Dan Atkinson in London Warren Buffet – a chap who ought to know – once described the stock market as being merely a reference point, allowing investors to check whether anyone was offering to do anything foolish. Much the same could be said of the gold price which, most of the time, indicates whether, in […]
The government’s new diamond valuer has challenged the big daddy of the diamond industry, writes Mungo Soggot A row which could involve millions of rands of tax revenue is brewing between De Beers and the South African government’s official diamond valuer. The valuer has rejected De Beers’s evaluation of a consignment of rough diamonds due […]
THURSDAY, 1.00PM: TOURING Super 12 teams that have grown used to having the red carpet rolled out for them by the Natal Rugby Union will be disappointed. The NRU has decided to give all Super 12 teams the cold shoulder after the suspension of flanker Wickus van Heerden’s 18 month ban for biting New South […]
Total originality, explosive energy and plenty of brain power have all played a part in the rapid rise of Boo! to South African stardom, writes Andrea Burgener For a rare few seconds, Princess Leonie’s tight-as-a-tourniquet drum rhythms are still. Chris Chameleon, lead singer and self-proclaimed resident polysexual of Boo! is remonstrating with the cheering, applauding […]
Gabon have not lost at home for 28 years, so Bafana Bafana face an uphill battle at the Omar Bongo stadium, writes Andrew Muchineripi South Africa enter hillier terrain on Saturday after a relatively flat passage through the first half of their qualifying programme for the 2000 African Nations Cup. Gabon may, ultimately, have been […]
AN Egyptian and a Tanzanian suspected of taking part in the deadly bombing of the United States embassy in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam last year are due to appear before a resident magistrate again on Friday. This development in the drawn-out case follows the release by the United States FBI of a long-awaited […]
UGANDA’s central bank on Thursday took over the running of the troubled Uganda Commercial Bank to protect the interests of depositors and to remove from its management a Malaysian firm accused of illegal lending. The move follows a controversial attempt to privatise UCB, previously a state corporation, during which the Malaysian firm Westmont Land (Asia) […]
ISAAC MOFOKENG, the man who shot and wounded Johannesburg Zoo’s Max the gorilla while fleeing from police in July 1994, was sentenced to 40 years in jail in the Johannesburg Regional Court on Friday. Mofokeng, who was convicted on 10 counts including rape, robbery, housebreaking and malicious damage to property (for shooting the R2,5-million gorilla), […]
FORMER SA Defence Force special forces member Noel Robey told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Thursday how Mamelodi activists Dr Fabian Ribeiro and his wife Florence were murdered in 1986. Robey told the TRC’s amnesty committee that the murders were committed by two unknown special forces members from Northern Namibia. He said he was […]
A NEW media award for women has been launched by the Forum for African Women Educationalists of South Africa, for the honouring of women journalists who work to highlight education and development issues for women. It will be called the Fawe Award for Media Excellence. The first award ceremony will be held in Cape Town […]
Andy Colquhoun Rugby Saturday’s Super 12 collision between the Sharks and the Stormers at Newlands probably has more sub-plots than you’d find in a property developer’s fantasy for cluster homes on Table Mountain. At face value, the game is simply about the maximum of five log points to give the winner a leg-up towards the […]
Howard Barrell The African National Congress and the smaller opposition parties expect voter support for the New National Party to collapse in coming weeks as high-profile defections by NNP leaders continue. Some rival party strategists are now suggesting that, on June 2, the NNP may get only a quarter of the votes it achieved in […]
MEMBERS of Swaziland’s parliament have called for Cosatu’s deputy general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, to be deported after he described Swaziland’s leadership as barbaric and said King Mswati had forced his people to do “compulsory labour”. The call, led by MP Marwick Khumalo, was made on Thursday afternoon. Khumalo said Vavi’s statements, made during an interview […]
In the hope of spoiling your meal or trip home, or of making still less pleasant your absorption of the evening news, here are two thoughts on war which some of us on the Mail & Guardian have recently been discussing. One is about war as Nato tries to wage it; the other is about […]
David Davies Golf Westwood and Woods, two young tigers whose names tended to be on the top of leaderboards around the world last year, are not quite fulfilling their billing this year. It has been a while since either Lee Westwood or Tiger Woods has growled at anybody. In fact, all the roaring lately has […]
David Shapshak Product: NOKIA 9110 cellphone/personal digital assistant James Bond has one. The Saint has one, and now you can have one too. The Nokia 9110 is the latest must have for the mobile warrior. It looks like a cellphone, albeit a slightly bigger version than the current smaller-is-cooler vogue, but with a click it’s […]
