Mungo Soggot Reserve Bank Governor Chris Stals’s key annual address this week drew consensus among economists that South Africa’s top banker is caught between a rock and a hard place. But while there was agreement that the economy’s vital statistics — huge imports, a shaky balance of payments, and crippling debt levels — were far […]
Mungo Soggot SASOL has won an extraordinary case against a magistrate who ordered the synthetic fuel company to disclose documents relating to a devastating mining accident which killed 53 workers. A commission of inquiry into the explosion — which took place at the company’s Middelbult colliery in 1993 — was suspended last year when the […]
Mungo Soggot A man who claims he was a victim of police torture will seek a place in South African legal history when he applies to the Constitutional Court next month for R200 000 in damages for the police’s invasion of his constitutional rights. Ntandazeli Fose says he was tortured by members of the Vanderbijlpark […]
Rehana Rossouw Shocking information about children in prisons in the Western and Northern Cape emerged this week. Julia Sloth-Nielsen of the Community Law Centre at the University of the Western Cape visited Kimberley Prison and found most of the children there were not being held for serious crimes. In terms of the law, they should […]
sixes CRICKET: Jon Swift ONE of the inevitable things about sport is that as the seasons change, so do the faces of the men out there in the middle. And so it is with the composition of the two cricket sides announced by the South African selectors this week. Adrian Kuiper, once such a vital […]
A police intelligence document behind the recent hysteria over South Africa’s ‘Islamic extremist threat’ is anything but intelligent, writes Ann Eveleth The leaked police “working document” at the centre of a row between police and Beeld newspaper is the work of old-order police spies who don’t know the difference between Muslims and Hindus. Leaked to […]
The All Blacks have the best team on the field and off it, and South Africa’s coach doesn’t seem to be able to make a plan to counter their winning ways RUGBY: Jon Swift IT WOULD be funny if it wasn’t so tragic that, staring down the barrel of a humiliating series white-wash, Springbok coach […]
Tebello Radebe The meandering road leading to the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) Midrand headquarters has changed little from the late 1980s. It is possibly the only thing that has remained the same about the bank as it faces the millennium with a new direction and mandate. This year has been characterised by instability, […]
After spending a Sunday with the Mud Ensemble, CHARL BLIGNAUT finds that Johannesburg’s musical underground is alive and rocking TWO weeks ago I spun out,” says Juliana Venter, the singer with Mud Ensemble. “I never realised I had so much evil in me … So much power to hurt other people …” “It’s been a […]
The Springboks are losing to the All Blacks and many people believe the black community in South Africa is also on the losing side, writes Nicola Byrne WHEN South Africa take the field on Saturday for their second match in the Test series against New Zealand, once again the only black players on the pitch […]
Mark Milner in London British Aerospace (BAe) and Lagardere are no doubt right to claim that their decision to combine missile businesses reflects the changing nature of defence procurement in Europe. Nor is Europe the only place where the defence industry is being redefined. Look no further than the emergence, through merger, of United States […]
SERJEANT AT THE BAR The Constitutional Court is taken to task for assuming an old-style, chauvinistic attitude to international law South African courts have a long history of hostility towards international human rights law. During the apartheid era this was unsurprising, particularly because it was impossible to reconcile our domestic legal order with international standards […]
The latest team to tackle Mount Everest has faced a sponsorship storm, reports Tara Turkington After months of struggling to obtain sponsorship, five mountaineers and a cameraman left for Tibet on Sunday August 16, in South Africa’s second-ever attempt at scaling Mount Everest. The battle for sponsorship followed the recent Sunday Times-sponsored expedition which saw […]
Ann Eveleth Inkatha Freedom Party national caucus chairman Lionel Mtshali (60) faces an uphill battle as he prepares to take over the national Arts, Culture, Science and Technology portfolio next month. Outgoing minister Ben Ngubane has set the ball rolling on far-reaching legislation in the young ministry and his departure to the KwaZulu-Natal legislature will […]
Once hailed as a hero, former Chiefs star Shane MacGregor will be hoping to hand out a beating to his former team this weekend SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi SUPERSPORT UNITED player-coach Shane MacGregor, the forward who once starred for Kaizer Chiefs, will plot the downfall of his former club at the weekend. The teams clash in […]
Chris McGreal in Bujumbura BURUNDI’S overwhelmingly Tutsi army has killed several thousand civilians since the military coup three weeks ago. Its offensive against Hutus has concentrated on a swath of territory across the centre of the country, as well as land bordering rebel camps in Zaire. Survivors accuse the army of using mortars and heavy […]
