Staff Reporter

Howard Barrell Vusi Mavimbela’s propulsion into the top post at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA)is a further attempt by President Thabo Mbeki to give the intelligence community some much-needed coherence and to put it where he wants it: near the centre of the policy-making process. The appointment of Mavimbela, Mbeki’s former special adviser on intelligence, […]

economic wave Local businesses could find themselves at a disadvantage internationally as they fail to recognise global trends, writes Reg Rumney after an interview with bestselling author Alvin Toffler After becoming a household name three decades ago, futurist and best-selling author Alvin Toffler still keeps up with events in the global marketplace. But an interview […]

Barbara Ludman DEAD BEFORE DYING by Deon Meyer (Coronet) THE NO 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY by Alexander McCall Smith (David Philip) Time was if you were looking for a local thriller you’d be out of luck. South Africans were writing fine novels but they weren’t turning out the workaday adventures you wanted to curl up […]

PIETER Strydom’s hard hitting century led Border to a respectable total of 324 for six wickets at the close of play on the first day of their SuperSport Series match against Griqualand West at Buffalo Park on Thursday. Strydom’s innings was split into two distinctive halves with the first 50 being a quietly composed affair […]

Anthony Egan THE SPILLING OF BLOOD by Thabo Shenge Luthuli (Gariep) GODS OF OUR TIME by Mongane Wally Serote (Ravan) These two novels have in common the experience of being soldiers in Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) as a theme. Beyond that they are poles apart: one might be seen as primarily a political thriller, the […]

Barry Streek The Department of Finance has rejected tax reforms proposed by the Katz commission which could have been a lifeline to the financially troubled non-profit sector, despite support from political parties and the Department of Welfare. The Katz proposals have been supported by a wide range of non-profit organisations (NPOs) and the influential South […]

Julie Burchill BODY LANGUAGE I still remember the day I first read the amazing quote by that society broad who turns down a suitor with the words, “No, darling, I only sleep with the first 11.” I remember running to my friend, Viking Ann, to ask her with a tremulous voice, “I only slept with […]

Just back from Sweden, Howard Barrell reviews the role that the government and the solidarity movement played in the anti- apartheid struggle Ronnie Kasrils needed a haircut. This was Harare in the mid-1980s, a time of close shaves for Kasrils and other operational chiefs in the African National Congress. So someone needed to keep watch […]

Andy Capostagno in London Rugby World Cup The munching noise is the sound of humble pie being consumed in vast quantities. Not only did South Africa not lose to England in the World Cup quarter-finals, they brushed aside the strongest of the northern hemisphere competitors with something approaching disdain. If Nick Mallett could tap into […]

>From New York to Darling, Pieter-Dirk Uys has been riding high on people’s fears. Andr Wiesner reports ‘Who’s writing all this crap? Is it me?” asks Pieter-Dirk Uys, in exasperation at South Africa’s absurdities. An apartheid- era Cabinet minister, for instance, is reinvented as a titan of the struggle; or a former South African Police […]

Ebrahim Harvey gives a left view of the ANC-led government’s policies and programmes Many among the left outside of the African National Congress-led alliance are prone to attacking and dismissing the ANC-led government as nothing more than bourgeois, reactionary and so on. In so doing, they fail to place the ANC, the changes that have […]

A proposal to ease restrictions on the sale of South Africa’s rhino and elephant products is likely to top the list submitted to Cites, writes Fiona Macleod A South African proposal to lift restrictions on the sale of rhino products could be met with heated opposition from international environmental bodies. The country is also proposing […]

Civil wars, civilian bloodshed and Western inaction – these are the hallmarks of a 21st-century conflict, write Richard Norton-Taylor and Owen Bowcott There is a deadly new pattern to the world’s armed struggles, in which civil wars are escalating into regional conflicts while the international community is increasingly reluctant to intervene, according to a military […]

Channel vision Three local programmes this week, two of which demonstrate how excellent is the standard often being achieved and one, a feeble copy of an already bleary import. Eugene Paramoer’s half-hour Boss of the Road was as fine a television discourse as you’ll find anywhere: a totally unsentimental look into the vicious warfare of […]

Reg Rumney and Janet Wilhelm offer tips gleaned from research for their book, Movers &Shakers: An A-Z of South African Business People What makes a “captain of industry”? Our encounters with the top people in business suggest that touching 2m tall would help. The heads of our major corporations often tower over lesser mortals, like […]

Economists say the recent spate of liquidations are a sign that an 18-month recession is over. Donna Block and Mungo Soggot report The gold price has slumped below $300 again, there is a spate of liquidations and world markets are jittery – but economists remain bullish about South Africa’s growth prospects next year. The liquidations, […]

