Staff Reporter

ago Jill Treanor and Phillip Inman Punters who invested 100 on the London stock market at the end of World War Iwould have been able to buy their dream millionaire mansion by the end of last year. The gamble on stocks would have catapulted the punter into the exclusive six-figure club much faster than those […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni It’s a hot Saturday morning in the rural village of Stinkwater, North-West province. Hundreds of residents and government officials have gathered to honour a group of youngsters committed to cleaning up their village. Stinkwater, near Hammanskraal, is among the 50% of South Africa’s townships, villages and informal settlements which do not […]

MILO the six-month-old Jack Russell terrier is in critical condition after surviving seven hours of open heart surgery for a severe congenital heart defect on Thursday. The dog is recovering in the University of Cape Town’s animal laboratory, where it is expected to remain on the critical list for at least 24 hours. Medical team […]

Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week The concept of characters moving in and out of film and television screens seems to have become a distinctive new genre. Woody Allen’s fabulous 1985 comedy- fantasy, The Purple Rose of Cairo, had Jeff Daniels climbing down from the big screen, driven by his passion for a member of […]

Willie Hofmeyr, African National Congress MP, responds on this page to our January 15 to 21 editorial concerning the country’s lamentable record on crime. His point is that the government is committed to deterring and imprisoning criminals – an assurance he and many of his colleagues no doubt believe has been borne out by the […]

economy, stupid Beneath the triumphalism and euphoria, a deep unease pervades Middle America, argues Robert Kuttner Yes, in many respects life in the United States has never been better. But there are four notable soft spots in the American utopia: insecurity, holes in the welfare state, inequality and stress. First, insecurity: social critic Richard Sennett […]

The London art scene is currently caught in the web of influential French artist Louise Borgeois’s latest exhibition. Adrian Searle reports Louise Bourgeois turned 87 on Christmas Day. She could be just another batty old biddy, with her interminable reminiscences, her total recall and false memories, but for one irreducible fact: she is one of […]

STELLENBOSCH University’s Sunsat satellite remains earthbound after the ninth postponement of the launch by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration Delta II rocket carrying South Africa’s first home-grown satellite. Sunsat was to blast off along with payloads for the US Air Force and Boeing. The latest postponement was once again due to “adverse […]

Donna Block The government of President Robert Mugabe has succeeded in doing what no one has done before: it has caused a strike by stockbrokers. For three working days, from January 14 until January 19, Zimbabwe’s traders, dealers and brokers agreed not to accept orders or place bids. The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, once one of […]

Wally Mbhele and Justin Arenstein Mpumalanga refused to learn from its 1995 Eugene Nyati scandal and instead secretly contracted the discredited political analyst less than one year later – only to be fleeced by the smooth-talking wheeler-dealer again. New information leaked this week indicates that Nyati used more than R200 000 intended for a tourism […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 3.30pm. ORLANDO Pirates has fined midfield star John Moeti R500 or he must sit out the rest of the premiership season without salary. Moeti failed to play in a league match two weeks ago. Pirates’s disciplinary committee chief Cyril Kobus said Moeti was fined R20000, but R15000 of the penalty […]

FORMER Dusi champion John Edmonds took an early, slim lead in the Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon after an exciting first stage on Thursday. Edmonds gained the lead with five minutes to the finish to clock 3:18:32. For most of the morning favourite Wayne Volek, Kelby Murray and Cape paddler Martin Dreyer vied for the lead. […]

THE Medical University of Southern Africa re-opened on Wednesday, two weeks after closing its doors because students owed over R56,1-million in fees. Medunsa vice chancellor and principal, Professor Thibdi Mokgokong, said on Wednesday that some students have not paid fees for last year, while others fraudulently claim they cannot afford the fees. “These students are […]

THE average hotel room and bed occupancy rates have been increasing since July 1998 with the average hotel room occupancy rate for November 1998 increasing by 2,6% compared with November 1997. Increases were reported in 5 of the 9 provinces. The largest increases were reflected by the Free State Province where room occupancy rose 11,4% […]

THE first round of legislative elections will be held in Togo on March 7, officials announced on Wednesday. Voters will cast ballots on March 21 in a second round in areas where no candidate garnered enough votes two weeks earlier, a communique issued after a cabinet meeting said. The last parliamentary election in Togo was […]

A HUMAN rights group in Swaziland on Wednesday expressed grave concern about a new law introduced by King Mswati III giving traditional chiefs sweeping powers. The controversial law, enacted last month without parliamentary debate, could threaten national unity and turn people against the chiefs, said the Human Rights Association of Swaziland’s Joshua Mzizi. The Swazi […]

