Staff Reporter

Hein Marais: A SECOND LOOK Eighteen months ago, questioning the virtues of the free market was tantamount to flashing a membership card of the Flat Earth Society. Today, there’s standing room only on the bandwagon of second thoughts about laissez- faire capitalism. Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel, President Nelson Mandela, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, […]

Maureen Barnes Down the tube The Emmy Awards – the Hollywood TV industry’s mutual back-scratching night out – took three-and- a-half hours to screen, and this was the edited version. In that amount of time, I imagine, the Almighty created a sizeable chunk of the earth and the creatures thereon. Having been caught before, I […]

Cynthia Schoeman Are leaders born or made? What made Mahatma Ghandi a person of adulation to millions, able to lead thousands in protest actions? The debate still rages. But whether leadership is inborn or developed, certainly there are too few natural leaders to meet the demands of companies in today’s fast changing world. Therefore, organisations […]

Peter Makarube Live in Johannesburg They said jazz is dead but we have yet to see the coffin. With the establishment of the South African Jazz Foundation comes ample proof that the hippest art form is still alive – and well. At a recent media launch, held at the Hyatt hotel, the foundation was introduced […]

Sarah Boseley A revolutionary device that will tell a doctor what is wrong and which drugs to prescribe from the smell of the patient’s breath is being developed by a team of top scientists at one of Britain’s leading universities. Development of the diagnostic breathalyser is being compared to the invention of the thermometer. Within […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni Student political organisations at Technikon Witwatersrand have collapsed because they have failed to find roles in the new South Africa. “The leadership here has been weakening because students are not united in dealing with issues which affect them,” said student affairs official Andy Dass. “Student political organisations before the 1994 elections […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Thursday 10.00pm. LOOTING and mayhem has spread thoughout Lesotho, while the capital, Maseru, remains volatile with mutinous troops and dissidents in the hills still shooting into the city at random. Althought the joint task force of South African National Defence Force and Botswana troops had regained some degree of control in […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Ottowa | Thursday 9.00am. CANADA has given President Nelson Mandela a hero’s welcome at a rare meeting of the two chambers of the Canadian parliament in Ottowa. Mandela, at the start of a two-day state visit to Canada, thanked a packed House of Commons chamber for Canadian support in the fight against apartheid […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Wednesday 5.00pm. LOCAL stock enjoyed another strong day on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange as the players turned momentarily away from international developments to the strengthening rand. Dealers, while enjoying the rand’s newfound gains as it rose to R5,95 to the dollar, warn, however, that the gains may be shortlived. Most of […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, New York | Thursday 10.30pm. UNITED States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has suggested establishing an international centre to curb arms transfers. During a United Nations Security Council session devoted to Africa on Thursday she reminded the meeting of foreign ministers that the UN was overseeing work to draw up “responsible policies for […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 9.00pm. WESTERN Cape premier Gerald Morkel on Thursday announced a complete reshuffle of his provincial cabinet which sees popular former Cape Town mayor Leon Markowitz taking over the finance portfolio. A second newcomer, former chief executive of the Helderberg municipality Frieda Adams will assume the post of MEC in […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 7.15pm. QWA-QWA Stars thrashed Moroka Swallows 3-0 in a Castle Premier League match at George Goch Stadium in Johannesburg on Thursday. Stars striker Goodman Mazibuko scored a brace in the 63rd and 76th minutes, while captain Sipho Khuse scored the third in the 82nd minute from a cross in the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 9.00pm. KAISER Chiefs left it pretty late but the Amakhosi edged Seven Stars 2-1 in a Castle Premier League match at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on Thursday. Chiefs held a 1-0 lead for virtually the whole second half, but were shocked by a late goal by Stars to […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.00pm. ANGOLA on Wednesday lifted the month-old suspension banning Unita members from its government. Prime Minister Franca Van-Dunem said the decision had been made after consultations between the government and the provisional leadership set up by Unita dissidents who split from hardline leader Jonas Savimbi earlier this month. President Jos […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday 9.45pm. THE African National Congress on Wednesday used its political muscle to push the controversial Liquor Bill through the National Assembly in the face of protests that the legislation may be unconstitutional and erodes the power of the provinces. The bill provides give national government the mandate to issue […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.00pm. DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo rebels on Wednesday said they killed at least 50 Rwandan Hutu and Mai-Mai fighters when rebel troops attempted to cut the road outside rebel headquarters in Goma. Lunda Bululu, one of rebel leaders, said the road was opened after a two-hour gunbattle, and soldiers on […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Wednesday 7.00pm. A SQUAD of South African security policemen were stopped in a roadblock en route to plant a bomb in the African National Congress headquarters in London in 1982. This came to light during the testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s amnesty hearing where eight policemen are applying for […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Wednesday 7.50pm. Mpumalanga’s provincial executive council refused to grill the province’s finance MEC, Jacques Modipane, or other top politicians about their links with ousted parks chief, Alan Gray, for a second time on Wednesday. An earlier scheduled showdown between the executive council and Modipane was cancelled last week after the council […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maputo | Wednesday 1.00pm. THE future development of Mozambique will be mapped out on Wednesday at the country’s annual consultative group meeting with its donors. The country is doing well economically, having reached an annual growth rate of 12,4% in 1997, the best in Africa. Inflation is practically non-existent. “Mozambique right now is […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday 10.00pm. SPORT and Recreation Minister Steve Tshwete expressed his frustration on Wednesday at a lack of adequate investment in sport in South Africa. Introducing debate on the National Sport and Recreation Bill, he congratulated the country’s Commonwealth Games team, as well as its management and coaches, on a performance […]

