OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 4.00pm. THE rand lost some of its earlier ground gained on Friday, and despite a stronger euro weakened to R7,16 by late afternoon trade. At the same time markets did an about-turn on Thursday’s gains. By 11am the currency was trading at R7,13 to the dollar, off the back of […]
Former President Nelson Mandela says a landmark draft agreement has been worked out between rebels and the government that could finally end the long-running Burundi civil war.
The government’s legislation is a minefield of jargon, acronyms and bureaucracy Glenda Daniels If you are familiar with the SDA, SDLA, SAQA, ETQA, ETDP, Seta, NSF, NSA, and there’s more, you’re probably the only person in South Africa who is. Within companies confusion reigns over the implementation of the government’s bureaucratically heavy legislative plans for […]
Barry Streek New steps to reduce legal costs through the employment of public defenders and the establishment of “justice centres” – seven to 10 will be started this financial year – have been disclosed by Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Penuell Maduna. He said “a completely new approach to legal aid” will be implemented […]
Harry Pearson Anyone who has spent time on the internet will know that it is not so much an information superhighway as a trivia megapub. You enter the cyberzone bright and early one morning. Your express intention is to garner hard facts about drug abuse in weightlifting. Instead you find yourself distracted by the information […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 1.20pm. THE rand continued strengthening of Thursday’s low of R7,20 to the dollar in morning trade, due to a stronger euro overnight. At the same time markets did an about-turn on Thursday’s gains. By 11am the currency was trading at R7,13 to the dollar. The overall was 0,47% or 33 […]
Jad Adams BODY LANGUAGE How much of a sexual revolution did we really see in the past century? Romance, monogamy, family and coupling are in the 21st century, as they were in the 19th century, still central to Western culture. Far from sexual freedom breaking the family, one of the most important sex reforms still […]
Questions have arisen over the involvement of two companies – African Defence Systems and Futuristic Business Solutions – in South Africa’s jobs for arms deals Ivor Powell Companies with close links to the head of the military’s weapons procurement committee have been awarded the lion’s share of local contracts in South Africa’s controversial R32-billion weapons […]
Khadija Magardie A new initiative, spearheaded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and various Aids advocacy bodies, has been established to monitor potential human rights violations in clinical trials for HIV/Aids vaccines. The project is entitled South African human rights and community mobilisation intervention for HIV/Aids vaccine development and clinical trials, and is funded by […]
NIGERIAN international Jay Jay Okocha said on Thursday that the present national team is good enough to qualify for the 2002 World Cup despite complaints that the squad is old and needs new players. “I wonder why people say we are too old. I don’t believe that. We’re very strong and still in good shape […]
In an article entitled “‘Rock Bottom’ Morale at Wits”, the Mail & Guardian turns its attention to the question of restructuring at the university. The entire tertiary sector is currently grappling with this issue and we welcome attempts to promote awareness about and debate on this crucial topic. In order to take the debate forward, […]
Illicit affairs, crimes of passion and political intrigue combine in Love Stories, a new series on SABC3 Lesley Cowling Love has very little part in the cultural stereotype of what we are as a nation. South Africans are hardly considered the great romantics of the world – after all, we’re driven by political rather than […]
Weak administration, leadership and service have been cited among the reasons for the party’s decline Howard Barrell and Jaspreet Kindra The South African Communist Party goes into its strategy conference this weekend having lost as many as four out of five of the members it recruited after being unbanned in 1990. The party currently has […]
David Le Page Economists are never short of detractors, and the latter have jeered loudly this week following the release of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures for the first quarter of 2000. The derision follows the huge disparity between the predictions of most economists, who were expecting growth of between 2,5% and 3%, and the […]
TENNIS legend Martina Navratilova made her return to top-flight tennis on Tuesday in the Madrid Open, winning her return to doubles with South Africa’s Mariaan De Swardt. Saying she felt like a juggler and that her return was “very iffy,” Navratilova, in her first tournament match in six years struggled with her ball toss and […]
Charles David Beresford ANOTHER COUNTRY Prince Charles and I were born in the same year. Which is why I nurse a vague sense of identity with him. At least I remember feeling vaguely cheated as a child at hearing he had received a boy-sized, petrol-driven car which really drove for his birthday, while I had […]
