Staff Reporter

Karen Botha Age: Old enough to have backache. Appearance: Heidi meets Hercules. All apple cheeks and blonde curls on a muscle-packed frame. Occupation: Wife of rugby legend, now making a come- back as a golfer, Naas Botha. South African long-jump hopeful. Two roles that have called on that Herculean strength to remain cool in the […]

THEATRE: David Le Page IN a world where dizzying entertainment media are evolving towards the even more dazzling prospects of on-line virtual reality, it’s tempting to pity the puppeteer. No matter what his or her skill, how, one is forced to wonder, could puppetry compete with the spectacle of such technological visions? The answer, in […]

Meshack Mabogoane When the African Bank went through its first major scam involving forex irregularities in 1988, the Reserve Bank seconded Jack Theron, an experienced banker from Trust Bank, to take over from then-chief executive Moses Maubane. Theron’s brief was to salvage the mess, then hand the reigns back to a black chief executive. Ironically […]

Trevor Steele Taylor A FILM by the master of the “transcendental style”, Yasujiro Ozu, is one of the principal attractions of the Japanese Film Festival, at Johannesburg’s Rosebank Equinox Flower (1958), Ozu’s first colour film, is an examination of the stringent codes of morality that exist in Japanese society. A corporate businessman finds himself torn […]

DNA forensics is used widely in South Africa, but a recent supreme court case in Cape Town exposed serious flaws in its application, reports Rehana Rossouw There are probably millions of people throughout the world who by now have heard of “the bloody glove” and its alleged proof of American sports superstar OJ Simpson’s involvement […]

RUGBY: Jon Swift SUDDENLY, at a stroke if you like, the rugby season has taken a different slant, a different emphasis. Transvaal, the power province that the steely will and vast resources of Louis Luyt assembled and the deep insightful thinking of Kitch Christie honed to perfection in the 1993 season, have relinquished their hold […]

Mining company JCI is moving into Africa in a big way, reports Karen Harverson Unbundled mining company JCI Limited is vigorously expanding throughout Africa in the search for mineral Business development general manager Peter McKenna says most of JCI’s projects in Africa are still in the early development stages, but if successful, he expects gold […]

Dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson is back — this time with his band in tow. He spoke to ITUMELENG OA MAHABANE ‘IT feels good to be back,” Linton Kwesi Johnson says. He is not wearing his trademark hat. He doesn’t always wear the hat, he protests: “I am wearing a cap now.” The cap is […]

Despite being at the end of a hard season, Maria Mutola will be going for a record at the opening of the new athletics stadium in Johannesburg ATHLETICS: Julian Drew WHILE most of the athletes attending the two-day meeting to inaugurate Johannesburg’s new R97-million athletics stadium this weekend are at the tail- end of a […]

Justin Pearce The voices of the Morning Stars echo up the stairs of the fluorescent-lit warehouse in Market Street. Dressed in medical orderlies’ white coats with “MS” embroidered on the breast pocket, the Morning Stars enter in single file, and women from the audience jump up from their chairs to tag along behind the procession. […]

Marion Edmunds CONSULTANTS Eugene Nyati and Ntsoaki Mohapi have made the Mpumalanga government look stupid — not only by doing its work faster and better, but also by showing up the provincial government’s carelessness with taxpayers’ money. This week, as the Nyati scandal in Mpumalanga came to a head, the auditor-general’s office decided to release […]

The All Africa Games in Zimbabwe were plagued by disorganisation but it was still an occasion for Africa to celebrate ATHLETICS: Julian Drew THE cynics said they would never take place on time, and when they did, spent most of their time whining about poor organisation and anything else they could think of to denigrate […]

After a year away from the game, Jeff Butler has returned to coach Kaizer Chiefs SOCCER: Lungile Madywabe WITH eight weeks to go before the end of the season, the deadline for the registration of players in NSL teams has come and gone. Kaizer Chiefs were reported to be interested in the services of Ernest […]

Two new magazines — based on overseas products –are soon to be launched, Itumeleng oa Mahabane reports on their plans THE magazine industry has not only experienced a massive growth in pornography titles in the last few years, but has seen publishers revamping existing products, buying back old titles, introducing new titles or launching local […]

Karen Harverson. More than 2 000 companies were liquidated in 1994 alone, resulting in thousands of employees not only losing their jobs but also losing out on unpaid salaries, accrued leave and various other benefits. When it comes to protecting the rights of employees of insolvent companies, South Africa’s laws lag far behind international norms. […]

Eugene Nyati, political and financial consultant, in The Mark Gevisser Profile Here’s what Eugene Nyati had to say on Newsline following the April 1994 elections: “No amount of foreign aid can be a substitute for the internal sacrifices that we ourselves have got to make in order to get South Africa to work. We have […]

