Staff Reporter

David Le Page First stop on a tour of websites dealing with unit trusts in South Africa must be the Association of Unit Trusts, www. aut.org.za. The association is the industry’s promoter and watchdog, and its website, though not properly kept up to date, is a good introduction to the industry. Its “guided tour” explains […]

Shaun de Waal Movie of the week Jack is a truck driver, accustomed to traversing large swathes of the dusty Australian outback. He’s also the author of a romantic novel, A Bird in the Hand, but he doesn’t want anyone to know that, because “blokes aren’t meant to write them”. He has made use of […]

Mark Atkinson The Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded last week to Canadian-born Professor Robert Mundell whose work on the advantages of common currencies gave birth to the euro. He believes sterling is doomed to extinction and predicts United Kingdom membership of the new currency zone will prove irresistible. In a world of volatile and […]

THANKS to centuries by Gauteng’s elder statesmen, Ken Rutherford and Daryll Cullinan, Gauteng are virtually assured of an outright victory over Eastern Province in their Supersport Series match at the Wanderers this weekend. After EP’s paltry 99 all out on Thursday, the Wanderers pitch lost its venom on Friday as Gauteng rattled up an entertaining […]

It’s still north versus south in this weekend’s World Cup quarter-finals, writes Andy Capostagno The pecking order of world rugby will be decided this weekend in the four quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup and there is a very clear demarcation line to be drawn. If the three teams that contest the Tri- Nations are […]

provincial budgets Barry Streek South Africa’s nine provinces do not come cheap – their legislatures are budgeted to cost taxpayers R346,9-million during the current financial year, with R42,6- million going to the executive councils and R108,4-million to ordinary members. This means that 43,5% of the costs of the provincial legislatures are allocated to salaries of […]

David Moore A SECOND LOOK As we speed our way to the end of this century one might pause to reflect on the part the Congo played at the close of the last one. Then, as now, the globe was becoming integrated financially, productively and culturally at a frenetic pace. Then, as now, the heart […]

PIRATE IRWIN, Paris | Friday 12.00am. WORLD champions South Africa have pinpointed the English player they need to stop if they are to prevail in Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final – former captain Lawrence Dallaglio. Both Springbok number eight Bobby Skinstad and coach Nick Mallett sang his praises during the week admiring his capacity to appear […]

Stephen Friedman WORM’S EYE VIEW Our judiciary has landed in a series of storms – over its work rate, its sensitivity to concern about crime and, after Judge John Foxcroft’s judgment, its attitude to violence against women. So judges are understandably nervous about the future of the courts. Their independence, they say, is under greater […]

Fifteen director generals have left office since June 2, but Khulekani Sitole, correctional services director general, is one who has miraculously escaped the chop. Howard Barrell, Barry Streek and Wally Mbhele report The Cabinet has been responsible for the wholesale clear-out of the top level of the civil service in the five months since the […]

Matthew Simpson I discovered the virtues of the Independent Armchair Theatre one night when a friend and I stumbled out of Stones in the early hours of the evening, looking for somewhere to have another drink. I’d seen it a number of times before but for various reasons had never actually gone inside. But it […]

Now you can field your calls while you field the tennis balls. Julia Hartley- Brewer reports It looks like a chunky digital watch, is not much bigger than a matchbox and weighs only 39g. Its resemblance to a Star Trek transmitter enables the owner to do a convincing impression of Captain Kirk. This is the […]

Khadija Magardie A Cape Town-based advertising firm, Interactive Africa, is suing a rival firm for copyrighting infringement. The rival firm, according to Interactive Africa, copied an advertising campaign idea during a bid for a major potential client. The client, Dutch-based Internet service provider World-online, with its catching slogan “Freedom of Movement”, awarded the contract to […]

The Pet Shop Boys are back, always different, always the same, and permanently in fashion. Michael Bracewell speaks to the pair For a pop duo who had their first number one hit – West End Girls – back in 1985, Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, better known as the Pet Shop Boys, have a knack […]

Shaun Harris The idea is certainly appealing – a luxury yacht, available for your use every year at an international location of your choice, hedged against the rand and returning hard currency earnings and tax benefits. Sounds like much more fun than putting money into a global unit trust fund. That’s the concept behind Sunsail, […]

There is something appropriate about the African National Congress’s decision to endorse Pik Botha for the new board of the SABC. This is the man who sat in a Cabinet that fashioned the SABC into a crude instrument of propaganda for the previous ruling party. Many of the details of the National Party’s corrupt stranglehold […]

