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/ 14 March 1997

Holomisa flirts with Mangope

The ANC dissident has invited two disaffected politicians to join him in discussions about a new political party, reports Marion Edmunds AFRICAN National Congress dissident Bantu Holomisa is inviting both Rockey Malabane- Metsing and former Bophuthatswana president Lucas Mangope, to his consultative conference in June in anticipation of setting up a new political party. Holomisa […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Looking for a local niche

Another international women’s magazine, Marie Claire, is launching a local issue, but the interests of most women in South Africa are still being neglected, say local black editors. Gillian Farquhar reports COMPETITION is hotting up in the magazine market with internationally acclaimed French title Marie Claire poised to launch its local edition in May. Coming […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Bengu’s efforts too little too late

Education gets more money but too late to prevent stringent cost-cutting and student unrest, report Tangeni Amupadhi and Carien du Plessis THE Ministry of Education may have succeeded in securing more money for tertiary education, but it has come too late to prevent stringent cost-cutting on campuses across the country. Several universities and technikons contacted […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Maties rector `also got payout’

Marion Edmunds THE paper trail stemming from secret six- figure payouts to senior staff at Stellenbosch University led to the rector’s office this week. Professor Andreas van Wyk, who until now has kept silent on the payouts, is being challenged on his campus to confirm or deny whether he handed himself a windfall of R160000. […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Unions’ R1bn health saving

Stuart Hess THE Gauteng health department could save R1-billion if it accepts cost-cutting proposals made by health workers’ unions, including centralising services, eliminating private nursing in public hospitals, and scrapping private security, the unions said this week. The figure is almost double the R550- million the Gauteng health department said it could save when it […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Asylum rush swamps government

South Africa is such a popular refugee destination that Home Affairs is swamped,reports Marion Edmunds THE Department of Home Affairs is swamped with so many applicants for political asylum it is contemplating setting up reception centres around the country to accommodate them while they wait for their cases to be heard. More than 800 people […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Now the race for votes

Julian Drew DESPITE the lingering suspicion in international circles that Cape Town sneaked in through the back door to become a finalist in the race to host the 2004 Olympic Games, the Mother City can now count itself as a very real contender for the elusive prize which will be awarded by the International Olympic […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Softly, softly catches readers

Jacquie Golding-Duffy THE Daily Dispatch’s circulation has grown in leaps and bounds, thrusting this small East London-based player into the ring with some of the big boys of print media. Gavin Stewart (54), who took over the newspaper’s helm three years ago, has stealthily changed its format and content into an explosive formula which has […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Way to go, Trevor!

SO, the first black finance minister presented his first Budget and the sky did not fall in. After a year of faux pas and financial market fiascos, Trevor Manuel did the impossible: he nigh on pleased all of the people, at least for a few hours. Parliament applauded, and the markets rewarded him with a […]

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/ 14 March 1997

May the grey be with you

As we speed towards the new millennium, popular culture is being invaded by psychoses, conspiracies, warnings of digital chaos – and little grey creatures. In our heads and on our TV screens we are watching the invasion. Believe. Dror Eyal GREYISH skin, elongated oval head and huge wraparound eyes. It’s an image that heralds the […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Military agent was killed by police

Confessions by five former policemen have revealed the devious operations of the security police, including the murder of a man working clandestinely for the military. Peta Thornycroft reports FORMER northern Transvaal security policeman captain Jacques Hechter has the dubious honour of admitting to more murders than any other confessor to the truth commission. In his […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Two faces of the north’s Greek `saint’

Tangeni Amupadhi reports on an inquiry into Northern Province property deals that have earned a fortune for an amiable Greek millionaire TO the politicians and community leaders of the Northern Province he is a fatherly figure, a kind of patron saint of Phalaborwa. Dimitri Kourtoumbellides, known to his friends as Jimmy, has on various occasions […]

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/ 14 March 1997

The right blend to beat the crisis

The selectors are right to bring in some young blood against the Australians, but they also need the coolness of experience in the heat of battle CRICKET:Jon Swift IN times of crisis, it is a very human response to bring in the strength and exuberance of youth. Here, you feel, is the next link in […]

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/ 14 March 1997

French calls for Zaire force spurned

Rebels are advancing on Zaire’s third- largest city but sceptics in the West are resisting France’s calls for an intervention force, writes Chris McGreal FRANCE is pursuing a lonely campaign to revive plans for an international force in Zaire to halt the rebel advance and prevent what it says is a genocide in the making. […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Zico’s boys from Brazil

Chris Taylor THERE was a time when clubs in Rio de Janeiro needed look no further than the nearest side street, car park, beach or backyard for the next crop of football talent. Young players seemed to sprout like the weeds in the wasteground where they would hone their skills until it was too dark […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Rugby’s inside story

Stuart Hess AT least two of the investigators working on Sports Minister Steve Tshwete’s probe into South African rugby can draw on extensive inside knowledge of the sport’s administration. The investigation into the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) faltered last week when it emerged that the 500-page dossier containing the central allegations against Sarfu […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Government accused of manipulation

