MONDAY, 1.30PM: SOUTH AFRICA’S Ernie Els finished on 290, 10-over-par in the final round of the PGA Championships in Mamaroneck on Sunday. He was consoled however, by a six-iron 185-yard hole-in-one that hit the green once and rolled into the cup. “I lost my game on Friday. I kind of lost it on the greens […]
The Angella Johnson Interview Look at the photograph. Familiar, isn’t he? It’s Bankole Omotoso, or as he’s more popularly known, Yebo Gogo – the face that launched a slew of Vodacom cellphones. Here is a true Renaissance man; a master of many trades who refuses to be tied down to just one job. When this […]
Francis Murape Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s recent land offer to ex-combatants may be a little too late. The liberation war veterans’ protests have assumed, not only anti- corruption, but anti-government overtones as well. About 500 of the former fighters, demanding payments from the corruption-riddled War Victims Compensation Fund, on Monday drowned Mugabe’s speech at the […]
play together The four Lemmer children, from toddler to pre-teen, are delightful: bright, affectionate, well- mannered. We go for a walk to see the canal close to the farm in Matama. I ask them what they miss most from South Africa. They say their friends.”There are plenty of children here. Haven’t you made new friends […]
Brenda Atkinson: Johannesburg Biennale update Okwui Enwezor, artistic director of this year’s Johannesburg Biennale, has spoken out against media coverage of the arts in South Africa, as well as corporate “stinginess” regarding local arts funding. Despite the fact that resistance to apartheid produced a flourishing creative community, and some extraordinary work across the artistic field, […]
No, they have not arrived. This is an integrated class A 40 watt per channel stereo amplifier, and it comes, not from Mars, but from Panfield’s Andrew Meintjies. Meintjies, a photographer, camera-builder, and “Renaissance techno-geek”, makes the amps by hand. Their form-follows-function design is unique: the aluminium casing – available in 10 different colours – […]
FRIDAY, 12.30PM: OLYMPICS and World Championships athletes Penny Heyns, Llewellyn Herbert and Marius Corbert will lead the 144-strong South African Students Sports Union (Sassu) team to compete in the World Student Games in Sicily, Italy starting on Tuesday. The team has nine teams including footballers, swimmers and athletes. Meanwhile, Olympic silver medallist Hezekiel Sepeng might […]
FRIDAY, 12.30PM: THE South African cricket academy lost to New Zealand by six wickets in a limited overs match at Hoy Park in Durban on Thursday. South Africa lost the toss to the Kiwis and scored 254/8. Morne Strydom hit 103 in 96 balls for South Africa. New Zealand lost their first wicket to the […]
Khareen Pech The National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) approved the sale of arms worth more than R60-million to President Pascal Lissouba’s army last year, months before the outbreak of hostilities that have torn Congo (Brazzaville) asunder. Official sources claim the deal involved only non-lethal equipment. But French sources in Paris say South African-origin weapons, […]
Janet Smith The way you see the world had better be elegant, fast, utterly modern and definitely sexy if you want to survive youthtopia into the next millennium. Even if there’s a cause, it may no longer be conducted in Jesus sandals and roll-on deodorant. The way Cape Town’s Nobleman Motsa is seeing the world […]
Marion Edmunds The director general of the public service department, Paseko Ncholo, believes South Africa’s R74-billion public sector wage bill is a political ” hot potato” that Cabinet needs to address through “political decisions”. Speaking at a briefing in Parliament, Ncholo denied knowing anything about government plans to prune the country’s empire of 1,2-million public […]
Steve Morris: Rugby The public ourpourings of support from the rugby tsars, besieged as they currently are in a winter palace of growing national discontent, for Springbok coach Carel du Plessis, have the distinctly hollow ring of those who protest too much. Du Plessis is under fire for a string of dubious decisions about the […]
FRIDAY, 4.30PM GAUTENG safety and security MEC Jessie Duarte and informal traders’ organisations on Friday condemned the looting and destruction of property during protest action on Wednesday and Thursday. On Thursday afternoon, 120 hawkers were arrested for taking part in illegal marches after they marched on police stations to demand the release of six of […]
Dear Walter, Sorry I have been out of touch for so long, but I have been frantically busy resolving man-kind’s problems. As you know, the miracles we performed in bringing peace to South Africa have given us a reputation as the world’s foremost political mediators. As a result, whenever a tiff breaks out between ruler […]
FRIDAY, 11.30AM JOHANNESBURG Consolidated Investments, SA’s first black-owned mining company, is to be split into thrre smaller companies: a parent holding company, a gold company, and a non-gold commodities firm, according to a letter to staff from chairman Mzi Khumalo. In the letter, Khumalo said the purpose is to create management structures to ensure a […]
The spirit of Shaka Zulu is back, this time featuring a gaggle of international stars, reports Charl Blignaut Ask any common or garden foreigner about their impressions of South African history and you can safely bet that the words “Shaka Zulu” will come your way. That’s got a lot to do with SABC-TV’s 1986 series […]
