Staff Reporter

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 […]

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 […]

Shirley Kossick FRIEDA AND MIN by Pamela Jooste (Doubleday) Second novels are notoriously difficult to write, especially when the first one has been a popular and critical success. Pamela Jooste need not have worried, however, as Frieda and Min, though not as consistently appealing as Dance with a Poor Man’s Daughter, has a good story […]

Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week The 16th century is back in vogue, what with Shakespeare in Love and Elizabeth being released within weeks of each other and both up for loads of Oscars. Both are independent films and boast amazing production design, great performances and assured direction. Shakespeare in Love is the comedy, while […]

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 […]

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 […]

DOUBLE Olympic champion Michael Johnson and world 100m gold medallist Marion Jones are confirmed to compete at two international athletics meetings in South Africa next month. Johnson, who set the world 200m record at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and Jones will compete at a meeting in Roodepoort near Johannesburg on March 13 and then in […]

example Ted Leggett No one can accuse the government of failing to take major steps against crime. While one may question the wisdom or constitutionality of many of the initiatives of the past year, there has been radical change in the legislative regime governing some of the basic principles of law enforcement. Two general trends […]

JOHANNESBURG’S Miami Boxing Promotions confirmed on Thursday their plan to buy unit trusts for all boxers appearing on their bills, starting with their show on March 3. Matchmaker Jeff Ellis, staging his 28th development tournament, said the firm would purchase trusts for a minimum of R50 or 5% of a fighter’s purse — whichever was […]

Nhlanhla Hlongwane Thursday night at Yeoville’s House of Tandoor is reggae night and, until the wee hours, it’s the place to be. The house has a rotating pool of DJ crews who fling the full spectrum of reggae and hip-hop. The two main crews in Johannesburg that deal with reggae are the Sounds of Edutainment, […]

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 […]

Why is it so difficult for racists to admit that they are racist? This question is currently exercising the minds of the British establishment, for it affects one of the most powerful institutions in the land, the Metropolitan Police Force of London. The issue arose over the way the Metropolitan Police investigated – or rather […]

Neil Manthorp in Auckland Cricket The strange thing about Mark Taylor’s last 18 months in charge of Australia was the ruthlessness with which his players were tossed out of the Test side when he considered them surplus to requirements. When conditions suited someone else, someone different, Greg Blewett, Darren Lehmann, Paul Reiffel, Damien Fleming, Michael […]

KWAZULU-NATAL Premier Lionel Mtshali appealed on Thursday to members of the provincial legislature to work together — to a sitting that was boycotted by the African National Congress, New National Party, Democratic Party, African Christian Democratic Party and the Minority Front. The parties said the legislature sitting was unscheduled. Only the Inkatha Freedom Party and […]

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 […]

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 […]

children are growing up in war’ Once agian the battered town of Kuito is suffering the consequences of Angola’s never- ending civil war, writes Mercedes Sayagues Ahmed Mohammed is very angry. He is staring at a handful of new steel nails he just bought at the market. “These are my nails and I paid 500 […]

MPUMALANGA police recovered on Thursday the head of a man who was apparently eaten by a crocodile in the Olifants River near Marble Hall. The head was identified as that of Wilson Milanzi (76) who went missing on Sunday after going for a swim in the river. Captain Blackie Swart said Milanzi’s family thought he […]

`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 […]

Mungo Soggot and Belinda Beresford Magnus Heystek plans to sue for R2-million each two men who laid charges against him earlier this month about his handling of a family trust. The men are Clive Berman – the guardian of the beneficiaries of a trust of which Heystek is one of three trustees – and Lionel […]

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 […]

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 […]

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,” […]

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 […]

Wage negotiations for the public sector began late this week, amid increasing criticism of the Public Sector Bargaining Council for ignoring the fact that high salary bills cut into the ability of provinces to deliver services. Tabled wage demands ranged from 9,5% to 15%. In Mpumalanga last week, for instance, MEC for Finance Lassy Chiwayo […]

Raekha Prasad Body Language It is accepted practice when gathering honey to dodge the sting of the bee. So, too, women have chosen to take the seminal fluid and ditch the man. For a woman wanting a child who isn’t looking for or can’t find father material, variations on the turkey baster and one-night stand […]

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 […]

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 […]

ERNIE Els was eliminated from the opening-round at the Match Play Championships in California on Wednesday. The seventh-ranked player and the winner three days earlier at Riviera, lost to 58th-ranked Paul Azinger on the 18th hole, 1 up. Several of the world’s elite golfers were eliminated from the competition that pays the winner $1-million. The […]

A ZIMBABWEAN high court has ordered Defence Minister Moven Mahachi on Wednesday to appear on Friday to face charges of contempt of court after he ignored three court orders to release Standard editor, Mark Chavunduka, from detention. Chavunduka and a senior reporter, Ray Choto, are facing charges of contravening section 50 of the colonial Law […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 6.30pm. EXPELLED Inkatha Freedom Party member and former correctional services minister Sipo Mzimela announced he is joining the United Democratic Movement on Thursday, saying the party is well placed to lead South Africa into the new millennium. UDM president, Bantu Holomisa, said a leadership position for Mzimela in the […]

GHANAIAN President Jerry Rawlings offered citizenship in the West African nation to African American descendants of African slaves on Wednesday while on a state visit to the US. “My continent is the mother, not of all continents, but humanity today,” Rawlings said at a news conference. “There is no reason why I would deny my […]