Mirjam Asmal takes umbrage at Brenda Atkinson’s review of towards-transit: new visual languages in South Africa, a recent exhibition in Zurich Out of anxiety for aesthetic, political or cultural ghettoisation, South African art critics seem to escape into shouting “colonial misappropriation”, “voyeurism” or “European gaze” instead of facing the challenge of an international art discourse. […]

Shaun Harris South Africans’ relatively new, partial freedom to invest offshore has been warmly welcomed this year, providing a growing flow of business for financial consultants and global unit trust management companies. Increased investor knowledge and sophistication here now closely follow the wisdom that a long-term, low-risk portfolio must be well diversified, and that means […]

>From Paul Simon’s Graceland to the Rugby World Cup, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has brought traditional a cappella to the rest of the world, writes Lucy O’Brien ‘You can buy the biggest house in America, but it’s not home. Where the mother lives – that is home,” says Joseph Shabalala, leader of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. He […]

finals? Andy Capostagno in London Rugby World Cup Francois Pienaar and Nick Farr Jones were very insistent. “Don’t write off France,” they said. “They may be a shambles at the moment, but they have a habit of getting it right when it matters.” They didn’t say that this week, they said it three months ago […]

Cameron Duodu LETTER FROM THE NORTH There is a hidden agenda behind the defiant decision of the governor of Zamfara state, in northern Nigeria, Ahmad Sani, to introduce Sharia law into his state with effect from October 27. Nigeria is split almost equally between Muslims and Christians, and to have laws based on one religion […]

Thirty years ago the world as we know it changed. Simon Jeffery looks at the communication revolution that became the Internet 1958: Dwight D Eisenhower creates the Advanced Research Projects Agency (Arpa) to further American military science after the Soviet Union launches Sputnik. 1962: Arpa works on computer technology. Head scientist Dr JCR Licklider sees […]

Getting pay-outs from the Unemployment Insurance Fund has become a nightmare for many women, writes Khadija Magardie South Africa has legislation that ensures relative job security to women whose work is temporarily or permanently interrupted by motherhood. This is extended to cover not only childbirth, but cases of miscarriage, stillbirth and even adoption. According to […]

CL Dallat ‘TIS by Frank McCourt (Flamingo) As 19-year-old Frank McCourt embarks for America to escape the poverty and gloom of another damp Limerick winter and the degradations of Irish patriotism and drink, it is unclear whether the ship will dock in Montreal or New York. Eventually orders are received to proceed to Albany – […]

Howard Barrell OVER A BARREL Greater numbers have never guaranteed greater quality. Four hundred MPs are as likely to include 201 fools as they are a majority of sensible individuals. Likewise, if we have a cabal of, say, 20 people making all our important national decisions, they are as likely as 400 MPs to be […]

Ann Eveleth and Aaron Nicodemus Roelf de Waal lived his life to the full, revelling in dare-devil sports such as hang-gliding and flying, and keeping active as a competitive cyclist, horse-riding teacher and falconer. These days, De Waal (49) spends his mornings navigating the stairway of his Pretoria home with the help of a walking […]

Neil Manthorp Cricket Sometime in the mid-1980s Malta’s football team manager said, after a 9-0 reverse against Italy in a European Championship qualifier, “We need to work on our defence a bit, but there were some good things …” With the same delicious sense of understatement, Zimbabwe’s embattled cricket captain Alistair Campbell admitted a few […]

Timor conflict As tension in East Timor remains high, South Africa is set to get involved in the conflict in the former Indonesian colony, write Paul Kirk and Ivor Powell Within days a team of 40 South African bodyguards will set off for the East Timorese capital of Dili – their mission: to protect Jos […]

Alan Henry Grand Prix World championship leader Eddie Irvine this week turned up the psychological pressure on his rival for the drivers’ title, Mika Hakkinen, effectively warning the Finn not to try any dirty tricks in the deciding Japanese grand prix at Suzuka on Sunday. Just days after Irvine’s Malaysian grand prix victory was restored […]

Alex Dodd spoke to Wayne Barker and Susan Glanville about how to get artists to speak for themselves “Sorry I couldn’t get back to you sooner, but we’ve had two babies in the last 24 hours”, breathes Susan Glanville down the phone, sounding frayed and mysterious like Judy Davis in Woody Allen’s Celebrity. Editor Christine […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Bloemfontein | Friday 1.45pm SOUTH Africa are in a strong position as Zimbabwe lost three wickets for 47 runs before lunch on the opening day of the historic first Test Bloemfontein on Friday. Hansie Cronje won the toos and sent the visitors in to bat on a pitch that looked bouncy and lively. […]

Paul Kirk On Monday, the Department of Justice declined to prosecute street trader Goodman Msomi on a string of criminal charges, which were laid when he attempted to uphold the law. Msomi is no ordinary street trader – he is a founding father of Traders against Crime, a group that has helped to stop the […]