Arthur Goldstuck : Web Feet Don’t you folks like South African music? No sooner do I guide you in the direction of the best and the coolest when you start demanding that weird foreign stuff. Oh well, your wish is my command, so without further ado, herewith a complete listing of all 2340 record labels […]
Alan Henry : Motor racing Damon Hill’s second place in the Hungarian Grand Prix may turn out to be a crucial result in his seven-year Formula One career. Although it is too soon to say whether it will open the door to a place in one of F1’s top teams, it was certainly a timely […]
Melvyn Minnaar Moveable feast The label on the outside is the thing. That, all shoppers know and only naive socialists will contradict. But it is sadly ironic that the once ber Bro of our wine industry – who should have kept the flag flying in all circumstances – have such little faith in what is […]
Andrew Muchineripi: Soccer The cheers greeting Bafana Bafana’s qualification for the 1998 World Cup in France have barely faded when South African football finds itself preparing for another international assault. This time the heroes in black, white, green and gold must take a back seat as Orlando Pirates assume centre stage this weekend when the […]
claim Mungo Soggot De Beers survived its maiden presentation to the parliamentary portfolio committee on mineral and energy virtually unscathed last week. It all went very smoothly until question time when Inkatha Freedom Party MP Dr Kisten Rajoo lashed out at the diamond giant for exploiting child labour in India, where there is a massive, […]
Last week’s Smirnoff International Fashion Awards were overrun by the young and ruthlessly hip. If you survived the trek to Helderfontein Estate, you were assailed by adolescents in hipsters and halters, cooler-than-thou kids at the hottest party of summer. “Decadence” was this year’s design theme, and the press release was dotted with words like “depraved”, […]
African film finally hits the small screen, writes Janet Smith A year ago SABC2 general manager Thaninga Msimango was a lone voice in a crowd. Today she is credited as the person who will herald an African renaissance in broadcasting and film. Her dream comes true this weekend on SABC2 with the first screening of […]
Fires are costing lives and the economy – up to R15-billion this year, reports Charlene Smith Fire-insurance premiums are expected to leap by 50% to 100% because of a dramatic acceleration in claims over the past four years, according to the SA Insurance Association. Clem Booth, who is on the executive of the association and […]
When horrors happen – like Bhopal or the Exxon Valdez – Burson-Marsteller pours PR oil on its clients’ troubled waters, reports Andy Beckett If, by unhappy accident, you were to poison a river, or a customer, or the reputation, slowly assembled, of your corporate employer, then your salvation might arrive in a pale slim folder. […]
FRIDAY, 12.30PM: THE Managing Director of the International Cricket Board, Dr Ali Bacher, on Thursday announced a 24-man under-19 squad to play against their English counterparts in December and Janaury, then in the Under-19 World Cup to be held in South Africa from January 12 to February 2 . Bacher said the squad includes nine […]
FRIDAY, 5.00PM ARMED raiders attacked 4 000 displaced Kenyans in a church compound overnight, killing at least three of them and sending the others fleeing. The latest attack brings the confirmed death toll in violence on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast to 43 since August 13. Many of the inland tribespeople who had sought sanctuary in […]
Maria McCloy Every time you ask anyone in the broadcasting world whether they know of any gay-oriented shows on South African airwaves, chances are they’ll refer you to In The Pink, a weekly programme on Cape community radio station Bush Radio. The show runs on Thursday nights between 8pm and 10pm. “It’s the only gay, […]
Olivia Strange If someone gives you a khanga (printed cloth) with a rooster on it, don’t make your thanks too effusive. The symbolism of the bird, according to Roland Karakashian, who manufactures these cloths in South Africa, suggests that the recipient talks too much. A guinea fowl print brings rain; a fish design should be […]
aThe new-look Mail & Guardian, with its striking new arts pullout, Friday, has been hailed by readers, media-watchers, and the advertising industry. The bulk of the redesign was done in-house by literary editor and chief designer Shaun de Waal, in consultation with Riaan de Villiers, a veteran journalist and production expert who works at the […]
The Phillips Curve never died – it simply moved, argues Richard Thomas Economists are unlikely victims of fashion. The closest most get to the catwalk designs is a subtle but daring contrast between the colour of their cords and elbow patches. But intellectually, for all its seriousness, the profession has developed a butterfly tendency to […]
FRIDAY, 12.30PM: The United Cricket Board of South Africa’s director of development, Hoosain Ayob, will leave at the end of September to join the International Cricket Council. This follows his appointment to spearhead the development of the game in Africa. Ayob’s task is to spread cricket in 14 African countries where a sound base had […]