THE Ivorian government on Thursday announced a reduction of nearly 90-billion CFA francs in its 1999 annual expenditure budget, citing the shortfall in prices of the country’s export earners. Nearly 75% of Cote d’Ivoire’s annual revenue comes from the exports of cocoa, coffee, pineapples, rubber and banana, which are all experiencing price slumps on the […]

MALAWI’S inflation rate has shot up to 51,2%, prompting a run on bank interests rates. Charles Chuka, a senior official at the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of Malawi, says the inflation rate was prompted by the mid-August fall in the external value of the kwacha which led to increases in fuel prices and […]

THE international competitors were struggling as the first round of the $1-million South African Open kicked off in blistering heat at the Stellenbosch Golf Club on Thursday. Leading the field as the early starters neared the end of their rounds, were Pretoria’s Justin Hobday and Ron McCann, a South African who has lived in the […]

THE real value of building plans passed has continued to show a declining trend since the second half of 1996, falling by 11,6% in the first eleven months of 1998, the latest release from Statistics South Africa on Wednesday indicates. The real value of plans fell by R1,8-billion to R13,7-billion compared with the same period […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday 10.00am. THE Tuesday night arrest of fugitive and heist artist Collin Chauke has captured the public imagination and dominated the Thursday morning press. Chauke’s lawyer alleged that his client was assaulted and has head wounds but Nelspruit police have denied this. They say that he may have hurt himself while […]

GOVERNMENT is due to issue a discussion paper in June on electronic commerce — e-commerce — in an attempt to bring commercial law up to date with developments in e-commerce technology and practice. The paper will propose legal and regulatory guidelines for e-commerce and to promote technology. The discussion paper is the first step in […]

THE Algerian government has been “totally silent” regarding violence against women who face abduction, murder and rape at the hands of insurgents, the International Federation of Human Rights said on Thursday. The federation said in a report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women that Algerian women also face “institutionalized […]

JAKE GERWEL, a close aide to President Nelson Mandela, said on Wednesday that he detected a desire by Libya to conclude the Lockerbie affair “as speedily as possible”. Gerwel, who travelled to Tripoli in a renewed bid to break the deadlock, gave an upbeat assessment of the talks in a BBC interview.Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi […]

STELLENBOSCH University’s satellite, South Africa’s first to be fully locally developed, is still earth bound after the seventh postponement in the launch of the United States rocket carrying Sunsat. University spokesperson Douglas Davis said on Wednesday that the launch of the Delta II rocket by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration from Vandenburg air […]

ZIMBABWE’S bankers are reacting negatively to new regulations on currency trading. On Wednesday, Zimbabwe Reserve Bank Governor Leonard Tsumba announced that any bank exceeding its foreign exchange limit of US$2-million during the course of trading will have its licence revoked. Bankers say this is a another move to tighten control over foreign currency trading. By […]

BILL CLINTON’S long-awaited Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, involving a free-trade package for Africa, was resurrected in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday. The Bill was killed in the Senate last year and was due to be reintroduced in the House of Representatives with revisions this year. Concerns about textile imports threatening certain […]

LIBERIA must be held accountable for its support of rebel forces in Sierra Leone, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Ignatius Olisemeka said on Wednesday. He said Nigeria might take the Liberian government to an international court.Speaking to reporters after meeting the United Nations envoy to Sierra Leone, Olisemeka said Liberia “should be held fully accountable” for aiding […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 3.30pm. ORLANDO Pirates has fined midfield star John Moeti R500 or he must sit out the rest of the premiership season without salary. Moeti failed to play in a league match two weeks ago. Pirates’s disciplinary committee chief Cyril Kobus said Moeti was fined R20000, but R15000 of the penalty […]

THE MANAGEMENT of e.tv on Wednesday rejected as unfounded reports that the station is in disarray and said it is comfortable that it has exceeded its licence conditions in some areas. The private free-to-air broadcaster will begin a 24-hour programming schedule on February 1. At a briefing announcing the expansion, e.tv CEO Jonathan Procter said: […]

ZAMBIA’S opposition United Party for National Development has asked President Frederick Chiluba to explain why foreign planes are seen in Zambezi and Solwezi at odd hours. The UPND Lusaka Province chairman Joseph Chilengi said despite United Nations sanctions against Jonas Savimbi and his rebel Unita movement, Unita officials are seen in Zambia. “The truth is […]

SOUTH Africa’s Natalie Grandin qualified for the semifinal of the girls’ singles at the Australian Hardcourt International junior championships in Melbourne on Thursday. Grandin beat Australian Melissa Dowse 7-5, 6-4 in a quarterfinal match. Grandin’s doubles partner and fellow South African Nicole Rencken went down to sixth seed Katherine Basternakova 2-6, 2-6. However, Rencken and […]