Gaye Davis, Rehana Roussouw and Madeleine Wackernagel SOUTH Africa got its first black finance minister late on Thursday — in the person of Trade and Industry Minister Trevor Manuel. In a Cabinet reshuffle sparked by the resignation of Chris Liebenberg, Deputy Minister of Finance Alec Erwin will now take over Manuel’s portfolio, while ANC MP […]
Marion Edmunds TWO of the Cameron Commission’s key recommendations to lift the veil of secrecy on South Africa’ s arms export industry failed to find support in Cabinet. Water Affairs Minister Kader Asmal — who heads the Cabinet committee scrutinising arms trade policy and arms export applications — had already rejected elements of the the […]
Justin Pearce Stellenbosch University vice-rector Christo Viljoen leaves the Independent Broadcasting Authority this week, amid rumblings from within the IBA that he rarely turned up for duty in Johannesburg although he received a full-time salary for seven months. Viljoen, a former chairman of the South African Broadcasting Corporation —he also did that job part-time — […]
Ad agencies disagree over the best means of advertising on the Internet, Jacquie Golding- Duffy reports on the possibilities Advertising agencies are being swept up by the “fourth media” — the Internet — but they disagree on whether it is more viable to handle it in-house or commission work to an outside agency. While VWV […]
The Safety and Security Ministry’s gamble in banning traditional weapons paid off this week when IFP marchers left their pangas and spears at home, writes Eddie Koch A COMBINATION of firm policing and delicate negotiations with moderate groups in the Inkatha Freedom Party defied fire-and- brimstone predictions that the ban on traditional weapons would cause […]
An apartheid-era weapons smuggler could be extradited back home to Demark, report Stefaans Brummer and Rehana Rossouw DENMARK may ask South Africa to extradite a Dane who shipped East-bloc weapons worth millions of rand to apartheid South Africa, against the United Nations arms embargo and Danish law. Danish shipper Anders Jensen left Denmark for South […]
AS the parties move into intense negotiations about “provincial powers” at an Arniston bosberaad, the African National Congress is trying to dismiss the suspicion that its latest drafts on provincial competencies do not comply with the constitutional principles, inherited from the multi-party negotiations at Kempton Park. The constitutional principle in question states that provincial powers […]
JAZZ: Gwen Ansell TRUMPETING, roaring and pawing the ground, the trombone is the elephant of the jazz band. In the right hands — and Jonas Gwangwa’s, at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre, are certainly those — it’s also capable of breathtaking delicacy and precision. Instrumental virtuosity is one of the main delights of Gwangwa’s show, which […]
David Beresford The government appears to be hastily back- pedalling on an extraordinary plan to build a gigantic monument — at a cost of some R50- million — modelled on President Nelson Mandela’s hand as a “beacon of freedom” for South Africa. The disembodied hand, standing 23 metres in height and “breaking out of jail […]
funds? Hazel Friedman Pact employees are adamant that Arts and Culture Minister Dr Ben Ngubane was fully aware that staff members who had received generous “severance pay packages” were still employed by Pact. But the minister denies it. The Mail & Guardian revealed the “slush fund” scandal on March 1. Ngubane responded by saying he […]
Playing Francois Pienaar out of position was the wrong move, but Chris Rossouw moving from hooker to eighthman was a success for Transvaal RUGBY: Jon Swift THERE are those who still believe fervently in the school of thought so successfully propagated by the late Danie Craven that if a man is what the Doc called […]
Julian Drew JUST over a year ago Colleen de Reuck gave birth to her first child, and ever since the soon-to-be-32 year-old Durbanite’s running form has been on an upward spiral. Last Saturday she registered possibly the greatest achievement of her career when she placed fifth in the world cross country championships in Stellenbosch, missing […]
Doc Martens will have been kitting out grannies and models for 36 years this week. Here are some vital statistics Age: 36 on April 1. Appearance: In your face. Meaning? As the footwear of preference for Britain’s skinhead community, a good kicking as likely as not involved a pair of Doc Martens. But surely that […]
Rehana Rossouw ALLEGATIONS of corruption and nepotism in the allocation of fishing quotas will be investigated by the Public Protector, Advocate Selby Baqwa, following a request from the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Dawie de Villiers. The investigation follows mounting protests from fishing communities unhappy with the way quotas are allocated. Last month, fishermen […]
JAMES SEY explores the enduring appeal of Fifties B-grade science-fiction movies THOSE wonderful and genuinely strange people at Norwood’s Seven Arts cinema have done it again. Following hard on the heels of their Friday night lesbian-vampire-grunge-horror movie slots (what do you mean, you missed them? You fool!) comes a festival of “space- fiction” movies, running […]
There is much to commend the idea of a monument which celebrates the triumph of freedom in South Africa and remembers those who sacrified and suffered to achieve it. Think of Auschwitz standing for all to visit and be reminded of the pledge of survivors, repeated by Mandela in his inauguration address: “Never, never again.” […]
