Staff Reporter

Howard Barrell The praise heaped on Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel for his budget by the African National Congress and its alliance partners relied upon the government’s determination to delay until after the election a number of politically awkward economic decisions it knows it must take soon. The South African Communist Party and the Congress […]

Jakes Gerwel shuns publicity, but Rhodes University’s new chancellor played a key role in the Lockerbie agreement, writes Chiara Carter It is a long way from Somerset East to Tripoli and almost as far a distance, metaphorically, from the “home of the left” University of the Western Cape (UWC) to the liberal portals of Rhodes […]

Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week `That was one of the worst, most homophobic pieces of inane, boring rubbish I have ever seen,” or words to that effect spouted one of my colleagues, a leading movie critic. I don’t agree about Terence Malick’s The Thin Red Line. Overseas critics have also been divided about the […]

buffalo Fiona Macleod All the buffalo sold at the prestigious annual KwaZulu-Natal Conservation Service game auction last year were diseased, and the service is now facing huge claims for damages from the buyers. Last year was the first time the KwaZulu- Natal conservation authority sold buffalo at the annual auction, which has become a celebrity […]

Deon Potgieter Boxing The soft-spoken Naas Scheepers will be laying it all on the line when he climbs into the ring against national welterweight champion Peter Malinga at the Carousel next Thursday night. Malinga, a former World Boxing Union welterweight world champion, is moving up the ranks after his sensational first-round dismissal of former world […]

Belinda Beresford The rich man in his castle and the poor man at the gate should each in their own degree be feeling at least content with the personal implications of the latest government budget. Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has continued the government’s intention of redistributing income by relieving the direct tax burden on […]

After holding the number one spot on the World Music Charts for two months solid, Busi Mhlongo launches her long-awaited second album, UrbanZulu, at home. Bongani Madondo gets to the source of her sound Despite the sea breeze caressing my extra melanin-ebonied skin in a way no massage parlour can, on this particular Friday Durban’s […]

MOZAMBIQUE will soon be one of Africa’s most competitive producers of sugar thanks to the privatisation of the industry two years ago, a senior government official said on Wednesday. Arnaldo Ribeiro, director of Mozambique’s sugar institute, anticipates that Mozambique will be producing at least 300000 tons of sugar a year by 2005, following rehabilitation of […]

Just 10 years ago, this week’s Desert Classic could not have taken place. David Davies on the miracle of golf in Dubai Every evening at the Emirates Golf Club, the tables are dressed for dinner. Severely starched tablecloths lie underneath the silver service, with the wine glasses stretching away in serried ranks towards the centrepiece, […]

the Congo Howard Barrell The Angolan government has withdrawn most of its forces from the Democratic Republic of Congo in recent weeks, because they are needed in the war against Unita. This leaves Congolese President Laurent Kabila’s regime dangerously exposed to a new rebel offensive. Angola has pulled back troops, air support and logistics. This […]

David Shapshak Product: Opera 3.10 web browser Requirements: Minimum 386 SX Processor, 4Mb RAM Supplied by: Opera Software `It fits on a stiffy,” an enthusiastic colleague gleefully told me, presenting me with his latest software discovery. In these days of “bloatware” – as the huge, feature- laden, slow-moving bundled software packages by major developers have […]

Trevor Manuel boasted of increased government spending, but analysts say the budget won’t boost development in real terms. Ann Eveleth reports Low-income wage earners will benefit from significant tax cuts this year, but the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) is poised for a setback following real cuts in most social spending categories as the 1999/2000 […]

THE South African navy said on Thursday it has sent a team of specialist divers to join Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces recovering weapons that may have been thrown into dams in Lesotho. Lesotho police asked for help after a weapon was found in Lithabaneng Dam near the capital, Maseru, military spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Laverne […]

Alex Dodd The latest salvo in that grand old struggle to make South Africans wake up to the fact that local really can be the lekkerest is an initiative called Beyond the Pale, aimed at the support and promotion of designer-makers. For the uninitiated, “designer-makers” are people who not only design but also love getting […]

Peter Dickson Eastern Cape pensioners almost went without their welfare grants this month when a dispute arose on pay-out day following allegations that teenagers were receiving pension payments. The villages of Dyantyi and Makapela in the Centane district have been feuding for generations, and allegations of corruption in monthly pension payments sparked the latest row. […]

EIGHT people including a Briton, an Australian and a Lebanese were arrested in Liberia on Wednesday for “collaborating” with Sierra Leonean rebels. The arrests occurred at the offices of a local company, Red Deer International, in the capital, Monrovia. The company’s general manager, Richard Ratcliffe, a British national, was among those arrested. Military uniforms, communication […]

