Aspasia Karras A DRIVE to help local communities deal with their environmental needs, so that they do not become recipients of everyone else’s problems, is contained in a White Paper to be presented to the Cabinet next week. The White Paper, which is likely to be made public later this month, comes at a time […]
ON a hilltop overlooking Johannesburg’s northern suburbs, Tara -the H Moross psychiatric centre – looks like a five-star hotel with well-groomed gardens and lawns, a nine-hole golf course, two tennis courts and a swimming pool. Behind the glitzy appearance is a hospital providing intensive treatment of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression and anxiety disorders. […]
modern times Jim Cambray WHEN an Eastern Cape farmer saw some small fish in his streams, he thought they were trout spawning, and called in local scientists to make sure. They discovered the little creature was, in fact, the Cape galaxias, which had never before been recorded in Eastern Cape river systems. Also known as […]
The dream of founding a new National Party is over for Roelf Meyer, courtesy of the NP’s elite, reports Marion Edmunds FALLEN National Party hero, Roelf Meyer, has been outmanoeuvred by his opponents. His more conservative colleagues, led by executive director Marthinus van Schalkwyk and Western Cape Premier Hernus Kriel, pressured leader FW de Klerk […]
FRIDAY, 10.30AM RANDGOLD commercial director Brett Kebble is behind an attempt to set up SA’s first resource bank, a R1-billion venture intended to fund mining projects. Kebble is at present touting the plan to leading financiers. It is widely believed that the proposed mining bank is in anticipation of new black empowerment initiatives such as […]
FRIDAY, 2.30PM The truth commission Friday made an impassioned final plea to former apartheid defence minister General Magnus Malan to apply for amnesty before Saturday’s deadline. TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine said the commissione noted Malan’s decision not to seek amnesty with “deep concern”. “It is my opinion that he would be well advised […]
FRIDAY, 10.30AM The rand weakened only slightly yesterday in the face of high demand for foreign currency following the sale of Swaziland-based Lonrho Sugar to Illovo Sugar. As the sale went through local currency markets, the rand was helped by a weaker dollar and continued strong foreign investment demand. Reserve bank vigilance also played a […]
Luisa Dillner in London BRITAIN’S Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) is thinking twice about banning drivers from using their mobile phones while on the road. But lobbyists there want cellphones off the road, whether hand-held or mounted on a car kit. Is there any evidence that mobile phones actually cause accidents? “There’s […]
Madikizela-Mandela has not delivered as leader of the ANC Women’s League in the past, and herrhetoric may presage the death of the organisation, writes Rhoda Kadalie THE re-election of Winnie Madikizela- Mandela as president of the African National Congress Women’s League is more a reflection of the weakness of the organisation than it is a […]
THURSDAY, 4.00PM: AN African National Congress town councillor from Richmond in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands was early Thursday shot dead as he left his home. Rodney van der Byl, 54, was shot about eight times in an attack local residents say is linked to Van der Byl’s refusal to resign in support of expelled Midlands ANC […]
WINNIE AT TRC IT IS “more than likely” that ANC Women’s League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela will be called by the Truth Commission to explain her involvement in the kidnapping and death of child activist Stompie Seipei in 1989, commissioner Yasmin Sooka said today — the first official confirmation that the commission intends issuing a subpoena […]
THURSDAY, 11.30AM TSOGO Sun’s position as preferred finalist for a casino resort in the Mpumalanga capital of Nelspruit was placed in jeopardy yesterday when rivals Karos Hotels and Esikhehleni won a dramatic high court ruling which will likely delay the establishment of a Nelspruit casino complex for several months. Karos and its associate Esikhahleni argued […]
THURSDAY, 8.30AM FW DE KLERK, widely believed to have fallen out with his heir apparent Roelf Meyer, announced last night that he was scrapping Meyer’s task group investigating the possibility of forming a new party. The decision is a victory for the party’s Western Cape right-wing, which opposes radical changes to the party. Meyer, former […]
THURSDAY, 2.30PM: RESCUE operations at Gold Fields’ Deelkraal mine have been halted following this morning’s discovery of a ninth body after two seismic tremors last night caused rockfalls 2,6km down the mine. Mineral and Energy Affairs Minister Penuell Maduna is at present visiting the mine, following which he will visit injured miners in hospital. Following […]
THURSDAY, 4.00PM: SINCE former Zimbabwean president Canaan Banana was accused of homosexual rape by his former aide de camp earlier this year, dozens of students, soccer players and soldiers have approached police investigating the claims with complaints that they too had suffered sexual harassment from Banana, the Financial Gazette repotred Thursday. The allegations first arose […]
THURSDAY, 11.30AM GOVERNMENT may consider closing its accounts with private-sector banks which show no interest in financing small and medium enterprises, Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka told Parliament on Wednesday. We doubt and question the banks’ interest in the transformation and promotion of small and medium-sized businesses. These banks have government accounts from […]
