern Cape. It appears that Horne did not inform […]
Corporatisation and privatisation are the key features of the Greater Johannesburg Council’s iGoli 2003 plan that was introduced two years ago. This new approach entails outsourcing the provision of water and sanitation, waste management and electricity to private companies. The council claims that this new approach will result in efficient and speedy delivery of services […]
Peter Robinson cricket In many respects Daryll Cullinan is living proof of cricket’s enduring ability to incorporate difficult buggers into a team context. Try as you might, you’d be hard-pressed to get even his closest friends to describe him as easy-going or happy-go-lucky. He’s a prickly man. He harbours grudges and perceived slights. He can […]
David Beresford another country At first sight it might be mistaken for a photograph of a fossil, a mollusc perhaps, chipped out of the white cliffs of Dover. Then the mind begins totting up the information digested by the eye; it is the black of odoriferous mud, not the white of long-dead chalk; the “spine” […]
Fiona Macleod South African National Parks (SANParks) this week guaranteed that mothers and calves among 21 white rhinos it is selling from the Kruger National Park will not be separated. The organisation says it will stipulate that buyers of the rhinos do not separate mothers and calves until the youngsters are fully weaned and independent. […]
David Le Page Body Language So Katie Roiphe (“Back to the chase”, March 30 to April 5) wants to be pursued, does she? Hold me down. Actually, I did try unsuccessfully to find an image of Roiphe or her body on the Internet, wondering if the image might strike feverish notions into whatever primeval parts […]
We publish in this edition crime statistics of which the government would prefer that the rest of us remain ignorant. We also provide a further revelation about the R43-billion arms deal, centred again on the extraordinary ability of one or more Shaik brother to profit from arms contracts. We do so primarily because publication of […]
Nawaal Deane Five years ago a senior accountant at the Department of Transport in Bisho was arrested and charged with attempting to defraud the department of close to R1-million. Not only is the accountant, Nomathansanqa Sokutu, still employed in the department but no disciplinary action has been taken against her. In June 1996 Sokutu, a […]
Neal Collins soccer Shaun Bartlett is a wanted man. His second-half wonder goal for Charlton Athletic on Sunday, scored after the Capetonian had made the first goal for Andy Todd in a 2-0 win over lacklustre Leicester, has got boss Alan Curbishley scrambling for his chequebook. The 28-year-old Bafana Bafana striker, with 46 caps and […]
Marianne Merten ‘I’m hoping one day to be a chess grandmaster. That’s my goal,” smiles Craig Willenberg (14), who is South African and Western Province chess champion in his age group. Craig and his older brother Kenny have grown up in crime-ridden Belhar and for the two, chess is not a sport but a passion. […]
Margaret Legum a second look It is surely time for South Africa to “take its future in its own hands” in the words of the heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank during their African visit this month. But in very different ways from those they suggest. We need a new […]
Marianne Merten Soldiers and police are patrolling Heideveld on the Cape Flats where schools closed on Monday because of gang violence. Security guards were posted at the schools when teaching resumed on Tuesday, but attendance remained down. Threats of revenge were made after three gangsters, including the leader of the local Americans gang, Mogamat “Gamie” […]
Graham Welch Investec is discontinuing all Fedsure sports sponsorship programmes, including the high-profile naming rights deals Fedsure has with the Fedsure Stormers, Western Province Rugby and Fedsure Park Newlands. Investec, which recently acquired Fedsure for R4,5-billion, also refused to renew Fedsure’s backing of Gauteng Youth Cricket when the R3,2-million contract came up for renewal at […]
Belinda Anderson South African shareholders should certainly be putting their hands together for the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) securities exchange in its tie-up with the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The deal will give local investors access to some LSE stocks, while some of the most liquid JSE counters will appear on the trading screens of […]
Heart trouble might make the jockey whose story was immortalised in the film Champions miss his first Grand National since 1971 Graham Rock The most famous jockey to win the Grand National is confined to his home following a heart attack and might not attend Aintree on Saturday, for the first time in 30 years. […]
whipping boy Not without reason, horse racing has had its critics of late. But this weekend’s programme fairly sparkles with quality. The Met and July winners of last year clash at Turffontein in Jo’burg on Saturday, and this year’s Cape Guineas and Derby victors meet at Kenilworth in Cape Town on Sunday. Scottsville in Pietermaritzburg, […]
Steven Friedman ‘You should call it,” my colleague suggested, “when every day is not our day.” We were seated on an SAA plane on the runway at Heathrow, where we were to wait for an hour because the flight arrived late and our parking bay had been given away. The pilot had just observed that […]
Barbara Ludman CD OFTHEWEEK La Bohme: Noir the black Bohme was greeted with acclaim from all quarters when it opened in Cape Town at the end of 1997. Librettist Hal Shaper had shifted the action from 1830s Paris to 1976 Soweto, setting an English text replete with South African references to Puccini’s glorious music. The […]
Pule waga Mabe Competition between the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) and the South African Students’ Congress (Sasco) for membership has been cited as one of the major reasons for political apathy among South Africa’s youth. Both organisations held their national congresses in Bloemfontein this week and both had discussions on political apathy on […]
Glenda Daniels Soweto residents are planning a case against Eskom and the government in the Constitutional Court as tension reaches boiling point over large-scale electricity disconnections. This week Eskom launched more aggressive cut-offs, fuelling the crisis in one of South Africa’s biggest and poorest townships. On Thursday resi-dents held a mass meeting in Soweto to […]
Ntuthuko Maphumulo hockey South African hockey is set to bounce back from the disappointments of last year when the men’s senior side did not go to the Sydney Olympics with a feast of national and international competition this year and next. South African Hockey Association (Saha) president Charles Smith denied that a lack of players […]
Jeremy Baskin Fine art A large tapestry in three panels by Marlene Dumas was recently donated by the Dutch government to the Constitutional Court. It was a gift rich with symbolism, weaving modern Holland with post-apartheid South Africa. The highly acclaimed Dumas has a foot planted in both countries. She was born and raised in […]
John Young cricket Cricket and cricketers love tradition. We’ve seen it all around the West Indies in the grandstands named for the greats. Tradition gives the game another dimension but it’s also been used as a cloak for prejudice. The guest of honour at the second Test in Port of Spain was Andy Ganteuame who […]