Staff Reporter

FOREIGNER sold R1,30-billion worth of bonds on Wednesday after buying R507-million on Tuesday, the latest Bond Exchange data said.

MPUMALANGA Premier Mathews Phosa said on Friday that sensitive data has been removed from a computer in his office. He said the matter has been reported to the police for investigation after files on the computer was deleted. Phosa’s spokesperson, James Gibb, said the data was stolen during the past week. “The computer is linked […]

THE government seems to recognise that victims of gross human rights violations are entitled to reparation, but clarity is needed as to what this will be, TRC reparations and rehabilitation committee chairperson Hlengiwe Mkhize said on Thursday. Mkhize said she will oppose any statement that there be no individual recommendations, because that would compromise victims. […]

ORGANISERS of Nigeria’s weekend presidential vote urged vigilance on Friday as the country prepared to choose a new political leader. The Independent National Electoral Commission urged a high turnout in Saturday’s ballot as voters choose between former military ruler Olusegun Obasanjo and former finance minister Olu Falae for president. Continuing campaigning up to the last […]

A COURT martial in Lesotho on Friday heard how soldiers took the commander of the Lesotho Army, Lieutenant-General Makhula Modisakeng, to a radio station last September and forced him to announce that he had dismissed senior officers. Modisakeng was also forced to announce that he had resigned, the prosecution said. Forty-one soldiers pleaded not guilty […]

It doesn’t take a chartered accountant to know that just about every major decision taken within a company is done for one reason: profits. Yet more money can be saved and earned by taking notice of the “soft” issues, and combining traditional strategic and marketing philosophies with ancient ones. Astrology, numerology, feng shui and colour […]

FOUR new caps have been chosen for the South African Sevens team to participate in the Fiji Sevens on March 12 and 13, rugby administrators announced in Cape Town on Wednesday. South Western Districts wings Paul Treu and Wayne Munn, Blue Bulls flyhalf Daniel Grobler and Western Province wing Herman Mostert will make their debut […]

Robert Kirby: Loose Cannon Call me old-fashioned, call me uptight, out of touch, pompous, of lofty personal conceit, call me anything you like, but please do not call me by my first name. Not until you have either been invited to do so, or you have asked me politely whether you may. My preference for […]

Matthew Krouse Scrawl ’99 is South Africa’s answer to the kind of screenwriter’s education run by the Performing Arts Laboratory (PAL) in Britain, and the Sundance Institute in the United States. Its second annual 10-day workshop begins on March 5, again at the Monkey Valley resort outside Cape Town. In its first year of existence […]

Andrea Vinassa gets in step with the new improved 11th FNB Vita Dance Umbrella Somehow the 11th of anything doesn’t seem all that auspicious, well, not from a marketing point of view anyway. But much about the 11th FNB Vita Dance Umbrella is new and improved. There’s a lot to indicate that the festival has […]

MINISTER of Education Professor Sibusiso Bengu has launched a probe into tampering in the calculation of scores in last year’s Mpumalanga matric exams. The province produced a pass rate of 72,5%, some 26,5% higher than the previous year. Bengu cited what he called “prima facie evidence of tampering” in the scores, and has involved the […]

Chris McGreal in Lagos The most powerful voice in Nigerian politics is not running for president in this week’s elections, or even bidding for a seat in Parliament. It has not had anything to say about the ballot which many Nigerians only half- heartedly believe will really bring an end to decades of military rule […]

Sarah Bullen South Africans can now invest more money offshore after Chris Stals announced a further relaxation of exchange controls this week. Stals said the ceiling individuals can move offshore has been raised from R400 000 to R500 000, and that travel allowances for individuals will be raised from R100 000 to R120 000. The […]

`lunch’ The sign at the door kindly reminds you that it is a naked club and that you’re to hand over your clothes to the barman, who’s wearing nothing but a cock ring and boots. There are some “first-timers” who usually sit in the back and have to pay R2 more for drinks for not […]

EUROPEAN soccer’s governing body, Uefa, forced Fifa president Sepp Blatter to back down on his plan to stage the World Cup every two years on Wednesday – but both sides have not ruled it out in the long term. “We have 10 years to discuss this project. Before then it will not be an actuality,” […]

Howard Barrell Both President Nelson Mandela and his deputy, Thabo Mbeki, have told Parliament there will be no general amnesty for violations of human rights under apartheid. But Mbeki raised the likelihood that special additional amnesty provisions could be introduced to cover those involved in violence in KwaZulu-Natal as well as the activities of former […]

