Stefaans BrUmmer DEPUTY President FW de Klerk this week distanced=20 himself from post-1990 security force “dirty tricks”=20 operations, while the ANC parliamentary study group on=20 safety and security said denials were to be expected. The tete-a-tete followed revelations in last week’s=20 Mail & Guardian by former police operative Paul Erasmus=20 of his involvement in the […]
The gerrymandering of municipal boundaries will help=20 the ANC win control, but hinder redistribution, argues=20 Dr Mark Swilling SOUTH Africa’s first non-racial local government=20 elections could be held up if the boundary disputes in=20 the Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg metros are not=20 Unravelling the issues in the Johannesburg metro may=20 reveal what underlies the […]
Aziz Pahad, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, =20 rejects the claim that his is the least effective=20 government department, reports Rehana Rossouw=20 South Africans are still extremely parochial and the=20 Department of Foreign Affairs cannot be expected to act=20 aggressively to protect human rights internationally if=20 its citizens are complacent, says Deputy Minister of=20 Foreign […]
The right of a child to refuse religious instruction=20 enshrined in the new Gauteng Education Bill has=20 caused an outcry, reports Gavin du Venage The Gauteng Education Bill has come under attack from=20 Jewish, Muslim and Christian schools who fear it will=20 outlaw their right to provide religious teaching. Muslim schools have also objected to […]
Lynda Loxton Sharp differences remain between the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and the Financial Services Board (FSB) over the planned restructuring of the JSE in January next year. JSE president Roy Andersen, backed up by chairman Francois Tolken and legal adviser Peter Leon, made it clear to the parliamentary finance committee that they thought the […]
Rugby is in the Afrikaner soul: It has De Klerk’s cunning, Boer defiance and the fury of their world cup team. Andre Brink argues that its worst traits still shape the new South Africa
The Housewares Group has startled the investment community with its exceptional results, reports Jacques STORES-LISTED Housewares Group’s latest financial results took the investment community by complete surprise last week. While recent market focus lay in institutional and stockbrokers’ attempts at resurrecting investor interest in the 10-cent-a-share, debt-ridden W&A, little attention was directed at this company’s […]
Jon Swift THE tragedy which befell Max Brito cast a pall over the World Cup and the Ivory Coast threequarter’s broken neck and subsequent paralysis will be one of the sad memories of South Africa ’95. But there were other moments to remember. Kicks of the tournament: A toss-up between Joel Stransky’s matchwinner in the […]
Now, following our dirty tricks revelations last week,=20 we begin the search for the wonderful, mystical line=20 that separates what former president FW de Klerk knew=20 from what he didn’t know. Judging by his seven-page=20 statement this week, he has a simple answer: everything=20 legal he knew about and will take responsibility for;=20 and everything […]
Pat Sidley SOUTH AFRICAN wearers of disposable soft contact lenses=20 are at risk from a rare but devastating condition which=20 can lead to blindness. The condition is caused by an organism carried in water=20 (including tap water), dust or air, and it causes a=20 disorder called Acanthamoeba keratitis. Although uncommon, sufferers can go blind or […]
Justin Pearce and Jonathan Ancer Nico van Burick, acting editor of TV1’s Agenda, has=20 resigned with effect from next week — but seems likely=20 to stay on at the SABC for a further month. His resignation comes five months after the revelation=20 that he had been a commanding officer in the citizen=20 force propaganda unit […]
Aspasia Karras speaks to Vodacom general manager Joan Joan Joffe, general manager of Vodacom’s marketing and sales department, is no newcomer to media attention. Since she first stepped into the business world, she has been a well-documented phenomenon in the computer industry — an industry she describes, in apocalyptic terms, as an opportunity that appeared […]
It has been a bad week for Derek Hanekom with=20 opposition to his land reforms coming from several=20 fronts, writes Eddie Koch LAND reform has come under siege from four fronts as=20 officials battling to reshape apartheid’s rural=20 geography were hit this week by the simultaneous=20 prospect of land invasions from labour tenants, civil=20 disobedience […]
Jon Swift THE inherent weakness in picking a World XV is that it remains a paper exercise made more difficult by pulls of patriotism and the dictates of producing a line-up which would not necessarily gel in real life. There were, however, some truly stand-out players in the World Cup where no dispute can be […]
It is possible to rehabilitate=20 criminals, rather than simply incarcerate them, reports=20 Rehana Rossouw Between the ages of eight and 16, a New Zealand girl=20 was repeatedly raped and sexually abused by three=20 brothers. When she was 24 years old, she reported the=20 crime to her Maori community.=20 The three men were summonsed, listened to […]
Cinema: Justin Pearce Batman Forever — the third film in the sequence that began with Tim Burton’s Batman — is a comic book of a movie. This fact would not need pointing out, but for the fact that the first two in the sequence weren’t comic book movies. They were graphic novel movies. When Burton, […]
