MONDAY, 11.00AM BLACK-controlled information technology group Sourcecom Technology Solutions has won a fiercely fought contest for a R65-million Telkom contract to supply Compaq hardware to the telecoms parastatal over the next year. STS won the contract against 35 other tenders. The 100% black-owned company was formed in 1996 through the merger of Impact Integration Systems […]
champion TENNIS:Richard Williams THE means were predictable, the method was not. The Wimbledon final was certainly won, as advertised, by Pete Sampras’s serve but not, in this instance, by the 208km/h fireballs that had reduced his opponents to cinders in the earlier rounds. In a match falling some way short of greatness Sampras demonstrated his […]
FENCING:Julian Drew ALTHOUGH there will be more than 60 countries taking part in the Fencing World Championships in Cape Town next week, the medals are likely to be divided between only a few nations. The traditional fencing powers of France, Italy and Hungary, along with Russia – who have won more medals than any other […]
Wally Mbhele GENERAL Bantu Holomisa this week blasted the African National Congress’s “witch- hunt” of its Womens’ League leader, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and its silence on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s investigation into her. His attack followed what seems to be an increasingly futile search by the commission for a key witness, Katiza Cebekhulu, who can […]
Ferial Haffajee `NOW my friends it is time for you to come to your friend in order to understand. The cattle have udders, come and milk them!” It is 1899, and around the reef which was to become Johannesburg touts put up notices like this one to entice black labourers on to the mines. At […]
FRIDAY, 8.00AM A SECURITY company manager in Harare opened fire on 200 employees on Thursday who were stoning the company’s offices, demanding 50% pay rises. He injured 18 workers. The workers burnt a dozen company motorbikes before police arrived to quell the riot and arrest the manager. THURSDAY, 4.00PM MORE than 11 000 Zimbabwean railway […]
Gwen Ansell on Steven Berkoff GRAHAMSTOWN adores Steven Berkoff (right). Even after he referred to their quaint town as a “dump”, festinos still packed the theatre and gave the man a gushing standing ovation. The media, echoing the festival programme, have proclaimed him this year’s emperor. Problem is, despite the mildewed tailcoat, the Hamletian black […]
… one giant leap for Earthlings, who are exploring Mars with interactive technology, write Mail & Guardian Reporters THE first stage of the invasion of Mars reached a climax on Sunday when a robot scout rolled its six little wheels down a ramp and parked itself on Martian soil. But the events of this week […]
THURSDAY, 6.00PM THE Producer Price Index fell to an annual 8,4% in May, 0,4 of a percentage point lower than the figure for April, the Central Statistical Servise said on Thursday. The PPI for locally produced commodities stood at 8,9%, 0,8 of a percentage point lower than the corresponding annualised rate in April. The PPI […]
Stand-up comedian John Vlismas is heading for the international stage. ALEXANDER SUDHEIM laughs along HE skids on to stage, a lunatic druid on bad speed. Collides with the microphone. Glares at the audience with gargoyle eyes; shaven head; undertaker’s suit. Weird beard; hideous raptor leer. Explodes into bursts of language like a runaway catherine wheel […]
FRIDAY, 1.30PM EXPLOSIVES and chemicals giant AECI has been found causally negligent in relation to the huge fire at its Somerset West sulphur stockpile on December 16 1995. The Desai commission of inquiry into the fire published its report on Thursday, in which it noted that since the stockpile’s establishment in 1967 to the time […]
CLASSICAL:Coenraad Visser WHILE the first season of the National Symphony Orchestra of the SABC was marked by some outstanding conductors, the second belonged to some magnificent soloists. Two of the world’s leading string players dazzled Johannesburg audiences. Cellist Torleif Thedeen, on his third visit to this country, gave a passionate account of Dvork’s masterly cello […]
THERE will be a seminar at the Market Theatre on July 8, where Cathy Robinson and Michael Ward of the Australian Film Commission will talk about the current industry structure and funding conditions in the country. Producers Tristram Miall and Pauline Clague, director Margot Nash and international market development manager Sabina Finnern will share their […]
FRIDAY, 4.30PM NAMIBIA’S president Sam Nujoma has faced widespread criticism in Windhoek for a television speech on Wednesday night which announced a ban on all public gatherings held without permission from the police. Nujoma made the announcement after several weeks of demonstrations around the country by former guerrillas who fought for Swapo during the war […]
Writer Timothy Garton Ash was a student and journalist in Berlin in the 1970s and 1980s. Recently he returned to the city to find the file kept on him by East Germany’s secret police. In this extract from his forthcoming book The File, he tells of finding the buff-coloured binder detailing his activities – and […]
ASMAL BACKS CEASEFIRE NATIONAL Conventional Arms Control Committee chair and Water Minister Kader Asmal has agreed with the Ceasefire Campaign that the SA armaments industry is overemphasising its contribution to the economy. Ceasefire representative Heike Spiegelberg said: “The income generated by arms exports last year was a mere R900-million, which still needs to be balanced […]