Ferial Haffajee The Pan Africanist Congress will give the death penalty the chop but will sever the lesser limbs of criminals. If it assumes power after the elections, the party will also ban abortion, rescind anti-smoking legislation, scrap national debt and the provinces. The PAC pipped other parties to the post when it released its […]

Eliminating unfair discrimination and making class distinctions a punishable offence is the aim of new legislation. Charlene Smith reports Capitalism will stand in the dock if new equality legislation to be presented to Minister of Justice Dullah Omar becomes law. In terms of the Prevention and Prohibition of Unfair Discrimination Bill, the “market economy” which […]

UTILITY back Robert Markram, one of last year’s rising rugby stars, may have broken his jaw on Wednesday night and could miss the start of the Super 12. He was taken to hospital with a suspected broken jaw after being injured in the Western Stormers warm-up game against Boland XV in Paarl. Markram was one […]

DESPITE the departure of ten top Free State rugby players and financial difficulties, Free State Cheetahs enter their upcoming season with optimism. Cheetahs’ executive director, Harold Verster, said it was a long time since he had been so excited about the Cheetahs’ chances, but said that they needed the support of the Free State to […]

MARK HEYWOOD, head of the Aids Law Project, says the government has a legal obligation to proceed with four pilot projects which have been halted by the decision not to supply Aids drug AZT to infected pregnant women. The project is planning to take legal action against the Department of Health, saying the Constitution recognises […]

UNITED States Vice President Al Gore held talks with Deputy President Thabo Mbeki shortly after his arrival in Cape Town on Wednesday. The talks are first of a series of meetings between the two men during his three-day visit. Gore also met with President Nelson Mandela at his Cape Town office to brief him about […]

GERMAN Ralf Schumacher was fastest in testing at Kyalami on Tuesday as the Williams team bounced back in the final part of the build-up to the new Formula One season. He clocked a best time of one minute 24.63 seconds to erase some of the Williams’ team’s embarrassment 24 hours earlier when they were outpaced […]

THE St Joseph’s Hospital in Doornspruit, Northern Province, has been forced to close down after its government subsidy was cut. Provincial health spokesperson Tsepo Moshima said on Thursday the department cut the subsidy of R2-million a year as it had no control over the hospital’s operations. “We’ve been [talking to] hospital management and [decided] we […]

UP to 200000 Sudanese Christians who fled fighting in the south and set up a village near the capital Khartoum have been chased into a desert zone, the Vatican missionary news agency FIDES reported on Wednesday. Between 150000 and 200000 Christians set up the village in Hajj Youssef, northeast of the Sudanese capital, but local […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 8.30pm. GOLD Fields on Thursday announced the acquisition of AngloGold’s entire 21,5% interest in Driefontein in a move designed to pave the way for a reverse takeover of Driefontein. That deal will make Gold Fields the world’s third largest gold producer with annual production of around 4-million ounces and total […]

FRENCHMAN Pierre Lechantre has arrived in Cameroon to coach the national football team. Appointed to succeed another Frenchman, Claude Leroy, Lechantre actually began his coaching duty last January in France where Cameroon’s “Indomitable Lions” were preparing for their African Cup of Nations match against Eritrea. Cameroon could only manage a goaless draw in the match, […]

HOSSAM HASSAN scored twice in the first half as African champion Egypt trounced Bulgaria 3-1 Tuesday to advance to the final of the Carlsberg Cup soccer tournament. The Egyptians dominated the first half and Hassan struck first in the 11th minute with a simple shot after the Bulgarian defenders were caught off guard. Hassan headed […]

FIVE Bulgarian nurses at a Libyan university hospital in Benghazi have been arrested in connection with an inquiry on infants infected with the HIV virus. The arrests followed allegations made by a Libyan magazine which reported in its December edition that several children were infected with the HIV virus after they were admitted to the […]

THE committee established to investigate minority rights in Mpumalanga is not an ANC trick to pacify the political Right, Mpumalanga Premier Mathews Phosa said on Wednesday. Created last week under the chairmanship of provincial Freedom Front leader Moolman Mentz, the committee will investigate the position of minorities but will also study the self-determination proposals of […]

ANGOLA is awash with counterfeit money, including high-quality copies of $100 bills and one million denominations of the Angolan currency, the new kwanza, police said on Wednesday. The injection of fake money is an attempt at economic destabilisation of Angola perpetrated from “the outside,” police said in a communique. A ring of foreign businessmen and […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Thursday 10.00am. FINANCE Minister Trevor Manuel’s appears to be the biggest winner on Thursday after his widely lauded fourth Budget in office, presented to Parliament on Wednesday, has been met with widespread praise from economists, business, unions, and investors alike. His 1999 Budget, commentators said on Thursday, will boost his standing […]