Neil Bierbaum AN independent advertising “sales house” has been launched to facilitate the buying of advertising airtime on television in the new multichannel Oracle Airtime Sales Limited (Oracle) will represent those channels in the MultiChoice bouquet available off PanAmSat4 (Pas4) which will take advertising. It is not yet clear which channels will take advertising, although […]

Ann Eveleth Kipha Nyawosa doesn’t believe in revenge, a remarkable principle for someone as accustomed to burying family members as he has become in the past year. Between October 1994 and June 1995, Nyawosa has buried 14 family members following a spate of brutal attacks endemic to the townships and rural areas around Port “If […]

Progress and frustration characterised the final days of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, writes Colleen Lowe Morna Across the hallway from where Islamic delegations were registering reservations to the Beijing Platform for Action, a group of veiled Yemeni women were explaining that Islam in its truest sense is gender neutral. Upstairs, meanwhile, […]

The supreme court this week heard the heart-wrenching case of a mother suing her gynaecologist for allowing her extremely ill baby to be born. Pat Sidley and Annicia Reddiar report ‘THEY placed Alexandra on my tummy after the birth. Then a sister grabbed her and quickly took her to the furthest side of the room. […]

Marion Edmunds and Ann Eveleth The recently released hardline Inkatha Freedom Party constitution calls for a provincial army, exclusive provincial policing powers and the right to refuse intervention in the province by the South African National Defence Force. It also claims exclusive powers over all constitutional, legislative, judicial, and financial matters and paves the way […]

Neil Bierbaum A NUMBER of radio stations — some of them leaders in the field — have had a decrease in audience figures, according to research just released by the All Media and Product Survey (Amps). The Amps survey is conducted twice a year by the South African Advertising Research Foundation (Saarf) and provides in-depth […]

Neil Bierbaum SUPPLIERS of satellite dishes and decoders are advising consumers to wait for an expected reduction in import duties before ordering the new technology — but if there is a rush, manufacturers may not be able to meet the demand. The current 77,5 percent duty on satellite receiving equipment is expected to come down […]

The troubled Limpopo River area is in trouble again — this time from the effects of herbicides used by contractors employed by the SADF, writes Stephanie Dippenaar ILLEGAL and dangerous herbicides — used by South African Defence Force contractors to control 70km of sisal fence along the Zimbabwe border — have contaminated farmers’ crops and […]

Rehana Rossouw THERE’S a new way of describing women who challenge male domination at Safety and Security headquarters in Pretoria: the women are told they are “doing a The Zelda being referred to is Zelda Holtzman, a thirtysomething from Cape Town who in June became the highest-ranking black woman in South African police She was […]

SOCCER: Lungile Madywabe ‘IF ever there was a good player in our second and third divisions, one of the big teams would have snatched him long ago, and he would be playing there before being considered for the national team,” says Clive Barker, the South African national soccer coach. This view would unquestionably be true […]

Indications are that the RDP is more entangled in financial wrangles than in development and reconstruction, argues Nicoli Nattrass The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) has two public faces. In its general, and more rhetorical manifestation, it refers to South Africa’s supposedly integrated developmental vision. More practically, however, it boils down to the activities of […]

The huge fine imposed on Kobus Wiese has highlighted the problems associated with rugby becoming a pay for play sport RUGBY: Jon Swift THERE are any number of issues which remain unresolved following the massive R50 000 fine slapped on Kobus Wiese as rugby sets sail into the new and largely uncharted waters of professionalism. […]

THE Attorney General of KwaZulu-Natal, Tim McNally, is suing the Mail & Guardian for R250 000 over reports published last month detailing criticism of his handling of investigations into hit squad activities. McNally, charging that the reports “cut at the very heart of his reputation and dignity”, has demanded publication of a “complete, unconditional and […]

Fruit and vegetables, masks and cloth are just some of the props called into play at the African Puppet Theatre Festival. DAVID LE PAGE reports LUNCH-HOUR traffic crowds the streets in Rosebank, Johannesburg. An unusually hot sun beats down. At the junction of Oxford and Glenhove roads, two photographers and several traffic officers wait. The […]

FINE ART: Hazel Friedman USING mild terminology to describe Moshekwa Langa’s debut solo exhibition at the Market’s Rembrandt van Rijn Gallery would be tantamount to defining a tidal wave as a ripple. Here’s this newcomer from KwaNdebele, barely out of his high- school blazer — he recently matriculated from the Waldorf School — who is […]

‘As German chancellor I do not have any intention of interfering in the internal affairs of this country,” said Helmut Kohl in Johannesburg this week. On the first visit to South Africa by a German chancellor, Kohl was at pains to avoid political controversy, concentrating on trade and economic co-operation between the two countries. But, […]