Staff Reporter

Ann Eveleth KING Goodwill Zwelithini pulled out of a consortium bidding for KwaZulu-Natal’s new private sound radio station last week because he didn’t know what he was getting into, say royal family members. Zwelithini mysteriously dropped his 5% stake and yanked his endorsement for Radio One – one of two consortiums bidding for the station […]

Suzy Bell WHETHER it’s the tender image of Katrina Thomas gathering her goats or the anxious look in Freddie Bosman’s eyes on the bus journey towards his beloved home, Riemvasmaak, after spending 20 years in the Ciskei, some pictures do speak a thousand words. Winner of a Mother Jones International Documentary Award (1993) for his […]

Mungo Soggot AS the consumer’s best friend, Isabel Jones has always been powerful. But with the help of a new Act that was quietly passed by the Gauteng legislature in September, the consumer journalist will now be able to shut down a business, strike down contracts, and impose fines of up to R200 000 and […]

The Minister of Public Enterprises is seeking direct control over Eskom’s equity, raising concerns of a backdoor attempt at nationalisation. Max Gebhardt reports THE Ministry of Public Enterprises has set the ball in motion to bring Eskom under direct government control, despite admitting that such a move could raise doubts among foreign investors over the […]

case Safety and Security Minister Mufamadi has been landed in another potentially embarrassing legal situation, reports Mungo Soggot T HE lawyer who defended Eastern Cape killer policeman Gideon Niewoudt has been hired by Sydney Mufamadi’s Safety and Security Department to fight a civil claim lodged by the three widows of Niewoudt’s victims. The widows, Doreen […]

Graham Hopwood in Windhoek NAMIBIA has defended plans to pump 20- million cubic metres of water each year from the Okavango River, despite protests from environmentalists and tourism operators in Botswana’s Okavango swamps, which are annually filled by the river. Richard Fry, Namibia’s deputy permanent secretary of water affairs, said this week that the severity […]

REALPOLITIK forced South Africa’s recognition of mainland China and its decision to cut off official ties with Taiwan. Those who suggested the decision reflected the influence of the South African Communist Party on the government were missing the point. No serious international player can continue without ties to a country of China’s size and growth […]

At the heart of Italy’s largest industrial grouping, profits and reputations are being damaged, writes John Glover IN the opulent surroundings of Turin’s snooty Circolo del Whist (whist club), Republican Italy’s version of a royal family met for its annual dinner last week. The meal was hosted by Avvocato Gianni Agnelli, the patriarch of the […]

More research is urgently needed into the effects of cellphones on the brain, reports Ben Potter from London ‘EAR, what’s all this fuss about cellphones? Are cellphones bad for the brain? The possibility that they could be is cause for serious concern, says Australian writer and commentator on the communications industry, Stewart Fist. He argues […]

Charlene Houston argues the land and money planned for the Olympics could be put to better use THE Development Action Group monitors the Olympic Bid because we work with poor people in Cape Town to address their housing needs and we are worried about the impact of the bid on the availability of well-located land […]

The Million Dollar Challenge is a unique event, and this year the play was of an exceptionally high standard, but the spectators’ behaviour wasn’t GOLF:Jon Swift T HERE are many things that are very different about the annual Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge at Sun City … and not all of them have to do with […]

Lynda Loxton AS the provinces gear up to grant much- sought-after casino licences, Safren is hoping that it will not be left out on a limb with its massive investments in casinos in the former homelands. Chairman Buddy Hawton admitted to shareholders at the group’s annual general meeting this week that uncertainty about the future […]

DANCE: Jann Parry in London THE studio where the choreographer Ashley Page is rehearsing seems to be full of teenagers, their lankily graceful limbs swathed in a kind of innocence. In fact, the dozen or so dancers are in their early 20s, junior members of the Royal Ballet’s corps de ballet. They look gorgeous, yet […]

created Julian Drew finds out about benefits the Bid company believes the Olympics will bring WHEN Cape Town began developing a philosophy to underpin its bid for the 2004 Olympic Games it realised the Games would have to make a significant contribution towards redressing the imbalances of the apartheid era. “If it was simply about […]

Omar’s failure to get any concessions from Pagad has cast doubt on his ability to hold his present positions. Rehana Rossouw reports JUSTICE Minister Dullah Omar’s failure to rein in Pagad is fuelling fears that he cannot juggle his ministerial position with his role as ANC leader in the Western Cape. Political observers believe Omar’s […]

stage Andrew Clements in London TEN singers, 16 actors, a hundred musicians, three film screens and a theatre space divided into several acting areas … No wonder it took three decades for Bernd Alois Zimmerman’s landmark contemporary opera Die Soldaten to premiere in London. First staged in Cologne in 1965, the widely celebrated opera has […]