Luvuyo Kakaza When the African drum telegraphed a mystic rhythm in the Market Theatre’s foyer on May 21, it was time to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the annual FNB/Vita Market Theatre Laboratory Community Festival. The two-week long festival gives a platform to over 30 community-theatre groups from across Southern Africa. At the official opening […]
Justin Pearce Ethiopia’s breakthrough into Eritrean territory two weeks ago ended a lengthy stalemate between two once-friendly neighbours, who had first gone to war almost exactly two years earlier. In May 1998 Eritrea moved its troops into several areas of disputed territory which had up to then been under Ethiopian administration. Heavy fighting, at the […]
LONDON Wasps fly-half Alex King has withdrawn from next month’s tour of South Africa, England coach Clive Woodward confirmed on Thursday. King, Jonny Wilkinson’s fly-half back-up, has been ruled out of England’s 40-man squad due to a shoulder injury. “Alex has told me he won’t be available for the tour, and I am very disappointed […]
Dale McKinley CROSSFIRE For the past several years there has been a tendency among those on the left of the political spectrum (both domestically and internationally) to take a generally cautious approach when it comes to critically analysing the South African workers’ movement. However, the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu) recent job-loss campaign […]
Shaun de Waal CD OFTHEWEEK On his latest release, blues master Taj Mahal follows in the footsteps of his compadre Ry Cooder, with whom he founded The Rising Sons in the Sixties. In 1993, Cooder made Talking Timbuktu with Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure, weaving blues motifs into a set of Toure’s songs, and coming […]
trial Heather Hogan The trial of Wouter Basson, which began last year, has proved the most sensational showcase of apartheid-era atrocities in South African legal history. The court has heard evidence of, among other things, how: l In 1989, Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) member Abram “Slang” van Zyl received a monkey foetus from Staal Burger, […]
JOHNNIC, the media, entertainment and telecommunications company, said on Friday it will apply for the second fixed-line telecommunications licence. Telkom’s monopoly of the fixed-line market is due to expire at the latest 2003. It is anticipated that Johnnic will look to team up with the telecommunications divisions of Transnet and Telkom to secure the bid. […]
Marianne Merten Western Cape MEC for Education Helen Zille practises her Xhosa speech en route to open a computer room in Khayelitsha township. A last-minute call to a language teacher clarifies pronun- ciation and grammar as her driver Ishmael Hendricks negotiates the shack-lined roads and barely held together minibus taxis. Intlanganiso Senior Secondary School – […]
Barry Streek The government has underspent on its land reform and land restitution budgets by a whopping R1,4-billion over the past four financial years. This disclosure – given by Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko Didiza in Parliament this week – comes amid widespread concern that the government has been too conservative in applying […]
Barry Streek Former homeland leader Prince James Mahlangu, appointed to a senior government post in Mpumalanga after defecting back to the African National Congress from the United Democratic Movement last month, handed the UDM a medical certificate on his departure stating he had brain damage. Mahlangu, a former ANC MP who joined the UDM last […]
DEON POTGIETER, Johannesburg | Friday 2.15pm THREE local fighters will be in action in Denmark on Friday night when Xolani Ndleleni, the national junior bantamweight champion, challenges Jesper Jensen for the IBC junior bantamweight world title. Jensen has previously beaten two South African fighters on his home ground, but may find Ndeleni a different kettle […]
Robert Kirby CHANNELVISION It would seem that the recent and rather bizarre practice of apologising for historical wrongs is still on the increase. And flatly refusing to apologise for past sins has become almost as fashionable. People have realised that beating their breasts and slobbering on about what wrongs were committed before they were born […]
Neal Collins The oldest cricket fixture on the Lord’s calendar got under way on Thursday with a definite South African flavour. A glance through the list of Harrow players to play Eton in the 163rd clash between England’s two major private schools reveals two interesting names: NRD Compton and K Motaung. Sound familiar? They should […]
Cameron Duodu LETTER FROM THE NORTH To anyone who takes even a rudimentary interest in African history, the name Asante stands out as one of the most valiant of the nations that attempted to halt the incursions of the European powers in the 18th and 19th centuries. In fact, it was not until 1874 that […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 2.50pm. THE price of gold plunged to the lowest level since last September on Friday as gloomy sentiment surrounding the precious metal was deepened by the global trend towards higher interest rates. Early on Friday, the spot price of gold fell to $270,05 an ounce, the lowest level since September […]
And now Ethiopia and Eritrea are speaking the same language, writes Justin Pearce It began as a border dispute. But in the past two weeks, the Ethiopian army has swept through western Eritrea establishing effective control over almost a quarter of the country, before Eritrea agreed on Wednesday night to withdraw from the disputed territories […]