Chris Louw More than a year after the inauguration of the ANC- dominated Government of National Unity, diplomatic ties=20 are still maintained with the small island of Taiwan,=20 whose independence is not recognised by China. This, despite the African National Congress’ official=20 policy to establish diplomatic ties with China, an old=20 ally in the struggle […]
The visit of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams to South=20 Africa highlighted both the similarities and=20 differences between the South African and Irish peace=20 processes, writes David Beresford The departure of Gerry Adams from South Africa last=20 week is likely to have been met with a sense of relief=20 in Stormont and Whitehall. The memory […]
Simon Segal reports that though fixed investment has slowed it will continue to underpin economic growth this year Growth in fixed investment slowed in the first quarter of this year. The slowdown in the growth rate of gross domestic fixed investment (GDFI) to 5,2 percent (annualised and seasonally adjusted) follows heady rises of 19,5 percent, […]
South African broadcasters have been caught unawares by=20 Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of southern hemisphere rugby=20 broadcasting rights, reports Justin Pearce Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of the television rights to=20 southern hemisphere rugby has caught the South African=20 broadcasting world unawares, with the Independent=20 Broadcasting Authority and the SABC still searching for=20 an effective response to a […]
He made his money from fertilizer and he always seems to be putting his foot in it, but there are a couple of redeeming features to Louis Luyt, writes Jon Swift FOR many in this country, rugby lovers or not, there is something about Louis Luyt which evokes the twitches of a nasal nasty. But, […]
Ann Eveleth Greater Durban Television (GDTV), South Africa’s first=20 regular community access television station, is up and=20 running, charting new waters in public broadcasting. GDTV is operating under a temporary licence granted to=20 a coalition of community-based video groups by the=20 Independent Broadcasting Authority. GDTV took to the airwaves last week with a range of=20 […]
The World Bank’s aid for the world’s poorest countries is under attack. Reg Rumney reports The International Development Association (IDA), the arm of the World Bank which provides almost free loans to the poorest countries in the world, could be in trouble. The IDA provides concessional loans — typically 40 years repayment, no interest, and […]
Gavin Du Venage Johannesburg’s R6,5-billion budget passed earlier this week held few shocks for rate payers. However, business has been hit with an increase that could be as high as 30 percent, most of which will go to fund a huge deficit as a result of unpaid township debts. The first unitary budget to be […]
Pat Sidley A RAND Supreme Court judge has issued an extraordinary=20 gagging order aimed at silencing speculation about a=20 controversial businessman’s private life and its=20 confusion with his business tasks. The businessman, Bart Dorrestein is the deputy=20 executive chairman of the large property development=20 company Stocks and Stocks listed on the Johannesburg=20 Stock Exchange. His […]
Gaye Davis THIS WEEK’S lightning-fast passage of a Bill allowing=20 for traditional leaders to be paid by central=20 government strikes at the heart of the Inkatha Freedom=20 Party’s political control over KwaZulu/Natal chiefs. The Remuneration of Traditional Leaders Bill was=20 whisked through the Senate and the National Assembly in=20 two days this week, with the […]
Has-beens tbey may be, but FRED DE VRIES found it hard to remain cynical talking to John Lodge of The Moody WAY back in 1967, a five-piece band from Birmingham recorded that song, the song which would, in time, become as famous, as loved and as loathed as Stairway to Heaven or Hey Jude. Just […]
After a long period of monastic silence, the lure of the July was too tempting for Thomas Equinus and he is back in the saddle predicting a 16-1 winner BETTING on the Rothmans July will be even more hazardous this year. The race is run in KwaZulu/Natal, a highly inflammable civil war zone. By the […]
Dr Hillary Southall Reaction to the Health Plan put forward by Dr Jonathan=20 Broomberg and Dr Olive Shisana to restructure the=20 National Health System for universal primary health=20 care has been cautious and somewhat non-committal.=20 Editorials such as those in last week’s Mail Guardian, for instance, have not done justice to this=20 ambitious, bold and […]
CLASSICAL MUSIC: Coenraad Visser AS if to compensate for the All Blacks’ defeat on the rugby field, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa conquered all with an .astounding performance at the Sun City Superbowl. Even with paltry support from the National Symphony Orchestra (in this repertoire, why use a poor radio orchestra while an excellent opera orchestra […]
Paul Erasmus describes his initiation into ‘dirty=20 tricks’ against the left. This is the first of a=20 series of extracts from his manuscript Not long after I joined the security police (in January=20 1977), I was told by my colleagues and superiors,=20 including section head Major JHL Jordaan and=20 lieutenants At Kellerman (who later became […]
A little-known struggle for independence continues in=20 West Africa — and South Africa has strange links to=20 it. Ann Eveleth reports the presidential inauguration of Nelson Mandela on May=20 10 last year was heralded as the end of colonialism for=20 a beleaguered continent, but nobody seemed to notice=20 that one distinguished guest was celebrating a […]