The Hitch-hiker exhibition bristles with bizarre ideas and dazzles with techno- wizardry. So what’s new? HAZELFRIEDMAN didn’t find the challenge AT the very least, Hitch-hiker will probably go down in the annals of contemporary art as one of the most aggressive – and effective – inter-media marketing blitzes ever undertaken by the local artworld. It […]

Fiercely independent Ethiopian film-maker Haile Gerima spoke to ANDREW WORSDALE about the travails of making films the African way VISIONARY film-maker Haile Gerima is a handsome, rotund man with a silver, close- shaved beard, a baseball cap hiding hair- loss and features held in place by some pretty hip spectacles. The Ethiopian-born and Washington-based film-maker’s […]

Chris McGreal in Kigali ZAIREAN rebels say they have launched an assault against the main diamond-mining region, threatening a major source of the elite’s wealth and potentially providing the insurgents with an important means of funding their war against ailing President Mobutu Sese Seko’s regime. The Rwandan-backed insurgents are headed toward the regional capital, Mbuji-Mayi, […]

The Cape Town Bid company will be rolling out the red carpet for the International Olympic Committee’s evaluation commission this week. But not everybody in the city welcomes the bid Julian Drew THE International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Evaluation Commission is due to fly into Cape Town at 7.35 on Friday (December 6) – its last […]

test As Korea and Japan eye the World Cup, John Gittings in Seoul reports on a game of two halves IT SAYS “2002 World Cup Korea” in shop windows, over bank counters, and on the in- flight screens of Korean Air. The official title of the event, carefully negotiated with the international governing body for […]

A few years ago you could have counted SA’s independent music producers on one hand. Today, reports GLYNIS O’HARA, the industry is booming THEIR products are legendary, the stuff of teenage dreams and, sometimes, adult enjoyment, yet few people outside the music industry would know the names of producers Thapelo Khomo and Don Laka. Youngsters, […]

Celia Weston EUROPE’S oil and gas companies face a $23- billion bill for disposing of offshore rigs and platforms in the wake of the resurgence of the political controversy which dogged the Brent Spar. This is the key finding of a confidential report commissioned for the European Union’s environment and energy directives and discussed at […]

John Bredenkamp, the billionaire behind Francois Pienaar’s Saracens deal, is a shady arms dealer who has already been ditched by Nick Price. Mungo Soggot and Peta Thornycroft report THE billionaire who set up Francois Pienaar’s transfer to British rugby club Saracens is a shady arms-dealer-turned- sports-mogul who was recently ditched by golfer Nick Price. Golfing […]

RUGBY:Jon Swift PERHAPS the most amazing aspect of Francois Pienaar’s defection to the ranks of English league rugby came in the shape of the contention by South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu)chief executive Rian Oberholzer that the axed World Cup captain still has a future in Springbok rugby. That is surely stretching credibility to new […]

Ken Owen joined the gathering of Afrikaners in Stellenbosch and found their fears unconvincing TO Nelson Mandela and Joe Slovo and, yes, to the cadres who ravaged the townships in the Eighties, I give thanks: they have liberated me to use and enjoy Afrikaans, the only language that properly describes the landscape and the life […]

With the Appellate Division ruling in favour of Caxton, the Independent and Times Media groups have a fight on their hands, report Jacquie Golding-Duffy and David Shapshak TIMES MEDIA LIMITED’S (TML) management are unable to agree on the implications of the Appellate Division judgment reached in favour of printing and publishing group Caxton. The judgment, […]

China, recognised last week by President Mandela, has one of the world’s worst human rights records, says Guy Liberman PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela’s controversial choice of the People’s Republic of China over Taiwan may appear to be economically motivated – a triumph of realpolitik – but he has given his support to a regime akin to […]

FILM: Andrew Worsdale `OH Shucks!” you might say, “there’s another Schuster movie opening countrywide.” Many culture vultures and intellectuals regard Leon Schuster as a schlockmeister; but his continual success at the box-office (There’s A Zulu on My Stoep outperformed Die Hard with a Vengeance in Germany and his films have sold to over 40 countries […]

Ann Eveleth PROVINCIAL and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mohammed Valli Moosa tried to control the ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal conference with an iron fist, but had to back down from plans to handpick a provincial secretary amid accusations that he was violating the party’s constitution. Delegates to the weekend conference in Durban said Valli Moosa delivered a National […]

NGO Week saw the sector calling for more control over funding and policies, reports Aspasia Karras THE choice of Rand Afrikaans University as the venue for NGO Week set the tone for the ironic paradigm shift the sector has been forced to make since 1994. The megalithic laager hosted 500 delegates, representing an estimated 30 […]

South Africa leads the world in automated cash dispensers, writes Mark Ashurst EVERY month, a thin line of grandparents and great-grandparents shuffles across the rural landscape of KaNgwane, clutching fresh banknotes dished out by the most sophisticated cash dispensers in the world. The machines, which are mounted on unmarked pick-up trucks and escorted by armed […]