Olivia Schaffer Lifestyle Groot Marico, less than three hours north-west of Johannesburg, is the home of the Herman Charles Bosman Literary Society, founded in 1993, of which the legendary Patrick Mynhardt is honorary life president. At least twice a year the local committee members and friends open their doors and extend their hospitality to visitors. […]

FLANKER David Wilson gave Australia a morale-boost on Friday when he passed a fitness test and was confirmed in the Wallaby team to face Wales in the first World Cup quarter-final at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Wilson, who is playing in his third World Cup tournament, passed a test on an ankle he […]

Aaron Nicodemus, Marianne Merten and Mungo Soggot The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is planning to bankroll the legal defence of three white farmers who are being sued for allegedly blinding and torturing an Mpumalanga farm worker. The farmers belong to the Wakkerstroom Commando, one of the civilian army units set up countrywide under […]

Chris Gordon One month after the Angolan army launched a limited counter-offensive against Unita rebels, the government has announced the capture of key towns in the rebel movement’s strongholds in central Angola. Unita’s military headquarters at Bailondo were extensively bombed a fortnight ago, but reports immediately afterwards said the Angolan army (FAA) was still fighting […]

Andy Capostagno Rugby World Cup There are those who are beginning to clutch at straws. It was suggested this week that South Africa’s progress to the final of World Cup 1999 was inevitable as there were so many parallels to the 1995 campaign. In ’95 the Springboks played some coruscating rugby in their opening match […]

ENGLISH fly-half Jonny Wilkinson has failed to make the starting line-up for Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final against reigning champions South Africa at the Stade de France. Wilkinson, who was replaced after a heavy tackle from Fiji skipper Greg Smith during Wednesday’s quarter-final victory at Twickenham, is among England’s substitutes. Wing Dan Luger has recovered from […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni It’s Tuesday afternoon in Bochum, Northern Province. Inside a filthy classroom, also used as a staffroom, a teacher is typing a document on an old typewriter. Goats roam the schoolyard, while pupils watch a passing cart through the broken windows of an overcrowded classroom. This is Sekgoni High School in Diepsloot. […]

Fiona Macleod Members of an international smuggling syndicate were arrested in Portugal this week in possession of 155 elephant tusks from Southern Africa, which they tried to sell to officers from the South African Police Service’s endangered species protection unit (ESPU). The syndicate, headed by two Portuguese nationals, used to specialise in truck hijacking and […]

Inayet Motara The millennial spirit is bound to inspire a unifying climate in world culture. A typical foray is the effort to assemble the world’s largest canvas in Australia at the end of the year. On October 2, 24 South African artists began their contribution to what has been termed Global Images – a collage […]

SPRINGBOK centre Brendan Venter on Thursday lost his appeal against a 21-day ban for stamping, World Cup organisers said. The decision, taken at a meeting of the tournament disciplinary committee at Twickenham, means Venter will not be available for Sunday’s quarter-final against England in Paris. Venter was sent off just before halftime in Friday’s group […]

John Matshikiza WITH THE LID OFF ‘Who steals my purse steals trash,” says Iago to Othello: “’tis something, nothing; ’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands: but he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed.” Theft takes all sorts […]

Peter Dickson February 16 1857, said the teenage prophet, would be a day like no other. After the people had killed all their diseased cattle and left their crops to rot in sacrifice, the dead would rise. They would bring with them abundant cattle and food, drive the British into the sea, and herald the […]

Paul Kirk Lieutenant General Basie Smit, one-time commander of the South African Police’s (SAP) hated internal security branch and apartheid killer Eugene de Kock’s boss, is the South African president of the International Police Association (IPA). The IPA is a fraternal organisation of serving and former police officers that enjoys consultative status with the United […]

LAWRENCE BARTLETT, Harare | Friday 7.30pm EMPLOYERS and workers alike on Friday slammed the Zimbabwean government’s budget for 2000, saying it fails to address the country’s worst economic crisis since independence nearly 20 years ago. The powerful Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) stated that workers “will not accept additional burdens” — a reference to […]

trusts Shaun Harris Only R0,5-billion flowed into foreign unit trust funds over the past quarter – a figure that does not represent the huge appetite local investors have built up for offshore investment. Over the previous quarter, R2,2- billion was invested in international funds. The reason for the slowdown is many of the funds listed […]

Uncertainty in the markets is pulling private investors hither and tither, writes Shaun Harris Pity the private investors. They are being pushed and pulled from different directions and are clearly finding it difficult to take a view on where to invest their money. That seems the only plausible explanation for the trends emerging in the […]