Staff Reporter

Marianne Merton and Chiara Carter Cape police bungled a raid on the home of alleged People against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) member Ebrahim Jeneker, who was arrested this week in connection with a charge of hijacking. Police raided Jeneker’s home on Monday and seized clothes and belongings for forensic testing in connection with violence on […]

Head out of Cape Town toward the West Coast and the pulse of the nation slows. Time seems to pass more leisurely, and when you get deep west to the Wupperthal mission station, it is almost at a standstill. In this idyl nesting in the valley of the Cedarberg mountains, politics is less pressing, the […]

Donna Block : Share World International markets. Global markets. Sounds pretty awesome, huh? “Sure,” you say, “but I live in Bloemfontein or Johannesburg or Cape Town. What in the name of Nelson Mandela’s undershorts does all this have to do with me?” Good question. Ever since South Africa began relaxing exchange controls it has been […]

Review of the week : Miles Keylock There are several reasons why Janet Jackson’s Cape Town performance on her Velvet Rope Tour was the massive success it was. It’s been close on a decade since she emerged from brother Michael’s shadow and the Nineties has seen her constantly re(de)fining her musical and stage personae. In […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Wednesday 5.30pm. THE long-awaited cut in interest rates by the United States Federal Reserve on Tuesday night failed to inspire the local market on Wednesday, despite global markets’ positive response to the move. The all share index closed 0,58% lower, led down by the financial index which shed 1,47% on the […]

DAVID LE PAGE, Johannesburg | Wednesday 11.30pm. THE day for which South African rugby fans have long waited — when popular Western Province captain Bobby Skinstad dons the Springbok green and gold — comes at last on Saturday when the South African team faces Scotland at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. Though Skinstad (22) has played seven […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, New York | Thursday 12.30pm. FRANCE’S 1995 Australian Open champion Mary Pierce thrashed South Africa’s Amanda Coetzer 6-1 6-0 in New York at the WTA Chase Championships on Wednesday. The 45-minute humbling of Coetzer, who was the last player to qualify for the season’s final tournament, sets up a repeat of last year’s […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday 11.00am. ZIMBABWE was hit hard on Wednesday by a second anti-government national strike as trade unionists pressed their demands for pay rises, price cuts and an end to corruption. Factories and building sites fell silent across the country, with most shops and banks also closed, as trade unionists proved for […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Wednesday 3.30pm. THE real value of building plans fell by 10,3% during the first nine months of the year, representing a loss of R1,27-billion to the economy, according to the latest building statistics released by Statistics South Africa on Wednesday. This continues a falling trend since the second half of 1996. […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Tuesday 3.30pm. THE International Monetary Fund’s executive board confirmed this week it is due to meet early next month in Washington to consider releasing an emergency $53-million balance of payments support for Zimbabwe under a standby credit arrangement. This announcement raises hopes that other lenders and donors which have been sitting […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Monday 5.00pm. LOCAL markets had a fairly flat day on Monday with almost no movement in the key indices, with the exception of the all gold index which ended significantly lower on profit taking. Dealers said the day was vacuous, with the market just holding its ground after last week’s heavy […]

ROB DAVIES, Johannesburg | Tuesday 10.15am. WHEN the South African mid-week rugby team take on Edinburgh Reivers at Eastern Road on Tuesday evening Springbok coach Nick Mallett will have his selection spectacles focused on more than one Test hopeful. We all know that Mallett prefers not to change a winning combination, but after Saturday’s near-catastrophe […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 12.30pm. KAIZER Chiefs reached the the final of the Rothmans Cup soccer championships, despite losing 1-0 to Orlando Pirates in the second leg semifinal at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday. Chiefs carried a valuable two goal cushion from their 3-1 win in the first leg into Saturday’s match, […]

ROB DAVIES, Johannesburg | Saturday 7.30pm. THE South African rugby side on Saturday came close to an embarrassing defeat when they beat an incredibly spirited Welsh side 28-20 at Wembley Stadium in London. The Springboks looked completely out of depth against the full-strength Welsh side, drilled to perfection by former Auckland Blues coach Graham Henry. […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday 4.15pm. POST and Telecommunications Minister Jay Naidoo on the weekend unveiled South Africa’s first ever locally-built satellite which will be launched by Nasa in January. The micro-satellite, called Sunsat, cost about $6-million to build and was constructed by post-graduate engineering students at Stellenbosch University. Unveiling the satellite, Naidoo said […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 5.00pm. FRANCE and South Africa signed on Thursday two agreements to expand their relations, notably with joint ventures and financial aid. One agreement calls for the appointment of a French expert charged with determining the best options for joint ventures and facilitating their establishment. Sectors deemed best suited for such […]