THURSDAY, 12.30PM: The cash-strapped SA Tennis Association has received good news — they are not hosting the Fed Cup tie between SA and Austria on July 12 and 13. The meet will be held in Austria, and Sata’s only financial requirement will be to get the SA side there. The news comes as a relief […]
THURSDAY, 11.00AM The long-awaited trade in rand-dollar futures began yesterday on the SA Futures Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Dealing in the futures and options, which allow investors to hedge future risk, made a slow start, with trade in Chacago outpacing Johannesburg. Only one contract was completed in Johanesburg, as opposed to 150 in […]
THURSDAY, 11.00AM ELECTRICITY parastatal Eskom yesterday announced it has made a bid for 75% of the Zambian power utility, and is investigating constructing a 400kV power line through Swaziland to Mozambique. Eskom made the announcement at the launch of a major low-cost housing project in Midrand, with the capacity tomprovide 8 000 rental units and […]
THURSDAY, 12.30PM: SUNDOWNS trampled over Umtata Bush Bucks on their own territory yesterday, when they beat Bucks 3-2 in their Castle Premier League match at the Independence Stadium in Umtata. Isaac Shai of Sundowns scored the first goal in the 19th minute, and within six minutes striker Raphael Chukwu doubled the Sundowns lead. Bucks’ Tshepo […]
THURSDAY, 4.00PM: POLICE this morning used a water cannon to disperse Inkatha Freedom Party supporters resisitng eviction from Penduka section in Thokoza on the East Rand. The houses in Penduka section have been illegally occupied by IFP-supporting families since the early 1990s, when political violenec between supporters of the African National Congress and the IFP […]
THURSDAY, 12.30PM: SANET MARAIS continued her winning streak in the Bell’s Women’s Open amateur golf championship in Killarney, Johannesburg — she triumphed in the matchplay section. yesterday with two wins. Marais beat both Desiree Earle (5/3), and Lindsay Cummings (4/3) in quick bouts. She is certainly going through to play in the quarterfinals, as is […]
WEDNESDAY, 6.30PM BUSINESS confidence was up last month. thanks to the stability of the rand, the possible peaking of the inflation rate and a sustained inflow of foreign capital. “The business mood remains cautiously optimistic,” South African Chamber of Business economic policy director Ben van Rensburg said on Wednesday, announcing that the Sacob monthly business […]
Even though JOE QUEENAN is annoyed by Spike Lee, he thinks that, with the release of Get on the Bus, it’s time to show respect I DON’T know any white people who like Spike Lee. I know white people who used to like Spike Lee, but that was before his anti-white tirades, his going to […]
RUGBY:Steve Morris IT is a sad state of affairs when the top sides in this country are left to fight it out among themselves for the scraps of the Super 12 semi-final berths. But, as things currently stand in the maelstrom of the three-nation provincial competition, this is indeed the case. With the Auckland Blues, […]
Barbara Ludman QUITE UGLY ONE MORNING by Christopher Brookmyre (Little, Brown, R59,75) THERE’S a certain attraction to a book which clearly sets out to be the most disgusting read of the year. Investigative reporter Jack Parlabane, hiding in Edinburgh from contract killers out to get him at his most recent port of call, Los Angeles, […]
WEDNESDAY, 6.30PM THE French aid group Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF; Doctors Without Borders) has reported continued heavy fighting in the town of Kenge, 200 kilometres east of Kinshasa. Some 200 civilians and 100 goverment soldiers have been killed, but rebels have not yet taken the town. The MSF sources have refuted claims by rebel spokesman […]
BONGANI NDODANA on a local composer who left the country to pursue his craft THE grass is certainly much greener in Europe, where a generation of classical composers from Southern Africa have been exiled by their craft and formed what seems to be a musical diaspora. Unlike their predecessors Priaulx Rainier and John Joubert, who […]
WEDNESDAY, 6.30PM FORMER defence minister Magnus Malan told the Truth Commission today that murdered Swapo lawyer Anton Lubowski was a paid agent of South African Military Intelligence, which therefore had no reason to kill him. Malan first made the allegations soon after Lubowski’s murder. “What I said in Parliament then I stick to. Check the […]
Andrew Higgins in Hong Kong IN the dying days of British rule, all eyes in Hong Kong are fixed on a corpse. Around it crowd dozens of television cameras and a throng of mud-slinging mourners. The cause of the controversy is the death of a philandering, opium-smoking and much loved Cantonese opera star. Tang, best […]
Jonathan Romney THE word “epic” has been rather devalued in cinema ever since they revved up the chariots in the original silent Ben-Hur. This week, however, epic cinema returns to its classical roots, with the release of Ulysses’ Gaze, the latest film by Greek director Theo Angelopoulos. Over three hours, Harvey Keitel’s modern Homeric hero […]
SOUNDTRACKS ON CD: Shaun de Waal MOVIE soundtracks – the compilations of miscellaneous pop/rock tracks, not the original film scores – are highly favoured by record companies because of their commercial potential. Nine of them are sitting on this week’s Billboard Top 100. Such collections can often spark interesting juxtapositions between songs one might not […]