Graham Hopwood THE managing director of Namibia’s most controversial parastatal has been sacked by the TransNamib board of directors. The board issued a statement saying that Francois Uys was retiring from TransNamib at the end of April by mutual agreement. Speculation is rife that Uys was given a package of nearly N$3-million in exchange for […]
Eddie Koch A new batch of secret documents handed to court in the Malan murder trial last week, provide a rare glimpse into the workings of the State Security Council (SSC) set up to co- ordinate the National Party’s “total strategy” against insurrection in the 1980s. Apart from the light they shed on the military’s […]
COENRAAD VISSER on the eagerly awaited premiere of Roelof Temmingh’s first piano concerto First performances of new orchestral works by South African composers are, unfortunately, so rare that any first performance is quite an event – the more so when the new work is substantial, not merely a brief introduction played at the start of […]
Telkom has five years to connect four million lines. Can it meet the challenge of universal service without a substantial restructuring? Aspasia Karras reports Telkom is probably the most vilified of South Africa’s parastatals. Seen as inefficient and bureaucratic, consumers’ greatest frustration is the lack of an alternative. While cellular technology promised to provide an […]
Julian Drew ONE judoka, six cyclists and 18 track and field athletes were added to the Olympic team for Atlanta at an announcement by the National Olympic Committee of South Africa (Nocsa) in Johannesburg on Thursday. The only surprise among the new team members was the omission of race walker Chris Britz. He was a […]
John M. Goshko at the UN A move by the United States to pay some of its back dues will keep the United Nations from plunging into the deep financial abyss that senior UN officials had anticipated during 1996. But the US will remain the UN’s biggest debtor, and the world body still will have […]
A new document on commissioning will bring the SABC in line with broadcasting worldwide, provided internal resistance can be overcome. Eddie September reports Independent television producers say the new SABC document on commissioning is bringing the broadcaster in line with the rest of the world, but they still have reservations about the SABC’s ability to […]
Shilowa Jacquie Golding-Duffy THE Congress of South African Trade Unions said it will “definitely not apologise” to Democratic Party leader Tony Leon after his assault by a protester during a Cosatu demonstration in Cape Town on Tuesday. Cosatu general secretary Sam Shilowa says: “No, we will not apologise to Tony Leon. I have made a […]
Anger over racist teachers and the department’s failure to provide English- language classes sparked the Vryburg riots, reports Justin Pearce Policemen were everywhere in Vryburg on Tuesday. Casspirs rumbled through the streets of the quiet farming town, and coils of razor wire surrounded the local Education Department office. Armed with shotguns and assault rifles, a […]
Secret documents handed in at the Malan trial last week link two current cabinet ministers to violent raids into Lesotho in the 1980s. Minutes of the State Security Council (SSC) show Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs Pik Botha was authorised – along with three other ministers in the National Party government – to use […]
Amy Lawrence talks to the proud men of Croatia, a nation that has emerged from the ravages of war to create a team capable of challenging Europe’s finest SINGING the cherished national anthem with hand on heart, wearing the red and white check shirt of Croatia, is a feeling beyond description for the 11 men […]
The good form of Natal and Northern Transvaal and the demise of Transvaal point to changes in the national team RUGBY: Jon Swift THERE was, for new national coach Andre Markgraaff, something of the old good news, bad news cliche in the way Natal took Transvaal apart in the Workers Day Super 12 mauling at […]
Luan Nel abandons his miniature landscapes and transforms concrete walls into canvases for a show this weekend. He spoke to HAZEL FRIEDMAN VISITING the site of Luan Nel’s Centre is like watching an old silent movie (in technicolour) at the Top Star drive-in. Giant, flickering images – many of them bucolic in mood – are […]
Former Pact CEO Louis Bezuidenhout was given a secret “severance package” before being immediately re-employed on contract by Pact. And the amount – estimated at around R500 000 – was never reflected in Pact’s financial records. These are the findings of an investigation into the existence of a secret trust fund set up for senior […]
The SABC is considering commissioning a business programme from Times Media Limited. Is this a poor reflection of the broadcaster’s own economics desk? Jacquie Golding-Duffy reports The SABC, with no immediate plans to develop its own business show, is considering commissioning a new business programme from Times Media Limited (TML), whose Business Day Tonight contract […]
I READ your article “TML’s nervous editors” (April 19 to 25) with keen interest. The editors and their managers have every reason to be nervous. In fact, they should be shaking in their boots. If a black consortium does take over Times Media Limited, it should bring an end to racism at this self-proclaimed citadel […]
