Cameron Duodu:LETTER FROM THE NORTH `This is not my house!” the little boy shrieked. By one of those magical interconnections that our brains are capable of, I immediately realised what had happened. My five-year-old kid had been collected by someone else from his school, and another kid brought to mine. A thousand scenarios, each riddled […]
Mungo Soggot The co-chair of the Law Society of South Africa is embroiled in a disciplinary probe in which he is being accused of mishandling cases involving accident victims. The attorney, Willie Seriti, was due to appear before the Transvaal Law Society’s disciplinary panel on Wednesday, but sent a fax at 8.50am saying he was […]
THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the main trade unions federation, has ordered a general strike next week over payment of a new minimum wage, a press report said Thursday. NLC president Adams Oshiomhole asked private sector workers to join their colleagues in the public sector on May 6 for a general strike, the independent Nigerian […]
Phillip van NiekerkL:FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK One of the great myths of our industry is that the press is “powerful”. This dates back, no doubt, to the days when The Times was “The Thunderer” – its correspondents, like Morrison of Peking, enjoying the status of ambassadors in foreign countries. Since then that power has been […]
THURSDAY, 11.45AM: ANDRE SNYMAN will return to the Northern Bulls squad for Saturday’s Super-12 encounter with the Coastal Sharks at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. Snyman missed the Bulls’ last match, against Queensland Reds, due to the death of his father. He returns to the team at centre in place of Conrad Breytenbach. The other change […]
Theatre:Alex Dodd What’s the point in writing a play about racial prejudice in contemporary South Africa, about the failings of the rainbow nation project and then presenting it to an almost completely white audience? A bit like attempting to tango solo. This is what must have been stumping ad man John Hunt when he first […]
The David Gleason Column How should anyone price rough diamonds? This is part of the issue at the heart of the recently erupted row between the government diamond valuer and De Beers. Here are the real problems. De Beers mines diamonds in this country and sells them, almost entirely, abroad through its Central Selling Organisation […]
Review of the week Alex Dodd Upon entering the blocky white space of the Laboratory (how apt) our ears are filled with the sound of a monotone female voice detailing the workings of the human chakra system. However, unlike the soothing tones of new age healers Caroline Myss or Louise Hayes, this voice, devoid of […]
SEVEN major opposition political parties in Mpumalanga banded together on Thursday to create a multi-party forum to co-ordinate election campaigns and monitoring. The initiative, spearheaded by the Institute for Political Leadership, should allow opposition parties to pool resources and staff to monitor voting polls and election rallies, and to attempt to ensure that the ruling […]
SOUTH Africa took its opening match by a single goal, downing South Korea 1-0 in a four-nation women’s field hockey tourney on Thursday. Australia also made a winning start as Alyson Annan scored twice in a 5-1 rout of India. The Australians struggled to find their form early in the first half, but a 24th-minute […]
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and currents offshore The Mail & Guardian asked six financial institutions three questions about offshore investing. 1 Why should South Africans make offshore investments through local companies rather than going straight to the foreign investment manager? 2 What should the South African offshore investor be looking for when deciding who to invest with? 3 How […]
Howard Barrell The Sea Point beachfront, Cape Town, 2pm, 30 degrees. A smallish figure in a baggy suit, cellphone to ear, mouth moving, strides forth along the pavement in full throttle. It’s Tony Leon, Democratic Party leader and political combatant extraordinaire. Scurrying alongside him, furiously scribbling notes, cellphone to her ear, mouth moving, is Sid, […]
Ann Eveleth Northern Province pensioners suing the state were rounded up in a police van and forced – by senior welfare officials – to sign documents they could not read, their lawyers claimed this week. Pretoria Legal Resources Centre lawyer (LRC)Nick de Villiers said about 37 clients involved in legal action to force the state […]
South Africa have been installed as favourites to win the World Cup, but the squad is determined not to let this affect their performances. Neil Manthorp reports The belief that the World Cup can be won is tangible, especially after the 15-man squad get-together in Swellendam that was disguised as a “fun, bonding” weekend but […]
Richard O Boyer travelled extensively with the great bandleader and his orchestra in the early Forties. Here he captures the spirit of the time It was on a day coach, rolling through the Ohio and Pennsylvania night that Duke Ellington wrote most of New World A-Coming, a symphonic work which had its premiere at Carnegie […]
Despite many obstacles, there are great opportunities for black economic empowerment in the ITand telecommunications sector, reports Donna Block The future of black economic empowerment in South Africa is wired. Not only do the information, communication and technology sectors offer opportunities for wealth creation in the form of apparently gravity- defying shares, but these industries […]