Phillip van Niekerk:FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK On Monday morning I arrived at work and received the following e-mail from Charlene Smith, one of our correspondents: “I was attacked in my home on Thursday night and raped. I am writing about it, not only because I think `victims’ should speak out, but because, except for the […]
people. This is our story’ Last week Charlene Smith was raped and left tied up in her own bathroom. But that was just the beginning of her ordeal. By telling the story of that painful night, she hopes to raise awareness of the way rape `victims’ are treated Every 26 seconds in South Africa a […]
Nick Paul is in stitches as the NSA gallery becomes a catwalk for a unique collaboration between art and fashion Just when you think it’s time to entertain the possibility that we’ve run out of new ideas, along comes somebody and invents a backpack with only one strap. Ex fashion semper aliquid novi. Actually, those […]
Fears are growing that Angola’s civil war could spill over its borders following reports that Zambia is aiding Unita. Ivor Powell reports New evidence has come to light implicating President Frederick Chiluba’s Zambian government in aiding Jonas Savimbi’s rebel Unita movement in neighbouring Angola. Indications have also surfaced of Ugandan troops seconded in support of […]
Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week `He’s never met a princess, only queens,” says openly gay film director James Whale when introducing his gardener to Princess Margaret in Gods and Monsters. It’s a gem of dialogue in a script that sparkles with witty one-liners and moments of tragedy. Writer/director Bill Condon deservedly won the Best […]
AFRICAN leaders were to meet in Luanda on Wednesday to review widening wars in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angolan state radio said. The radio quoted senior officials as saying Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila, Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and President Sam Nujoma of […]
Although he walked free in 1997, Bruce Grobbelaar cannot find an English club that will have him. Simon Kuper reports `Bloody mist, eh?” says Bruce Grobbelaar, jumping out of his car just in time for training. “You can’t see a golf ball on the fairways.” Behind him Table Mountain is indeed shrouded in the stuff, […]
A PARALYSING virus has killed nine children in Angola’s Luanda province where some 206 children have been hit by the unidentified ailment, the health ministry said Wednesday. Angolan specialists have said the illness, which mainly affects children under 11 years of age, was not polio. They have sent samples to South Africa for analysis. Results […]
THE Oppenheimer family has purchased a Northern Cape nature reserve and lodge where they will continue a successful conservation project started by its previous owner, De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer said on Thursday. Tswalu Desert Reserve’s previous owner, Stephen Boler, in the space of three years introduced 6000 head of game, including the rare desert […]
SOME 80% of staff at the Agricultural and Rural Development Corporation in Northern Province face the axe after the agriculture department severely cut the corporation’s budget this year. ARDC Managing Director Dr Alidzulwi Naledzani said on Wednesday that the corporation’s financial woes began last year when its budget was cut from R74-million to R48-million. This […]
AUSTRALIAN rugby union chief John O’Neill said Wednesday he will seek a fair selection process for referees at October’s World Cup during next week’s International Rugby Board meeting in Buenos Aires. ARU managing director O’Neill wants the IRB to establish standard worldwide interpretations of the tackle and advantage rules. There has been concern here that […]
NIGERIA has agreed to co-host the 2000 African Cup of Nations with Ghana. Chief of General Staff Vice Admiral Mike Akhigbe said before the start of a World Youth Championship match in Ibadan late on Sunday that Nigeria is looking forward to hosting the competition with Ghana in January and February next year. The Confederation […]
LAVA from the Mount Cameroon volcano is inching inexorably towards two villages, whose combined population of 1500 residents are preparing to evacuate, national radio said. Local authorities said they are “prepared at any time” to carry out the evacuation of Bakinguili and Batoke, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) west of Yaounde, adding that four army […]
POLICE said on Wednesday that Western Cape United Democratic Movement provincial secretary Malizdo Diko survived an attack on his life on Monday night when several shots were fired at him near his Nyanga home. Police spokesman Captain Neville Malila on Wednesday said detectives are investigating a possible link between the attack on Diko and attacks […]
A FIRE in the Drakenstein mountains in the Western Cape hit the Franschhoek valley on Wednesday, destroying workers’ cottages and forcing their evacuation. The air force said three helicopters from 22 Squadron are assisting nature conservation authorities for a second day. The fire, which has been burning for over two weeks now, forced the closure […]
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela ended his visit to Oman on Thursday by saying he is keen to see an institute for Gulf studies created in his country, the sultanate’s official ONA news agency said. The institute “is needed to promote a better understanding, not only in the political and economic fields, but also cultural,” he told […]