Julia Grey SOUTH AFRICA can be counted among the top 10 countries worldwide in the field of space technology. But according to Dr Kelvin Kemm, a South African nuclear physicist, South African industry and politicians alike have a misconception of space technology as “fun and games entertainment” instead of “the absolute new frontier of profit”. […]
FRIDAY, 11.00AM STOCKBROKER Gerrit Steenkanmp, a former director of two broking firms, on Thursday pleaded guilty before a SA Institute of Stockbrokers disciplinary inquiry of fraud involving the misappropriation of R5-million in client funds between August 1994 and April this year. The institute expelled Steenkamp from its ranks and he may now face criminal and […]
FRIDAY, 10.30AM: MICHAEL CHEESMAN on Thursday increased his overall lead by 5 min 22 sec, in the second stage of the KWV Berg river marathon. Cheesman finished second and pre-race favourite Graham Bird won the second stage. Bird, who finished ninth in the first round on Wednesday, clocked in 3:08:51 to Cheeman’s 3:08:52. Donnie Malherbe […]
Whether or not he allows political reform in Kenya, Daniel arap Moi’s days as ruler are numbered, reports Ken Opala from Nairobi PRESIDENT Daniel arap Moi’s 20-year unbroken hold on power in Kenya is under siege, and probably in its terminal phase, following waves of public protests to reform the Constitution. The key demand is […]
The Cape Town 2004 Olympic Bid’s attempts to `Africanise’ its programme may be too little, too late, argues Julian Drew DEPUTY Foreign Affairs Minister Essop Pahad has shared a vital fact with Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, a fact that has so far eluded the bid company: the first known records of organised sport are from […]
The Standard Bank National Arts Festival, held in Grahamstown, always generates a lot of controversy and differing opinions. Here are some Suzy Bell on Trevor Makhoba DURBAN artist, Trevor Makhoba, recipient of the 1996 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for the Visual Arts, has spoken out against the Standard Bank National Arts Festival committee. “They […]
FRIDAY, 10.30AM SHARES on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange leapt ahead on Thursday, using a modest recovery in the gold price as an excuse for a major rally. Industrials started the day on a gloomy note influenced by gold’s poor fortunes, but soon picked up. By close of trade, the all share index was up 0,5% […]
Top new local band Skeem last week severed their newly formed ties with Sony Music. MARIA McCLOY and CHARL BLIGNAUT find out why WAAR WAS JY? was one of the most popular tunes of the past year. It came off Skeem’s debut album; won them a 1997 South African Music Award and established them as […]
The falling gold price has shattered the fortunes of the South African mining industry, and the lives of hundreds of thousands who depend on mining jobs for their survival Angella Johnson THE round metal Lesotho pot was boiling nicely. Makabelo Ntaote added more cow dung and wood to the fire. She used to have a […]
David Beresford NAMIBIAN security forces, acting with the encouragement of President Sam Nujoma, have been accused of responsibility for the murders and disappearance of 1 768 Angolans on its northern borders. The claim has been made by a Namibian human rights group, the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), which has been monitoring the alleged […]
FRIDAY, 6.00PM The agreement reached on Thursday between Gauteng Democratic Party leader Peter Leon and new Johannesburg police area commissioner Isak Pretorius that all six entrances to Alexandra township will be blockaded by police and army has drawn sharp reaction from safety and security MEC Jessie Duarte. Reacting “with utter dismay and serious concern” to […]
Wonder Hlongwa THE man chosen to revive African National Congress fortunes in KwaZulu-Natal’s volatile Midlands region is sceptical about the terms of the province’s embryonic peace package. Anthony Xaba, who took over as ANC Midlands chair last week, says he is uncomfortable with various points the ANC is discussing with the Inkatha Freedom Party as […]
As the Australian Film Festival gets under way in Johannesburg and Cape Town, we look at the peculiarities of their cinema Howard Feinstein WHO can forget the over-the-top talking heads and flashy gestures in Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom? The loud anti-heroine and her siblings in PJ Hogan’s Muriel’s Wedding? Or the bizarre sisters and the […]
FRIDAY, 1.30PM MURDERED People Against Gangsterism and Drugs national secretary Sharief Khan was on Thursday proclaimed the vigilante group’s second martyr at his funeral. Meanwhile, Ebrahim Satardien, the man arrested for Khan’s murder, appeared briefly in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Friday for a bail application. The bail hearing was postponed to Monday and Satardien […]
Andrew Worsdale THE Australian Film Festival offers a different view to the commercial movies we have come to identify with Australia. It is on at the Rosebank Mall in Johannesburg from July 11 to 16 and at Cavendish Square in Cape Town from July 17. Of the 10 features in the festival, several are must-sees: […]
Were this week’s statements of remorse by Amy Biehl’s killers pure expediency – or did they bring us closer to the truth of the past? Gaye Davis was at their amnesty hearing THE meeting, when it came, was no more than a handshake in one of the corridors leading off the low-ceilinged room high in […]