President Nelson Mandela was on Wednesday awarded the United States’ Congressional medal of honour, the highest civilian recognition awarded by the US, in a ceremony in Washington.

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.30pm NIGERIA’S military ruler, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, left Britain on Wednesday confident that his political reform programme will soon lead to the removal of sanctions against his country by the European Union. The union imposed limited sanctions — including travel restrictions on government officials — in 1995 after late General […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.15am. LEE TREVINO, multiple title winner and one of the great characters in world golf, has accepted an invitation to play in the R450000 Vodacom Senior Classic at Dainfern from November 20-22. Trevino, the wise-cracking Mexican who taught himself the game, won 27 tournaments including six majors on the regular […]

MICHAEL METELITS, Johannesburg | Tuesday 6.00pm. DESPITE the release Tuesday of domestic consumer price information from Statistics South Africa, formerly the Central Statistical Service, international trends again dominated the JSE and other local markets. Those trends were positive, as a number of markets bounced back from Monday’s carnage. The CPI 12-month rate was 7,6%, which […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 10.00pm. A ZAMBIAN high court judge who is trying 77 coup plot suspects has threatend to release all the accused if the Zambian government fails to improve their prison conditions, Zambian press reports said on Monday. Prosecution lawyers were on Saturday ordered by Judge Japhet Banda to arrange improvement of […]

President Nelson Mandela has vowed to support United States President Bill Clinton even if everybody else deserts him.

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 11.30pm AN ESTIMATED 300 Botswanan Defence Force troops have arrived in Lesotho. Elijah Legwaila, senior permanent secretary in the office of Botswana President Festus Mogae confirmed the deployment and said: “Our troops arrived in Lesotho [on Tuesday] and will remain there until the situation is stabilised. The situation in Lesotho […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 4.00pm. EFFORTS by United Nations special envoy Issa Diallo to meet with Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi are being thwarted by the government’s stated inability to guarantee his safety, leaving him effectively stalled in the capital, Luanda. The country’s peace accords negotiated four years ago in Lusaka, Zambia, are threatened […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 3.30pm. THE National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa on Tuesday said that the second one-day sympathy strike in support of a three-week old strike in the motor retail industry was a raging success. In the Eastern Cape, the Delta Motor Corporation said it has been forced to close its […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Tuesday 3.30pm. THE Mpumalanga government on Tuesday ordered disgraced provincial parks board chief Alan Gray to resign, and fired the entire board of the Mpumalanga Parks Board. Gray, who reportedly accepted the order on Tuesday morning, has however been promised a sizeable severance package and will not be subjected to a […]

MICHAEL METELITS, Johannesburg | Monday 5.00pm. MOST markets moved in thin trading Monday, as the Jewish New Year and the impending public holiday on Thursday kept volumes down. In a local trading vacuum, international pressures directed market activity, and the news out of Asia was bad, as the Nikkei plunged over 350 points and other […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 4.00pm. THE incidence of ethnic murder is rising in northwest Rwanda and is stoking conflict in the volatile Democratic Republic of Congo, human rights organisation African Rights said on Tuesday. The organisation warned that the ethnic killings could destabilise the region, and that conflict in the DRC, led by Tutsi […]