Robert Kirby FINAL POSTPONEMENT: REMINISCENCES OF A CROWDED LIFE by Cecil Margo (Jonathan Ball) On the back of the dustcover of Judge Cecil Margo’s autobiography is a photograph of the author who stands in front of a painting depicting an extraordinary sight. As it might have been seen from the air, this is the virtually […]

With sound financial strategies, investors can make money by investing in volatile Internet shares. Donna Block explains They climb to incredible heights and then crash and burn with deadly speed. They trade at unearthly earnings to price multiples and don’t expect to make a cent for years. They’re the Internet stocks. And no sector on […]

Ferial Haffajee A concerted effort to Africanise the leadership of SABC television news for the first time has sown tension in the country’s largest and most powerful newsroom. The installation of a new guard, led by journalists Phil Molefe and Snuki Zikalala, coincides with allegations that TV news coverage is growing increasingly establishment. Radical change […]

not so lekker Charlene Smith Ever wondered why potholes are increasing in city roads and parklands are becoming jungles? The Financial and Fiscal Commission points out that while local governments are providing services to five times more people than they did in the past, they have had only marginal increases in revenue. The commission, which […]

Howard Barrell A hiatus in attempts to bring peace to Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo is threatening catastrophe in Central Africa with dangerous spin-offs for neighbouring states, including South Africa. Security analysts are warning that Central African could become a wasteland of wandering, starving people excluded from tiny pockets of economic activity conducted […]

David Shapshak The 3D Internet dream is getting a little closer to reality with the launch of a new generation of Pentium chips from microprocessor manufacturer Intel. The Pentium III is the latest in Intel’s processors that enhance computers’ multi- media functions, but is primarily aimed at improving the way 3D and video content is […]

Charlene Smith The Centre for Applied Legal Studies (Cals) and the National Association for People with Aids (Napwa) are planning a test case to challenge Minister of Health Nkosazana Zuma’s decision not to let state hospitals use the drug AZT to slow down transmission rates between HIV-positive mothers and their babies. The case, which will […]

Susan Purn The police have opened a criminal docket to investigate who secretly taped the visits to convicted killer Janusz Walus by his lawyers in prison in 1993. Ten cassettes, two of which are of legal visits, have been handed to the police. The recordings were made during the time Walus was awaiting trial for […]

Mungo Soggot and Belinda Beresford Magnus Heystek is fighting a summons from a businesswoman after he allegedly breached the terms of an out-of-court settlement for more than half-a-million rand. Last year the financial guru settled with Beulah Bonugli for the full R655 000 she had demanded. The dispute stemmed from a share deal he had […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer The South African team that faces Gabon at Odi Stadium on Saturday in an African Nations Cup Group Four qualifier will bear little resemblance to the one that overcame Botswana last weekend. Only Orlando Pirates midfielders Thabo Mngomeni and John Moeti seem certain to start again, with defender Aaron Mokoena, midfielder Lovers […]

We hear that Free State Premier Ivy Matsepe- Casaburri may soon be without a job. Perhaps it is opportune now for Parliament to give her old job back to her. The SABC needs a new board and, while the jury is still out on her premiership, there are few who will deny that she was […]

Mercedes Sayagues This is Joao de Mattos’s hour of glory. His views are vindicated. In 1994, De Mattos, chief of staff of the Angolan army, pushed for the definitive battle with Unita. Buoyed by victories in N’dalatando, Kuito, Cafunfo, Huambo and Uige, De Mattos wanted to conquer Negage and Andulo, Unita’s headquarters. In disarray, its […]

CD of the week Keith Henderson Mexican-American/Cuban hip-hop gurus Cypress Hill continue their onslaught on the free world with Cypress Hill IV (Sony). Make no mistake, it’s hard and it’s heavy – a place that you take yourself voluntarily . There is no lift music on this little number, as you’d expect from a band […]

Aaron Nicodemus It was 4am on a Saturday morning, and Matsietsi Mohaka was alone behind a thin hospital curtain. Five months pregnant with complications related to diabetes, she had come to Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital 11 hours earlier, expecting someone to help her. Her body was racked with pain for most of the night, but […]

For some, Nigeria’s election is merely a merry-go-round of the same people responsible for the country’s problems, reports Chris McGreal from Lagos The party of former military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo has won Nigeria’s parliamentary elections. But a low turnout in Lagos and other major cities testified to widespread scepticism about whether the National Assembly […]

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has carried its famous name for better than a century. Now that it is moving physically to Sandton (actually, opposite the comfortable Balalaika Hotel in leafy Sandhurst), should it retain that title? For that matter, why is it moving out of Johannesburg’s rapidly dying heart at all? The arguments in […]