Norman Kempster AT least three Liberian gunmen were killed by Marine guards this week when they tried to invade the US Embassy compound. Monrovia was swept by factional fighting and lawlessness after the breakdown of a 10-day- old cease-fire. The Pentagon said unidentified Liberian assailants fired on the embassy on three occasions, drawing return fire […]
Hugo Young in Washington THE United States bestrides the world, but the colossus is bewildered. She doesn’t know where to fix her gaze. Her responsibility has never been more solitary, but her attitude never more uncertain. In the Middle East, and Asia, and Europe, other outside powers count for little. But nor, often, does the […]
Mungo Soggot THE truth commission could be paralysed by being forced to operate like a normal court after the Cape Supreme Court’s decision this week to allow retired policemen access to truth commission documents, lawyers said this week. They said the decision could set a precedent which opened the gap for other judgments to order […]
Gaye Davis reports on the dramatic scenes behind this week’s constitutional impasse SCENES of high political drama played out in Parliament’s old Assembly chamber early on Thursday morning when African National Congress negotiators declared deadlocks with the National Party on single-medium instruction, property rights and the employers’ right to lockout. The crisis, culminating at the […]
Cuba is reaffirming its Marxist ideology in an attempt to regain slipping state control of the economy. Douglas Farah reports from Havana Facing a freeze in Cuban-United States relations and slipping state control of the economy, Cuba’s ruling Communist Party has slowed moves toward free-market economics, raised pressure on dissidents and re- emphasised its orthodox […]
While House Republicans thwart Democratic efforts to pass an increase in the minimum wage, their natural allies – business groups – are divided on the issue and seem much more willing to compromise. The National Federation of Independent Businesses, the largest small-business organisation in the United States, mounted aggressive opposition to a wage hike proposal […]
As demand for South African exports increases, mining houses can expect profits, but the consumer will be hard hit, writes Bronwen Jones COAL will be in short supply this winter as overseas demand soars and the rand makes foreign sales more attractive. Add to this the lulls in production enforced by heavy rains earlier this […]
Was the ANC’s support for this week’s Cosatu strike a trade-off? Jacquie Golding-Duffy reports While labour analysts say the strike this week by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) was “relatively successful”, some are questioning why the federation opted to avoid any direct conflict with the African National Congress. The 1,6-million-strong federation embarked […]
Arts education has never been a priority at school level. Now that’s about to change, reports BARBARA LUDMAN COMPULSORY arts education for all school pupils up to Standard Seven is likely to be implemented by the beginning of 1998. The national Department of Education is planning to publish guidelines early next year for arts curricula […]
Gaye Davis All three issues outstanding appear in the draft Bill of Rights of the new Constitution. They are: l Education: The ANC and NP clauses agree on the right to education in the official language of one’s choice in public educational institutions, where reasonably practicable, and that national legislation and policy will play a […]
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Michael Fletcher AFRICAN-AMERICANS are more likely than the general American population to be victims of crime – a reality that fuels their support of tough criminal penalties, although they have little confidence in the criminal justice system, according to a new poll. That ambivalence reflects the dilemma facing many blacks: they feel more threatened by […]
Philippa Garson talks to an adviser who is determined to help turn South African universities into world-class institutions The drive by South African universities to become world-class institutions is endangered by the number of top administrators leaving their stressed jobs for greener pastures, according to a top American educator who has been advising these campuses. […]
A strange case has been under way this week in the Kempton Park magistrate’s court — an application for the extradition of a British spy, Paul Grecian, to the United States. Grecian, the man credited with blowing the cover on Saddam Hussein’s project to build a “super-gun”, was arrested on December 15 while on a […]
Gaye Davis THE Human Rights Committee has asked the Constitutional Court to allow members of the public to appear before it to give their views on the final Constitution, on grounds that much of what has emerged has come out of closed political party negotiations. The Constitutional Court has set aside the month of June […]
The exclusion of wine products from the EU free trade agreement negotiations has had wine farmers calling for tariff protection. Lynda Loxton reports South African wines have taken the world by storm, but the wine industry is growing restive about the possible unfair competition it could face from imports. This week, KWV chairman Lourens Jonker […]