Staff Reporter

Visiting Johannesburg this week, renowned composer Kevin Volans spoke to GWEN ANSELL about music past and present, African and European SERIOUS music in the late 20th century is an esoteric and fragmented world in which performers and composers find survival a struggle. Audiences tend to be rigid adherents of one school or another, and fairly […]

Pallo Jordan has outlined ambitious plans to modernise South Africas telecommunications essential for joining the information highway, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy Telkom has set itself the phenomenal target of connecting five million new phones by the year 2000. They have the backing of the Telecommunications Ministry which regards widespread access to telecommunication services as central to […]

Gaye Davis It’s going to be the highest profile job in South Africa. And ideally the person who gets it should be black. An interviewing panel of Cape-based commissioners has drawn up a short-list of potential candidates for chief executive officer of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but wants the net cast wider, which may […]

Gaye Davis PUBLIC protector Selby Baqwa has a favourite story he tells to illustrate how his office can help the average individual. Mrs X approached us about difficulties she was having in getting the pension due to her after her husband’s death last year. He worked for the Venda government, which no longer existed. She […]

Lynda Loxton After years of neglect, the African mining industry is attracting unprecedented attention from as far afield as North America and Australia. This was borne out strongly this week as more than 500 delegates from Africa and elsewhere turned up for the first annual Investing in African Mining Conference/Indaba in Cape Town. The reason […]

CARNAGE in the streets of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, where more than 80 people were killed and about 1 300 injured last week by suspected Tamil suicide bombers, is a terrible reminder of the human cost of civil war and of the limits of force in solving chronic ethnic conflicts. The violence shows no […]

Roelf Meyer, newly appointed secretary general of the NP, in The Mark Gevisser Profile DRIVING to Pretoria to meet the New Face of the National Party on Monday morning, I heard FW de Klerk giving an interview about his party’s new direction on SAfm’s AM Live show. He affably said how happy he was to […]

Jacquie Golding-Duffy THE SABC’s failure to inform viewers and advertisers of what was planned for the new-look SABC because its relaunch was intended as a spectacular and not informative event could cost it a chunk of advertising support. Mixed reaction by the advertising industry to the SABC’s relaunch and programme reshuffling saw some advertising agencies […]

Simon Segal WITH cellular telephones now virtually passe, satellite television is set to become the next yuppie symbol. Behind the scenes an intriguing corporate battle is unfolding between M-Nets Multichoice and SABC. There is potential for substantial losers and winners. The big question is whether SABCs decision to go analogue makes commercial sense in a […]

Hazel Friedman Peter Mancer must have been born with rhinestones in his eyes and wings on his feet. As he drapes himself over his chair with a foppish swirl of his cape part Hollywood mogul, part song’n’dance man I can almost see him cocking an imaginary top hat, twirling his cane and tap-dancing his way […]

Participant PETER KLATZOW reports on the highlights of Africa’s first International Composers Workshop SOUTH African composers have learned to accept the fact that there are fat years and lean years. The feast or famine syndrome is dangerous, primarily because the ingestion of so much new music in so short a time can lead to cultural […]

A one percent party has taught the Inkatha Freedom Party a lesson of biblical proportions, writes Ann Eveleth When push finally came to shove it took a political David to bring Goliath to his knees and turn KwaZulu- Natal’s interminable constitutional process on its head. Holding out for a controversial clause prohibiting abortion, the minuscule […]

Nicole Fritz and Rehana Rossouw Mongezi Stofile was one of thousands of former MK members who reported this week to the Doornkop military base outside Johannesburg to demobilise from the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). He no longer wishes to serve in the military, and went to Doornkop to take advantage of a package […]

Nicole Fritz Television critics at South Africa’s largest daily newspapers have generally given the thumbs-up to the SABC’s new programme line-up on its three television channels. But Beeld’s critic Andries Cornelissen is critical of the continued use of dubbing. If the SABC wants to reflect South African society, it musn’t look to dubbed programmes. Afrikaans […]

Stefaans Brummer THE media are under renewed attack in some African countries, if a recent spate of arrests and bannings, and an apparent assassination attempt are anything to go by. The Post of Zambia, long a thorn in the side of President Frederick Chiluba, this week came under the strongest censure from government yet, when […]

Philippa Garson The government is in a double bind over whether to screen pregnant women for HIV, and key policy decisions are being delayed by intense debate around the issue. Although new research shows that steps taken during and after pregnancy can reduce the risk of HIV- positive mothers transmitting the virus to their babies, […]

