Staff Reporter

A local entrepreneur is confident he will be able to break the CNA’s stranglehold over foreign magazine distribution. Neil Bierbaum reports South Africa could soon see a plethora of imported titles in corner cafes and petrol station shops if plans by former Intermag operations director Butch Courtney pay off. Imported titles have hitherto been available […]

A war of words has been declared between Absa and Millenium magazine over an article defending former Tollgate chairman Julian Askin, reports Reg Rumney A number of puzzling questions are thrown up in the squabble between Absa Bank and Cape-based Millenium magazine over a series of articles it has been running on fugitive Julian Askin […]

Hundreds of IT contractors are leaving South Africa to pursue opportunities and larger salaries abroad. Leon Perlman reports A mini brain drain of information technology (IT) professionals in South Africa is being fuelled by a worldwide shortage of skilled contractors. Lured by comparatively large salaries, hundreds are thought to have left in the past year. […]

* Some seek fame, others have fame etcetera. Take Durban. It spends millions promoting itself. Mainly it talks about the sand and the sea and the Gunston 500 surfing contest. This week it was dazzled to find itself in its own right an international media event it hadn’t even bargained for. Television crews flew in […]

At the conclusion of last year’s freedom election, then-president-elect Nelson Mandela quoted the cry of American slaves from the last century: Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty we are free at last. This week, at the conclusion of the next round of voting, we can paraphrase him: Normal at last, normal at […]

Old attitudes die hard in Ventersdorp, as Justin Pearce discovered VENTERSDORP looked as if it were hosting a foreign correspondents’ convention on Wednesday. The town of the AWB had a date with the new South Africa. It was surely a story to make soundbites throughout the world, and the media were there to tell it. […]

Bridging the gap between black and white co-ops will define the role they will play in the future of the economy, reports Meshack Mabogoane The co-operative movement, long viewed as an ideal vehicle for blending elements of the market economy, democratic participation and collective ownership, may become a major factor in the drive for broadening […]

Floundering or sinking, which ever way you view it the South African-Iranian oil deal is going nowhere for now, writes Karen Harverson Depending on whom you believe, South Africa’s deal to store and trade Iranian oil has fizzled out — or it has just been suspended pending the outcome of an environmental study on the […]

Karen Harverson South Africa exports more to the French island Reunion than it does to other developing markets such as Chile, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Ghana. “We have a logistical advantage over European countries in the supply of goods to Reunion which is only 2 820km away from South Africa,” says South African Foreign […]

Rowan Callaghan The informal sector provides jobs for almost two million people, according to research by Unisa’s Bureau of Market Research (BMR). The BMR study found that last year almost 1,6-million, or around 15 percent, of the total South African work force was employed in the informal sector. This sector contributed an estimated R26-billion, or […]

The ‘video virtual meeting’ has now come of age as a strategic business tool. Leon Perlman reports Cut-rate airfares, Voyager Miles and bargain hotel and car hire deals are set to face stiff competition from an unlikely source — the telephone line. With near-video quality images, video-conferencing over normal copper telephone lines using new high […]

International players have given coaching clinics in Soweto before, but English cricketers actually playing at the township’s stadium is far more Cricket: Jon Swift PERHAPS some of the real significance of an international team playing cricket in Soweto will not strike the England players quite as dramatically as it will those of us who proudly […]

Opera: Coenraad Visser WITH this revival of his 1991 production of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann (State Theatre), Neels Hansen does himself proud. This time round his direction is more detailed, and there is a stronger sense of energy that pervades the Olympia and Venetian scenes. He is no doubt helped by an enthusiastic (and splendid) […]

Trade unionist Gwede Mantashe speaks to Karen Harverson about his appointment to the Samancor For the first time in South Africa’ s turbulent management-worker relationship, a trade unionist has been appointed to the board of directors of a major listed company. Ferro alloy producer Samancor has appointed 45- year old Gwede Mantashe, assistant general secretary […]

The Sunday Times’ policy of producing racially targeted ‘Extra’ editions has come under fire. Neil Bierbaum reports IS the country’s biggest-selling newspaper, the Sunday Times, living in the past? Gauteng Premier Tokyo Sexwale took aim at the paper’s separate racially-targeted editions last week, criticising the paper for continuing to “produce ‘Extra’ covers around their white […]

Certain vehicles will be cut from the Mercedes Benz range, reports Karen Harverson Mercedes Benz of South Africa, in keeping with local motor industry sentiment to cut production of low volume models, will no longer manufacture all Mercedes Benz ranges but stick to the C-class model and limited production of the E-class. Production of the […]