Howard Barrell : Over a Barrel Nkosazana Zuma, it seems, takes the view that, if you want to bring about far- reaching change, do it early, do it hard and give your opponents no quarter. The way the tobacco companies, health insurers and drug companies are now bleating to the courts for respite suggests the […]

Philip Machanick Just when you thought it safe to use the Internet, junk mail sharks have started to bite. What’s more, they’re made of spam. Thanks to “bulk mail e-mail lists”, millions of users of the Internet can be hit at once with unwanted mail, selling anything from porn to more bulk e-mail lists. Sellers […]

MUNGO SOGGOT, Johannesburg | Friday 3.30pm. A CONSORTIUM headed up by head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s reparations committee Hlengiwe Mkhize is tipped to win a major government diamond valuation contract. The Diamond Board has yet to announce the winner, but rival bidders, who have expressed misgivings about the tender process, claim Mkhize’s consortium […]

Lauren Shantall A B-grade Barbie-rella babe in a yellow polka dot rubber bikini steps s on to the stage. Armed with a hairdryer-cum-ray gun she begins to blow up a flaccid yellow blob while the soundtrack blares a kooky, surreal mix of Plan Nine From Outer Space meets Mars Attack on an operating table. As […]

Joan Smith : First Person Why don’t women go cruising? When the media is full of the shortage of single men, why is this method of finding partners, briefly at least, unthinkable for women? The simple answer is danger. It is unthinkable for lesbians and straight women alike because we are so accustomed to recognising […]

Deputy President Thabo Mbeki has stepped in to address deep concerns about the state of preparations for elections next year.

Mercedes Sayagues `I sing the body electric,” wrote Walt Whitman. I am reminded of this line as I watch the bulging biceps, palpitating pecs and throbbing quads of Vaughan Carl, Mr Zimbabwe Bodybuilder 1998. Harare’s 700-seat Seven Arts theatre is half-full for the finals of Mr and Ms Zimbabwe Bodybuilder. Mr Zimbabwe 1996 is the […]

CD of the week : Caroline Sullivan Supposedly, PJ(Polly Jean) Harvey doesn’t have a phone in her Dorset house. But it takes a singular talent to come up with gems like her last album, 1995’s To Bring You My Love, and for Harvey reclusiveness seems to spark the creative process. It’s worked again on Is […]

Douglas Rushkoff : Online `I’m getting a call, hold on,” my friend explained before clicking off our phone conversation to check on another incoming call. He was the one who had called me – just seconds earlier, in fact. After hearing his voice on the machine (which I use as a filtration device) I figured […]

A player revolt, shuttle diplomacy and a letter from Nelson Mandela later, the Windies finally arrive, writes Andy Capostagno There were many good reasons to believe that it would never happen, but on Wednesday the West Indies walked on to the field at the Soweto Oval and cut the ribbon on their first ever official […]

Ferial Haffajee Zwelinzima Vavi is the man who will step into Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Mbhazima Shilowa’s red socks next year. Shilowa, Cosatu president John Gomomo and vice-president Connie September are likely to join a labour throng to Parliament. Vavi, who currently serves as Cosatu’s assistant general secretary, is redder […]

It started seven years ago as a university project. Recently its tiny distributor received a huge financial endorsement. Karlin Lillington gets the line on Linux Only six months ago, Linus Torvalds conceded that in the business world, Linux, his trim and robust variation of the popular operating system Unix, was the OS that dared not […]

Whether it’s buying or selling, Sithengi is the place for film-makers or wannabes. Andrew Worsdale report The biggest film industry gathering on the continent forges into its third year next week, and with the arrival on the stock exchange of major players like Primedia and African Media Entertainment (AME), it seems that this year’s Southern […]

Andrew Worsdale Chris Eyre’s debut feature film deservedly won both the Audience Award and the film- makers’ trophy at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the leading celebration of American Independent film-making. Based on the books The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie, Smoke Signals is a winning mix of comedy and […]

Mungo Soggot and Sechaba ka ‘Nkosi The public protector tried to shield the disgraced rector of Vaal Technikon, who was fired after a commission of inquiry found him guilty of financial impropriety and abusing his position. The technikon’s council ousted Professor Aubrey Mokadi and attached several of his assets this week despite a threat from […]

David Shapshak The first time I heard daiko (Japanese drums) was at a performance by a group of Kobe elementary school children performing their school’s songs. It sounded like a full-blown adult symphony, not a bunch of 12-year-olds taking turns at the drums because there weren’t enough to go around. Such is the power of […]