THURSDAY, 11.00AM COSATU’s week of one-day regional strikes in support of its demand for changes to the draft Basic Conditions of Employment Act moves to Gauteng and Northern Province on Thursday. THURSDAY, 6.00PM Cosatu-organised marchers in Johannesburg and Pretoria went off peacefully on Thursday. In Johannesburg, about 12 000 marchers presented a memorandum to the […]
FRIDAY, 2.30PM The minibus taxi industry should be smashed and rebuilt, according to Elias Mosunkutu, chairman of the Gauteng public transport standing committee. Mosunkutu made the statement after the province was accused of being ruthless in amending the Road Transportation Act to force taxi operators to register and obtain route permits by Lennox Mabaso of […]
FRIDAY, 12.30PM: THE Johannesburg City Council is threatening to cut off the water supply to the Reserve Bank’s Newtown headquarters unless a claimed R46 600 in arrears is not paid by the weekend. Bank manager Mike Smith denied that Bank is in arrears with its water payments. However, a council source confirmed that the Bank’s […]
The Zulu Messengers, exponents of isicathamiya, are being applauded in a documentary. Andrew Worsdale hung around on set Every Saturday night, virtually without fail, the 15 members of The Zulu Messengers congregate at the downtown YMCA in Durban with over 20 other groups to perform in an isicathamiya competition that lasts through until late Sunday […]
COPS SEIZE GOLD DUST POLICE seized about six tons of gold dust on Friday in a raid on a hostel in Thabong near Welkom in the Free State. A combined force of police and soldiers, assisted by security officers from local gold mines and traffic police, took part in the raid at about 1.30am. A […]
Maria McCloy American hip-hop/jazz/funk singer and bassist Me’Shell NdegeOcello, who was due to perform at this year’s Johannesburg Arts Alive Festival, will not be appearing because of injuries sustained in a car crash. Arts Alive officials panicked when Ndege- Ocello began cancelling appearances on the European festival circuit, and it was confirmed this week that […]
Craig Bishop Beyond the flea markets and street vendors, the Sandton cities and the hypermarket, a new breed of “shopping centre” is taking shape: multipurpose community centres – “one-stop development shopping malls” – promise to provide information-starved communities with free access to a wide range of services. In the heart of Alexandra, at Alexsan Resource […]
Aspasia Karras Minister of Trade and Industry Alec Erwin this week announced that President Nelson Mandela will open an important investor conference in East London on November 7, where two of the eight Spatial Development Initiatives (SDI) in the Eastern Cape will be formally launched. It is clear from the outset that the Wild Coast […]
Ireland has been unable to accept a triple Olympic champion who has been dogged by allegations of drug-taking, writes Fintan o’Toole At the Atlanta Olympics last year two young women dominated the headlines in Ireland: one, Sonia O’Sullivan, was a world champion expected to win two gold medals; the other, Michelle Smith, was an obscure […]
FRIDAY, 5.00PM CONGOLESE government troops intensified their shelling of the central and northern parts of the capital Brazzaville on Friday in a continued attack on the militia of former dictator Denis Sassou Nguesso. Brazzaville residents fleeing across the Congo river to Kinshasa, capital of the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, said shells struck the home […]
Chris Roper: Cultural sushi Cape Town is about to experience an influx of beautiful uitlanders. Two major modelling agencies are opening branches in our fair city. The world’s largest model management corporation, Elite, has launched its SA Model Look competition, and the lucky lass will be chosen on Saturday, August 23 in the Royal Ballroom […]
WEDNESDAY, 6.00PM SHARES on the Johannesburg ended Thursday slightly firmer, with gold shares benefiting from the rand’s continued woes and industrials closing higher, but off the day’s highs because of profit taking. Big news of the day was the rand hitting its lowest point ever against the dollar before recovering in later trade after Reserve […]
Maria McCloy: Design of the Week `It’s like going to the Zoo Lake, taking a shit photo and slapping it on.” This is how designer Nicholas Hauser describes the way in which music posters and covers are usually put together. He sure as hell is having none of that, judging by his work for some […]
THURSDAY, 11.00AM: ISCOR is to mothball its ageing Pretoria steel mill, the comapny said on Wednesday, a move that will result in the loss of more than 1 000 jobs. Iscor MD Louis van Niekerk said the closure of the group’s oldest steel mill will cost about R1-billion, but he added this will not have […]
THURSDAY, 12.30PM: AMALGAMATED Banks of South Africa (Absa) on Wednesday announced a R44-million sponsorship deal of Athletics South Africa (ASA) over a period of five years. An excited ASA president Leonard Chuene said: “This is empowerment for us and we don’t have any excuse for not producing medal winners for both Sydney and the 2004 […]
THURSDAY, 3.30PM: COTE d’IVOIRE is to receive a loan of US$50-million from the World Bank and a $35-million debt-relief grant from the International Development Association (IDA). The funds are to help Cote d’Ivoire pay off its commercial debts as part of a general debt management strategy to attract private investors. The grant includes about $10-million […]