Fine Art: Hazel Friedman VIEWING Jason Crystal’s exhibition From Tokolosh to Lemonade (First Gallery, Parkhurst) is a bit like being taken on a magical mystery tour that begins in the Middle Ages and ends in the Garden of Earthly Delights via the New Age highway. Sounds like an acid trip, right? Except that Crystal doesn’t […]

Cry, the Beloved Country is beautiful to the point of kitsch — but it doesn’t seem to have benefited from 50 years’ hindsight, writes JUSTIN PEARCE Our own dear Y-fronted South African flag appears at the bottom of the ethno-abstract poster for Cry, the Beloved Country. This may seem odd considering that the film is […]

Lynda Loxton Despite South Africa’s 3 000km coastline, few black South Africans are seafarers while few cargo ships bear the South African flag — but all this is about to change. Several initiatives are in hand not only to make young South Africans more aware of potential careers in shipping instead of commerce, agriculture or […]

The festival will host four guests who are major gay or lesbian filmmakers: * John Greyson is a Toronto-based videomaker who is widely regarded as being in the forefront of politically motivated, risk-taking gay film in North America. The director of the brilliant Zero Patience, which caused such a stir at last year’s festival, Greyson […]

Soccer: Lungile Madywabe WHATEVER Kaizer Chiefs coach Jeff Butler tells his charges before their game on Saturday against log leaders Cape Town Spurs at the Rand Stadium, he knows that Chiefs will have to win to keep alive their hopes of salvaging anything this year. However, the real drama will be 20 hours later in […]

Iscor’s Hans Smith discusses his dreams and aspirations for the organisation with Aspasia Hans Jurie Smith, managing director and soon to be chairman of Iscor, describes himself as ‘a bit of a dreamer’. He has a vision of Iscor becoming a large international player in the commodities business with the potential to grow even faster […]

The IBA’s latest strategy on radio frequencies severely restricts potential independent commercial stations, writes Neil Bierbaum ONLY five low-power frequencies are available for commercial stations in Gauteng and some of these may be allocated to the South African Broadcasting Corporation. This is only one severely limiting implication of the frequency spectrum plan published by the […]

Neil Bierbaum BY applying public service attitudes to its commercial radio stations, the South African Broadcasting Corporation could cause the demise of these stations. This is the opinion of former 5FM programme manager, Keith Lindsay. Lindsay is sueing the SABC for wrongful dismissal after his contract was terminated two months before it was due to […]

Karen Harverson South Africa does not have the luxury of time to plan for the transformation of its economy. All players at national, sectoral, company and community level need to co-operate in a joint strategy to achieve this second miracle. “There is no alternative open to South Africa except to seek a meaningful social partnership. […]

A Chicagoan with decades’ experience is creating a new forum for local comedy. He spoke to Pat OF the innumerable legacies left by Barney Simon to South African theatre — his words, his work and the many talents he nurtured — surely the most unusual has to be an energetic, ebullient theatre- maker from Chicago […]

Mail and Guardian reporter The Mail & Guardian has opened South Africa’s first recruitment service on the Internet. Called work@za, the service is housed at the World Wide Web site of the Electronic Mail & Guardian. It lists a variety of current jobs available in South Africa, and on-line users can apply for many of […]

Ann Eveleth=20 KWAZULU-NATAL Safety and Security MEC Celani Mtetwa — =20 named this week as a former paid police agent and gun =20 runner — is no stranger to the third force spotlight.=20 Allegations linking the former KwaZulu homeland justice =20 minister to gunrunning and to the notorious C10 =20 Vlakplaas security police unit first […]

Neil Bierbaum SCOPE is to become a general interest men’s magazine minus the girlie photographs — entering a domain so far occupied exclusively by the small but growing men’s lifestyle magazine Directions (formerly bigblue). A major repositioning of Scope is expected following a decision by the board of Republican Press to stop trying to compete […]

Rugby: Jon Swift RUGBY’S decision to open the doors to paid players has produced a xenophobia seemingly more iconoclastic than anything ever dreamed up by the human engineering of the apartheid system. The latest ruling effectively ends any contribution foreign players may make to the domestic leagues worldwide … if they want to continue playing […]

Jan Taljaard and Annicia Reddiar=20 MOSES SITHOLE, prime suspect in the Gauteng serial =20 killings, was caught by police this week and is likely =20 to stand trial for the murder of up to 40 young women -=20 – but it had almost gone the other way.=20 In an almost uncanny replay of the incident […]

A billboard battle highlights the need for a uniform policy on outdoor advertising, writes Neil Bierbaum A FIGHT over a billboard on the grounds of a school in Sandton could turn into a test case affecting the future of outdoor advertising in the country. The billboard, at St Peter’s School, advertises Bridgestone Tyres and is […]