Swapna Prabhakaran Psst … wanna buy a Mirage aircraft or a navy tugboat? Vast quantities of South African National Defence Force (SANDF) ammunition, vehicles, aircraft and other matriel are to be disposed of – most by public auction and tender. A SANDF representative said the equipment was no longer needed as it was outdated, beyond […]
Brenda Atkinson: Cultural Sushi Last Sunday’s fundraising auction at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg was not, as one audience member was heard to whisper, “anything like Sotheby’s”. Technical hitches led to a late start; Albie Sachs had to deliver the opening address because hype guru Dali Tambo was “running on African time”; and jazz maestro […]
Mozambique’s north South African farmers are moving into northern Mozambique, raising hopes, concerns and some belly laughs among inhabitants. Mercedes Sayagues reports Rural folk in Niassa province have never been so entertained. First came the missionaries. Braving mud and dust, gaping potholes and flimsy bridges, dozens are preaching the Dutch Reformed Church gospel across northern […]
Lynda Loxton While local authorities take desperate measures to get consumers to pay their bills, the final touches are being put to an ambitious plan to get South Africa’s electrification programme back on track. Minerals and energy department deputy- director Wolsey Barnard told the parliamentary minerals and energy committee this week the plan involved dividing […]
FRIDAY, 11.00AM: GENCOR’s Impala Platinum has reported a 17% increase in atrtributable income to R205-million in the year to June following successful cost-control measures and increased revenues due to the rand’s weakness. Earnings per share were up to 330c from 282c, while the the dividend increased to 110c from 100c. The results were considerably better […]
PHOENIX SUSPECT ARRESTED POLICE have arrested a suspect beleived to be the Phoenix Starangler, who has raped and murdered at least 19 women in Phoenix near Durban. The suspect was arrested during a raid on a shack in the Besters shantytown near Phoenix. The suspect, a Zulu-speaking man between the ages of 30 and 40 […]
team To win in Formula One takes more than a pair of hot-shoe drivers. Without the right team manager, the best designer and the slickest pit crew, you will never make the podium. Which is why drivers are not the only ones commanding multi-million pound salaries these days. Alan Henry casts his eye around the […]
Soccer: A draw against Congo, and one point, is all South Africa need to book their place at the World Cup finals, writes Andrew Muchineripi There is no higher peak in African football than qualifying for the World Cup finals and South Africa can realise that dream this Saturday provided they avoid defeat against Congo […]
Arthur Goldstuck Music tunes in to the Web Last weekend saw the climax of 1997’s biggest, noisiest and most fascinating South African music event, the third Oppikoppi Festival of Rock held in the bushveld beyond Sun City. What started as a University of Pretoria Graphic Design school project is now the keynote event in the […]
FRIDAY, 11.30AM The finance ministry on Thursday signed a partnership deal with a consortium of local and international businesses for the re-engineering of the government pension fund. The Government Employees’ Pension Fund, SA’s largest, with 1,25-million members and annual pay-outs of R9-billion, has been running in deficit for years. Recent management changes have decreased the […]
Amid all the excitement surrounding the likes of the Clive Derby-Lewis amnesty hearings and arguments over FW de Klerk’s role in apartheid-era atrocities there have been incidents relating to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which are particularly disturbing because they cast light not on yesterday’s men, but those who carry responsibility for our tomorrows. One […]
Suzy bell: Bhangra guide to Durban A middle-aged man in a silk shimmery naartjie-orange suit, black T-shirt and gold chain holds his microphone like a lover to his chest. Then, dramatically, he breaks into song: “Hey you sexy baby! Hey you sexy baby!” Ramesh Hassan, “South Africa’s number one bhangra masala vocalist” welcomes you to […]
Mukoni T Ratshitanga The University of Zululand has failed to send audited statements for millions of rands given to it by the Kagiso Trust for student loans and bursaries. Last week, the Mail & Guardian published a statement by the university’s rector, Charles Dlamini, saying Kagiso’s claim that it had not received statements was “false […]
Stephen Gray: Unspoilt places After orientating oneself in the capital’s National Museum on Independence Avenue one finds the Botswana museum network offers two easy half-day trips out of the commercial city in which there is not much for a tourist to do. Both are attractive, if modest, involving the visitor in a way that Botswana […]
Dror Eyal: The festival circuit It would be easy to dismiss Oppikoppi as the valley of drunken louts; to concentrate on an estranged man committing suicide; on the drunkenness, debauchery and the sexual harassment. But in any society of 15 000 odd people, including those whosnuck in under duvets in the boot, there will be […]
Robert Kirby : Loose cannon The residual loyalty the British royal family continues to inspire – even at this far end of their old Empire – is often quite bewildering. One would have thought that, by the end of the 20th century, the stubborn parasitical existence of any royal houses anywhere would be tolerated only […]