Marion Edmunds THE Presidential Review Commission, created a year ago to help in the reform of the public service, was set up for failure and should be abolished, one of its own members says. Professor Fanie Cloete, of the School of Public Management at the University of Stellenbosch, has accused the government of manipulating the […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Budget boost for Gear

Trevor Manuel’s first Budget confounded his critics and pleased the markets, reports Madeleine Wackernagel THE South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) has long called for a champion to lead the government’s growth, employment and redistribution (Gear) strategy. On Wednesday, it looked like one had been found. Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel dubbed his first Budget […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Wanted: A full 80 minutes of effort

South African teams have done well in the Super 12 so far, but they will have to keep concentration for the full 80 minutes of the game if they are to survive in this competition RUGBY:Jon Swift PERHAPS the Afrikaans phrases are the most apposite. They talk of murg en been in the context of […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Board chief’s empire

Alan Gray, chief executive of the Mpumalanga Parks Board who led the controversial Dolphin natures reserves deal, has wide business interests in the area, reports Justin Arenstein THE man who led Mpumalanga Parks Board into a controversial nature reserve deal with the Dubai-based Dolphin Group owns companies that hold lucrative contracts with the parks board. […]

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/ 14 March 1997

Piracy reaches record levels

Pirate CD producers in Eastern Europe could bring the European recording industry to its knees, reports Stuart Miller from London THE European recording industry has launched a frontal assault on the large- scale illegal production of pirate compact discs in Eastern Europe, which is costing companies and their artists billions of dollars in lost revenue […]

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/ 7 March 1997

Little brother on fame’s fast track

Mick Cleary OOPS! You’re barely round the first circuit of the interview and you’re off the track already. All those good intentions to steer a straight line along a route of technical interrogation, bluffing furiously about gear shifts, aerodynamic force, fuel loads, go up in smoke as you give into temptation and plough straight into […]

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/ 7 March 1997

Awesome task for Free State

RUGBY: Jon Swift TO call Auckland awesome is akin to predicting the onset of nightfall. It is on performance against the reigning Super 12 champions – even without skipper Zinzan Brooke – that other sides in the competition will be measured. Certainly, Helgard Muller’s Free State will be awaiting Friday’s opening game of a crowded […]

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/ 7 March 1997

Musings of a billionaire

In a conversation with Benjamin Pogrund, Harry Oppenheimer reflects on his life in business and defends his companies’ stance on apartheid HARRY OPPENHEIMER carries his 88 years lightly. “I feel well and I enjoy life so I’m very lucky at my age,” he says. He’s a bit stooped and says his hearing is not what […]

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/ 7 March 1997

Rhodies head home after all these years

Seventeen years after independence, white Rhodesians are going back to Zim in their droves, reports Iden Wetherell THE Rhodesians are coming! Thousands of citizens of rebel prime minister Ian Smith’s former white bastion who fled majority rule in 1980 to seek refuge in apartheid South Africa are now flocking back across the border. And they […]

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/ 7 March 1997

Picking a bone with cloning

Alexander Chancellor in London I CANNOT quite decide how worried to be about this cloning business. Since some scientists in Scotland announced recently that they had created an exact copy of a sheep from one cell in its udder, the British newspapers have been full of what they like to call “chilling prospects”. The Times […]

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/ 7 March 1997

SA play hits the big time

Adrian Dawson in London A YOUNG playwright from Edenvale is currently earning interest in the West End of London, Britain’s theatreland. Backpay, by 24-year-old Tamantha Hammerschlag, is being staged at the illustrious Royal Court theatre, known for its pioneering of young talent. Hammerschlag is clearly delighted at having her work staged at the Royal Court. […]

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/ 7 March 1997

Sarafina officials cleared

A departmental inquiry into Sarafina II has cleared three officials and slapped a fourth on the wrist, reports Jim Day FOUR officials investigated by the Department of Health for their role in Sarafina II, the ill-fated Aids awareness play that cost taxpayers several million rands, have escaped with their jobs. Responding to a request by […]

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/ 7 March 1997

Budget must get into Gear

Sentiment has improved, but to capitalise on the turnaround, Trevor Manuel must define the strategy for implementing Gear, argues Madeleine Wackernagel SO, Trevor Manuel will get to present his first Budget after all, despite rumours of a Cabinet reshuffle earlier this year. Already he has quietened his detractors by showing the deficit target is on […]

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/ 7 March 1997

Himba outraged by dam plan

A hydro-electric project dam in northern Namibia could displace 2 000 people. Graham Hopwood reports from Windhoek THE Himba people in north-west Namibia are battling a plan to construct a hydro-power station and dam on the Kunene River which could flood up to 400km2 of their land. “We don’t want the construction of the dam. […]

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/ 7 March 1997

Incense underground

MUSIC: Neil Spencer ‘YOU have to be careful – you can suddenly find yourself tied in with Liberty’s new range of Indian cushions,” reflects Talvin Singh with a grimace. Tabla player, DJ, club promoter and now label boss, Singh is talking up his new compilation album, Anokha: Sounds of the Asian Underground (released by Omni/Mango […]