Lynda Loxton The huge disparities in income distribution in South Africa make it vital that any tax system takes into account ways in which to lessen the impact on the poorest of the poor. One easy and obvious way would be to zero-rate as many basic necessities from value-added tax (VAT) as possible. At the […]

The hype and glory of the African Nations Cup created new enthusiasm for soccer in South Africa. Now it has to be harnessed for the good of the local game SOCCER: Mark Gleeson IT is amazing how quickly the poor crowd attendance, erratic shooting and errant referees were forgotten in the euphoria of South Africas […]

RUGBY: Jon Swift TRANSVAAL, the side which fell from grace last season after a run of two years when virtually every trophy on offer became theirs as if by right, have begun to formulate their renaissance. At the base of this are two things: the reinstatement of coach Kitch Christie at the helm he carries […]

The all-white Potgietersrus Primary School is invoking the constitution in its efforts to remain exclusive, writes Justin Pearce OUR tradition-rich school is our pride reads the slogan in the prospectus for Potgietersrus Primary, a booklet illustrated with photographs of verdant school grounds and industrious white children. Just what this pride entails will be examined before […]

leon Perlman Faced with shrinking margins, not everyone welcomes the return of multi-national information technology (IT) companies to South Africa. The re-entry of major IT companies is proving to be a mixed blessing for some local hardware and software distributors. Some say that local users might have to start forking out more for what they […]

Rudolph Mulder, convicted of cruelty to animals after a Guy Fawke’s prank, has already contravened part of his sentence, reports Ricardo Dunn Just 24 hours after being sentenced, dog torturer Rudolph Dawid Mulder (41) went awol and was sentenced to 72 hours in jail last weekend. He disappeared three times during the night while under […]

The public service is run by a code so detailed and archaic that it prescribes acceptable body weights for job applicants and provides endless blockages to government progress, reports Anton Harber ONE issue, more than any other, will determine the extent to which President Nelson Mandela’s government succeeds this year in its ambitious mission. It […]

With the legalisation of gambling becoming a reality in South Africa, various problems are arising, reports Simon Segal THIS weeks parliamentary ad hoc committee debate on changes to the National Gambling Bill brings legalised gambling closer, and accentuates certain problems. The enabling legislation provides for the granting of 40 licences, a National Gambling Board (NGB), […]

A senior official in the safety and security secretariat stands charged with child molestation, reports Philippa Garson A top official in the safety and security secretariat has been suspended, pending the outcome of a court case against him involving charges of indecent assault against two female minors. Etienne Dirk Marais, chief director of liaison and […]

THEATRE: Hazel Friedman Isnt poverty, illness and death worse than waiting for a boy to ask you to dance? The answer is NO! This plaintive soliloquoy, spoken against the backdrop of the Greek Cypriot Club in Bedfordview, encapsulates the agony of Mira (Irene Stephanou) and just about every other teenager who wishes to be everything […]

As the symbols of the past moved out, the RDP moved in to kick-start the process of parliamentary transformation, write Richard Calland and Christelle Terreblanche THE long-awaited transformation of Parliament, driven by Speaker Frene Ginwala of the African National Congress, will be paid for by a one-off grant of R82,5-million from the coffers of the […]

THE SABC’s launch of three new television channels on Sunday night complete with jumbo jet, lasers, Stevie Wonder and Nelson Mandela was the most spectacular launch this country has seen. If it was the national broadcaster’s intention to show self-confidence and razzmatazz, it was a great success, with 150 minutes and R3,8-million of often-breathtaking extravaganza. […]

ATHLETICS: Julian Drew AT the Old Mutual South African Cross Country Trials on Saturday the cream of South Africas middle-distance running talent will do battle over the same Stellenbosch course that in six weeks time will play host to the world cross country championships. The world championships will be the biggest and most prestigious athletics […]

Government is committed to reducing the national debt, but South Africa must not expect overnight miracles, reports Madeleine Wackernagel Chris Liebenberg, the Minister of Finance, has primed the markets for an overrun on the budget deficit to about 6% of gross domestic product (GDP) this year. Longer term, his aim is to trim it by […]

Marion Edmunds Cape Town wine merchant Vaughan Johnson is to appear in the Cape Town magistrate’s court on February 20 charged with employing a foreigner illegally in his Waterfront wine shop. British-born Sharon Meeking pleaded guilty to working without a permit and paid a fine of R750. Johnson refused to pay an admission of guilt […]

Selecting which teams and individuals will represent South Africa at the Olympics is a controversial task, and the decision on the hockey team is a particularly hard one, writes Julian Drew ON Saturday morning in Durban Sam Ramsamy, president of the National Olympic Committee of South Africa (Nocsa), will announce the first contingent of competitors […]