CRICKET: Jon Swift IN SOME ways, the B&H final at Wanderers on Friday evening is cause for celebration of the cricketing rather than liquid variety which so marred some matches in the day-night series this summer. In other ways it is cause for regret. The enduring sponsor bows out of the game in this finale, […]
Rehana Rossouw MARTIN WELZ, editor of noseWEEK, is one of a kind. His one-man-band magazine is the only investigative journal in the country, despite the fact that it is run from his home. This is the first time noseWEEK has been taken to court, despite the publication’s record of exposing information many would prefer remained […]
As the Nigerian crisis increases and more students face the wrath of the regime, little help from Africa or the West appears forthcoming. Gaye Davis reports WHEN the telephone rang in Austin Abada’s sparsely furnished Cape Town flat this week, it heralded news as familiar as it was terrible. Abada, a Nigerian student leader seeking […]
A new draft Bill will reopen the abortion debate, reports Gaye Davis DRAFT legislation giving women the right to have their pregnancies terminated on request is expected to go before Cabinet in April. Minister of Health Dr Nkosazana Zuma this week confirmed a draft Bill was being finalised by her department but said she could […]
Ed O’Loughlin IT may be only 10 days since his painful divorce from Winnie, but President Mandela has already given plenty of indication that he intends to make up for lost time. On Wednesday the Irish President’s state visit to South Africa was overshadowed in the popular press back home by news that Mandela, footloose […]
DNA testing may be the only solution to the furore surrounding the ‘skull’ of Chief Hintsa, recently discovered in Scotland. Eddie Koch reports The controversial “head” of Chief Hintsa, which has been brought back to South Africa, will become the subject of an intriguing scientific study mixing high-tech genetic analysis with Xhosa oral history. Hintsa […]
Pieter-Dirk Uys, South Africa’s most playful political commentator, digs into the truth commission in an effort to define what is true and what is just another aspect of reality THROUGHOUT our lives, I bet you, we’ve all at one time or another sweated before a truth commission. As small children, in front of the giggling […]
give-and-take The Constitution: The Constitutional Assembly has produced its last working draft of the final Constitution before the May 8 deadline. It will be finalised at a bosberaad this weekend, reports Marion Edmunds AFRICAN National Congress MP Willie Hofmeyr’s eyes are large pools of limpid exhaustion as he gazes onto the first page of the […]
Ricardo Dunn The Bloemfontein man who was convicted last month of killing a dog by inserting a firecraker into its rectum has been relieved from his community service sentence at the SPCA. The Bloemfontein SPCA applied to the magistrate’s court to revoke its decision after it received hundreds of letters from the public and potential […]
Sevens South Africa’s team for the Hong Kong Sevens tournament is largely unknown and they’ll be coming up against some big names RUGBY: Adrian Oosthuizen SOUTH AFRICAN rugby fans will be hoping that some of the sparkle which saw the country emerge as world champions in 1995 will rub off on the team of exciting […]
Bronwen Jones The old academic slanging match between excellence and relevance took on a new form this week when a South African scientist condemned the new Academy of Science of South Africa (Assa) as “elitist and unrepresentative”. Assa, launched this week as an initiative to unite South African scientists across ethnic lines, was lauded by […]
The launch of the National Housing Finance Corporation will open new avenues for finance, reports Karen Harverson At present, South Africa’s traditional financial institutions provide housing finance to just 30% of the total population (mainly middle and upper income earners) and non- traditional lending institutions are mushrooming to fill the gap. These institutions are targeting […]
South Africa must be treated as a developing country by the EU if the free trade agreement is to succeed, says ANC MP Rob Davies. Lynda Loxton reports The European Union was sharply criticised this week for trying to treat South Africa as a developed nation rather than one with special development needs. African National […]
Ricardo Dunn The Department of Correctional Services will hold an inquiry into the death in custody of rightwinger Lood van Schalkwyk. Right-wing groups have accused the Government of National Unity of negligence after the death of van Schalkwyk. The groups claimed this week that the Correctional Services authorities knew of Van Schalkwyk’s serious gall-bladder infection, […]
The Davis/Pityana debate: The M&G has received a flood of letters on the issue, some of which appear below Peter du Preez, UCT Psychology Department YES, there are whacky liberals who believe they are without prejudice and prove it by condescending to those they are definitely not prejudiced against. There are also people who call […]
council’ KILLING two birds with one stone, the African National Congress is hoping to satisfy both the volkstaters’ and the National Party’s demands for constitutional protection for Afrikaners by creating cultural councils, and writing them into the final Constitution. Negotiations between the ANC and the Freedom Front (FF) on the one hand, and the ANC […]