Russia may be one of the world’s fastest-growing capital markets, but it’s also the riskiest, writes Patrick Donovan Financier George Soros overstretched his talents with his latest sortie into the book-publishing world. But anybody prepared to wade their way through the billionaire investor’s biography Soros on Soros will at least come away with an understanding […]
Tebello Radebe Chairman of the Association of Mortgage Lenders, Duncan Reekie, says rising interest rates and growing unemployment are the main reasons why the banks have not financed as many houses as expected. Reekie’s response follows widespread criticism levelled against the government for failing to deliver on its promises for houses. “The view of the […]
Jon Swift EVEN now, the name Dennis Lillee strikes a chord as being one of the world’s great quick bowlers. Perhaps the great West Indian Wes Hall is a bit further removed from memory than the angular Australian. But Cedrick English is taking the thoughts of both these towering exponents of seam with him to […]
A classic of African cinema gets big-screen release in SA for the first time this week. Director Djibril Diop Mambety speaks to ANDREW WORSDALE THE celebrated rebel of African cinema, Djibril Diop Mambety (see pic) says it’s the mission of film to make people think — through laughter. He is an eccentric visionary, a poet […]
Affairs and Tourism in The Mark Gevisser Profile Of politics and hairdressing On the passage wall of Peter Mokaba’s Italianate Sandton villa is a painting of a white baby suckling at a black woman’s breasts. It is shocking for two reasons. Firstly, because its rawness is so out of place with the anodyne designer feel […]
A former spy chief and transformation consultants Deloitte & Touche are connected. Mungo Soggott reports A controversial army general and former spy chief is at the centre of a row over a R50-million management consultant contract to transform the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). Rival consultants have complained about the award of the transformation […]
After two years of political bickering over competition legislation, a quick settlement from Nedlac appears unlikely, reports Mungo Soggot A clash between old- and new-guard lawyers is set to hang over the latest round of the anti-trust legislation debate, which will soon be taken on by the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) — […]
Stefaans BrUmmer THE Department of Correctional Services this week started an investigation into former security police captain and convicted murderer Michael Bellingan’s “walkabout” outside prison in May. Bellingan, who is serving a 25-year sentence at Diepkloof Prison, near Soweto, was allegedly seen in Johannesburg’s plush Killarney Mall, in civilian clothes, on May 14. He killed […]
Eddie Koch THE ANC’s armed struggle never amounted to more than a “sporadic and symbolic endeavour” despite a moderately high cost in terms of deaths and casualties, says an unpublished account of the liberation movement’s military tactics written by a former member of the organisation. The study by Howard Barrell, entitled Conscripts To Their Age: […]
OPERA: Coenraad Visser reviews Tosca WHEN Scarpia slams his door to shut out the sound of Tosca singing, he makes the point that the power of the politician will always be stronger than that of the artist. Perhaps that is Pact Opera’s oblique comment on current events affecting the continued existence of this art form […]
Nicola Byrne THE first time Olympic gold medalist Josia Thugwane received any support from South African sporting authorities was when he arrived at Johannesburg International Airport to depart for the Games in Atlanta. On that occasion he was given a kit bag which held two Springbok strips to add to the six pairs of running […]
The players are doing their best against a formidable All Black side, it’s the leadership at the top that isn’t performing RUGBY: Jon Swift WE South Africans have a disturbing habit of closing our eyes to problems and hoping they will go away. Perhaps this ostrich-like behaviour is a consequence of having to live behind […]
CINEMA: Andrew Worsdale reviews Beautiful Girls EARLIER this year, “women’s movies” were a dime a dozen on circuit. From How to Make an American Quilt to Now and Then, their stories focused on women’s desires and dreams and how men messed them around. By the end of the ride you’d had a couple of chuckles […]
Angella Johnson Interpol has joined in the hunt for a British man who drove off with two customised Land-Rovers stored at a BMW showroom in Johannesburg. South African police would like to interview 23- year-old Danny Lydon, who was captured on video stealing the Camel Adventure vehicles a day before skipping the country. Lydon, who […]
Stefaans Brummer reports on the mystery surrounding the Project Coast chemical weapons programme PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela and his deputy, Thabo Mbeki, this week backed Defence Force Chief General Georg Meiring in his battle to keep details of South Africa’s apartheid-era chemical weapons programme from the public. Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts on Wednesday had […]
Environmentalists say the export of primates contravenes an international treaty, reports Eddie Koch South African baboons are being exported to the French military so that they can be exposed to radio-activity in experiments designed to test the safety of nuclear plants in France. Earthlife Africa this week released official documents to show the French Ministry […]