Staff Reporter

Paul Murphy and Pauline Springett ONE of Britain’s biggest managers of pension money said last week it intended to stick with an extraordinary $15-billion bet that stock markets in Britain and the United States are grossly over-valued and that share prices are due to crash. PDFM, formerly known as Phillips & Drew Fund Management, which […]

David Beresford WHEN the United Kingdom’s Conservative government ann-ounced plans to launch its national lottery in 1992 – the last country to do so in Western Europe – nobody realised the extraordinary impact it would have on British society. With an estimated 65% of the population handing over their 1 every week in pursuit of […]

Angella Johnson AN investigation has been ordered into allegations by a female foreign journalist that she was sexually harassed by a member of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki’s office. Suzanne Daley, a correspondent on the New York Times, has made a number of allegations that Ricky Naidoo, press officer to Mbeki, attempted to sexually harass her […]

When it comes to comparative advertising, it is wiser to know the law before you play the game, writes Charles Webster THERE have been suggestions in the press ever since the new Trade Marks Act (No 194 of 1993) came into force on 1 May 1995, that comparative advertising is acceptable in South Africa. The […]

There were fouls and off-the-ball incidents aplenty, and this wasn’t on the field of play but at the commission investigating administration irregularities SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi IT had to happen at some point. With so many commissions doing the rounds in the new South Africa at the moment, it was only a matter of time before […]

In his second venture into business, Cyril Ramaphosa is set to take over at Eskom, writes Mungo Soggot CYRIL RAMAPHOSA is tipped to become the next chairman of national power supplier Eskom when the present incumbent, John Maree, steps down. The chief executive officer of the parastatal, Allan Morgan, confirmed this week it would be […]

`THE isolation cell is usually a small, windowless room, perhaps with a tiny observation window or peephole in the door. It generally has no carpeting or furniture, and either a cement block or a thin mattress or mat on the cement floor provides the sleeping space. There is usually an open toilet and sometimes a […]

Gilles Paris in Tripoli WHEN the artificial “great river”, which is fed by fossil water extracted from the depths of the Libyan desert, was inaugurated earlier this month with all the lavish trappings of a Hollywood spectacular, it gushed out of the city’s antiquated conduits and flooded the streets. While that was going on, Colonel […]

BASEBALL:Ian Katz BASEBALL fans love nothing more than records, and no records more than the home- run kind, but even the most ardent collectors of the sport’s statistical superlatives admit things are getting a little out of hand. Scarcely a day goes by, it seems, without some home-run record falling. Last weekend it was the […]

Anthony Egan, SJ MICHAEL LAPSLEY – PRIEST AND PARTISAN: A SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNEY by Michael Worsnip (Ocean Press, R69,99) CONVENTIONAL boundaries between the genres of political and religious biography take something of a tumble in this generally excellent new book by theologian and church historian Michael Worsnip. His subject is Father Michael Lapsley, priest of […]

Primedia Broadcasting, in THE MARK GEVISSER PROFILE Comrade Capitalist `IF we don’t get the bid here,” said Stan Katz to Rina Broomberg as they stood waiting, for hours, for the Independent Broadcasting Authority to decide who would get Radio Highveld, “we’ll take it to the supreme court.” Broomberg and Katz, the gurus behind 702 Talk […]

An inquiry into mine violence has lost momentum with the absence of Uwusa, report Bronwen Jones and Stuart Hess IN the week when at least 24 mineworkers were slain, fears are mounting that a major judicial inquiry into mine violence will be torpedoed by the absence of the United Workers Union of South Africa (Uwusa) […]

Britain’s huge cash bonanza shows how a lottery can help South Africa, but the local wheels of fortune fail to spin Ann Eveleth SOUTH AFRICA’S first national lottery – which is expected to make a major contribution towards dealing with the government’s financial troubles – is now only expected to be launched by mid-1998 at […]

Controversial, offensive and bizarre are a few of the words used to describe the Benetton empire. Pauline Springett looks at the family behind the name LUCIANO BENETTON, 61-year-old president and co-founder of the eponymous Italian business empire, would almost pass as a traditional tycoon. The tweed suit is of perhaps a little better than average […]

Iden Wetherell in Zimbabwe AIR ZIMBABWE, once a profitable little airline with an on-time record, now has a reputation for delays and debt as poor management and political interference thwart viability. Part of the problem is President Robert Mugabe’s habit of requisitioning planes whenever he needs to travel abroad – often several times a month. […]

Two South African women have been nominated for Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s job, reports Ann Eveleth TWO South African women – parliamentary Speaker Frene Ginwala and Judge Navi Pillay – have been nominated for the position of secretary general of the United Nations. Women’s rights activists proposed them, and they are among six candidates put forward by […]