Ivor Powell With an international conference aimed at enforcing a worldwide anti-personnel landmines ban kicking off in Maputo on Monday, questions will have to be asked about how effectively the problem has been addressed to date. In Mozambique, according to United States Department of State statistics, only 28km of usable land had been cleared of […]
Thokozani Mtshali The announcement this week by the Gauteng Ministry of Transport and the South African Taxi Council of agreed measures to regulate the troubled industry brings hope for commuters caught in the crossfire of warring taxi factions. The announcement comes after years of hard work by the national Ministry of Transport in a quest […]
Shaun Harris Neil Thomas, a youngish manager with a large food company in Durban, survived last year’s crack in the stock market fairly well. His collection of unit trust investments actually gained a few percentage points growth over the calendar year – not bad seen against the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s (JSE) overall decline. Now Thomas […]
Xolela Mangcu:CROSSFIRE The political transformation of the past 10 years will no doubt go down in history as one of the most important events of the millennium – on par with the French, American, Indian, Chinese, and Russian revolutions. Some of our leading scholars have taken to talking about the “maturing” and “consolidation” of our […]
BRITISH national Ian Karl Lowe was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Moroccan court on Tuesday after nearly four tons of cannabis resin were found aboard a truck he was driving, judicial officials said. The 3910kg load of chira, worth an estimated $50-million, was found hidden under a cargo of clothes destined for […]
REPORTS from Angola continue to claim that Namibian and Zimbabwean troops are aiding the Angolan army, in a major offensive aimed at dislodging Unita rebels from positions along the country’s northern border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Namibia has vociferously denied that any Namibian troops are taking part in a joint offensive in Angola. […]
BUREAUCRATIC bungling and deliberate political interference by the Northern Province cabinet has delayed 15 major corruption investigations by two years, the New National Party (NNP) said on Wednesday. NNP provincial leader, Tjol Lategan, also said in a statement on Wednesday that the province has yet to proclaim a single investigation request by Judge Willem Heath’s […]
ACCORDING to delegates to the International Freedom of Expression Exchange conference in Cape Town, a certain Justice Mahapela Lehohla of Lesotho is running a personal vendetta against the press. Lehohla evicts from his court all journalists he considers to be inappropriately dressed, despite the fact that no other judges take umbrage to the same garments. […]
UNDERSTAFFED Northern Province schools are set to get a boost on Thursday when roughly 100 United States Peace Corps volunteers arrive to help out for three years. Education Department spokesman Bernard Matsane said on Wednesday the volunteers will be welcomed at Magoebaskloof, where they would make public pledges of service to the province. “The volunteers […]
WATER Affairs Minister Kader Asmal will on Tuesday open a R220-million rural water and sanitation project for the Northern Province. The launch follows trade and development agreements signed on April 6 by European Union ambassador Michael Laidler and Deputy Finance Minister Gill Marcus. The project will concentrate on the southern, western, central and Lowveld districts […]
RESCUERS may be close to reaching missing miners Lawrence Molise Tsolo and John Befile Delekile as the search was narrowed to an area of about 300 square metres on Wednesday night. Anglogold spokesman Andries Van Zyl said rescue teams have reached the stopes where the missing men were working when the earthquake, measuring 4,6 on […]
A ONE-ARMED man robbed two women near the Gracelands casino at Secunda of R45 000 on Wednesday. Police spokeswoman Inspector Sibongile Nkosi said on Thursday that the women were taking the money to First National Bank, about 500m from the Foschini branch where they worked, when the one-armed man held them up with a gun.
CALM returned to the capital of the Comoros islands in the Indian Ocean on Thursday after three days of violent protests, residents said. For three days, gangs of youths on the main island of Grand Comore attacked the homes and cars of residents originally from the small island of Anjouan, which declared its independence from […]
CABINET on Wednesday announced that June 2, the day when the country goes to the polls for its second democratic elections, will be a public holiday. The cabinet also announced that the new Parliament will convene on June 14 to elect the country’s new president and the National Assembly’s presiding officers. The country’s nine provincial […]
TRADE and Industry Department chief director of business regulation and consumer services Alistair Ruiters has been appointed a commissioner on the Competition Commission, Cabinet announced on Wednesday. The five-year appointment will see the Commission investigate corporate behaviour according to often controversial guidelines outlined in the Competition Act. Ruiters will be leaving the DTI, having been […]