Hundreds have been harassed for being `witches’ in the Northern Province so far this year, and the number is growing. David Shapshak reports SOME looked sheepish, others defiant as 52 youths crowded into the Pietersburg Magistrate’s Court when the biggest-ever crackdown on witchcraft killings in the Northern Province began last Friday. The accused – all […]

While South African companies establish themselves in China, they should prioritise upholding human rights in that country, argues Nol van Breda SOUTH AFRICANS, and in particular the business community, should take stock of the atrocious human rights record of China, one of the permanent members on the United Nations Security Council, just as China is […]

MOTOR RACING: Alan Henry THE Mercedes baby has come of age. Heinz-Harald Frentzen has at last got the drive his ability deserves and has stolen a march on his bitter rival Michael Schumacher by getting it in the best car in Formula One, the Williams. The hiring of Frentzen represents a pre-emptive strike by the […]

Mail & Guardian Reporters The question about why there are virtually no photographs of the judges in the Appellate Division has been answered by the librarian at the Rand Supreme Court. She told a reporter that if the media published the judges’ photos, it would be “putting their lives in jeopardy.” She refused to tell […]

The archetypal Nineties youth was just the creation of marketing hype, writes Martin Wroe THEY are the no-job, no-prospect, no-hope teenagers and twentysomethings, the so-called “slacker” generation — except that these archetypal youths of the Nineties may not actually exist. Speakers at a conference on European youth this week will tell delegates that Generation X […]

BAFANA KHUMALO follows a new musical drama, One Voice, through two performances — one in Soweto and the other at the Civic Theatre FRIDAY morning at the Market Theatre complex, Johannesburg. A bearded, pipe-smoking man is trying to contain himself. The source of his discomfort is the cast of a play who are drifting in […]

The revelations that Swiss banks accepted Nazi gold show how history has become more a concatenation of symbols than a memory of experience, argues David Cesarani in London One of the intriguing questions arising from the latest “revelations” about the conduct of Swiss banks during and after World War II is why it took so […]

Johannesburg’s annual Arts Alive Festival might be alive and kicking, but several Gauteng-based artists are digging in their heels over the alleged flagrant “disrespect paid to local talent”, while overseas participants are “treated like royalty”. Poets Lesego Rampolokeng, Lisa Combrinck and Boitumelo Mofokeng are just three of a growing number of enraged artists who have […]

Scores of South Africans have joined the scramble for diamonds in Angola, reports John Liebenberg South Africans who are plundering Angola’s diamond fields have no respect for the country’s laws or Angolan sovereignty, according to officials in Luanda. Eighteen South Africans were imprisoned for eight days due to an “unfortunate mistake” by the Angolan government […]

Questions are being asked about Thabo Mbeki’s deal with the police commissioners over the truth commission, reports Stefaans BrUmmer Truth commission investigators have been left frustrated by an “intervention” of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi which they say gave former police generals a strategic breather before they face tough […]

Jim Jarmusch’s films have finally arrived in South Africa. The director and star Johnny Depp talk about their latest movie ‘WHY don’t you take a year off from this film stuff and play Hamlet?” Marlon Brando asked his co-star in Don Juan DeMarco, Johnny Depp. “I was very honoured,” says Depp. “I think it would […]

While the great privatisation debate rages on, changes are taking place at grassroots level, writes Max Gebhardt The apparent change of heart by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on privatisation has been greeted as a positive move by both business and the government. Sam Shilowa, general secretary of Cosatu, endorsed partial privatisation […]

Marion Edmunds Parliament’s portfolio committees on tourism and environmental affairs have had MPs and senators reaching for their bikinis and sunhats. The committees are spending an estimated R300 000 on study tours abroad to Cuba, Jamaica and Bali. One of Gwen Mahlangu’s first tasks as Peter Mokaba’s replacement as chair of the National Assembly Portfolio […]

The past and present Springbok captains clash when Francois Pienaar’s Transvaal take on Gary Teichmann’s Natal this weekend RUGBY: Jon Swift THERE is little left really for Transvaal this season but to pick up the pieces. A win against Natal at King’s Park in Durban this weekend will perhaps keep them in the running for […]

Sasco’s influence has been waning since the political order changed, reports Joshua Amupadhi South Africa’s biggest student body, the South African Students’ Congress (Sasco) is sliding in popularity just as it celebrates its fifth anniversary. Recent campus polls show Sasco is losing its grip on students’ representative councils (SRCs) — turf it had secured over […]

JAZZ: Gwen Ansell Forget screams, moans and squishing noises. The sexiest sound in the world is a big fat horn line playing jazz. Irakere, or “The Forest”, last week’s jazz guests for Arts Alive, feature four horns. On saxes, Cesar Lopez provides the intellectual acrobatics and an ironic take on the more florid ballad numbers […]