Gaye Davis MEDIA-BASHING and government-run media slots offered no solution to the problems the government was having in informing people about what it was doing, ANC MP Carl Niehaus said this week. Calling for an urgent presidential commission to investigate how government communicates, Niehaus said the South African Communications Service (Sacs), formerly the propaganda arm […]
Graham Matthews A couple of months ago I said it would be wrong to read too=20 much into the tourist arrivals data for any one month.=20 As the weeks roll by, however, the so-called “big picture”=20 emerges and reveals the strong underlying pace of growth in=20 the number of foreign visitors entering South Africa. Intriguingly, […]
The African Development Bank meeting to elect a new=20 president turned into a ‘circus’. Kevin Rafferty in Abuja,=20 Nigeria, reports A meeting of governors of the African Development Bank=20 broke up in disarray in Abuja, Nigeria, this week after=20 failing to elect a new president.=20 The governors will meet again in the headquarters city of=20 […]
The ‘black empowerment purchase’ of JCI and Johnnic has=20 important implications, reports Reg Rumney The National Empowerment Consortium (NEC) is poised to buy=20 a big stake in Johnnic, the industrial firm that came out=20 of the unbundling of conglomerate Johannesburg Consolidated=20 The details of how the union and black-business-based=20 consortium intends pulling this off are […]
Gaye Davis WARNING that local government transition was heading into “white waters”, Dr Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert this week appealed to politicans engaged in demarcation dogfights to settle their differences, saying any delays in the process would lead to conflict. If transforming local government became bogged down in lengthy court actions, local elections would be […]
Sam Sklair=20 LEE RITENOUR/LARRY CARLTON: Larry and Lee (GRP)=20 IF you are into contemporary jazz/fusion guitar playing,=20 you can’t do much better than this CD. It gets together two=20 of the most skilled and versatile players of this genre,=20 and it is almost impossible to decide which one is playing=20 solo at any time. Lee […]
What ‘s worse than not having a ticket to the big match? Having a ticket but not making it to the game, writes Jon Swift THE phone call came in the early hours of Friday morning. The language emanating from the instrument was a choice mix of the more neanderthal part of Nether-landic and the […]
Eddie Koch The African National Congress this week released details about how members can bring charges against individuals in the movement accused of breaching the party’s code of conduct before its disciplinary According to a draft disciplinary procedure drawn up by the organisation’s national executive committee, charges can be “initiated for violations of the basic […]
EYEWITNESS: Mgcobo Ngxukume When I arrived at the rank in Umtata I heard a lot of talk about how the terrible taxi war was intensifying. The routes between Umtata, Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown were the worst hit, everyone was saying. As I was standing there with the other passengers, there was a lot of doubt […]
Karen MacGregor THE number of African students registered at South African universities has trebled in the last 10 years – – and for the first time ever, last year more students were African than any other race group — according to the recently released Race Relations Survey 1994/95. The growing representation of black people was […]
Right-wing political groups are trying to use a UN initiative to protect indigenous peoples for their own political ends, reports Eddie Koch A GROUP of boers, bushmen, basters and Zulu nationalists will make a bizarre set of bedfellows when they rally around the vierkleur, the pennant of the white right, at a conference this month […]
Clive Simpkins THREE very different events, one sporting, one advertising, and one political, focus attention on the eclectic nature of marketing in South Africa today. The Rugby World Cup is in full swing. The marketing lesson that emerges from this event is this: there should have been some central co-ordinating unit, looking at all intrusions […]
1 Black Grape: It’s Great When You’re Straight … Yeah! (BMG) 2 Pulp: Different Class (Polygram) 3 James Phillips: Made in South Africa (Shifty/Tic Tic Bang) 4 Neil Young with Pearl Jam: Mirror Ball (Warner Bros) 5 Urban Creep: Sea Level (Shifty/Tic Tic Bang) 6 Boukman Eksperyans: Libte (Pran Pou Pran’l!) (Mango) 7 Gito Baloi: […]
SOCCER: Gerald Combrink THE Coca Cola Cup has since its inception in 1992 become the property of the minnows of South African soccer. It is a competition that, like the sponsor’s logo, seems to “add life” to the lesser knowns of the local game. In fact, the only giant to do anything significant in the […]
SOCCER: Gerald Combrinck=20 AFTER their defeat in the BP Top final, log leaders Kaizer=20 Chiefs have a score to settle with Wits when the two sides=20 meet in a league game at Milpark on Saturday.=20 “We are ready to destroy Wits in revenge for the cup=20 defeat,” said Chiefs PRO Louis Tshakoane.=20 Wits are likely […]
PUBLIC comment is urgently being sought — by June 25 –=20 on a bold new land policy framework that promises sweeping=20 reforms for the poor and dispossessed. The Department of Land Affairs recently published a Land=20 Policy Framework Document which covers crucial land reform=20 issues including restitution, security of tenure and=20 sustainable land use. The […]
The Beatles came back, the Stones kept going — and Blur and Oasis echoed an old rivalry, writes Shaun de Waal TWENTY-FIVE years after they broke up, The Beatles are back — well, sort of. The band broke up in 1970, and John Lennon was killed in 1980, but in 1995 the remaining Beatles put […]
The IBA has a new target in its sights — satellite TV — and it’s heading for a battle with those who believe it has no business there. Dirk de Vos reports EARLY this year, the Independent Broadcasting Authority attempted to amend the Act by which it is governed by inserting the words “space stations”, […]
Shirley Kossick THERE has been a bumper crop of women’s writing this year, both in fiction and biography. Pride of place must go to Pat Barker, whose novel The Ghost Road (Viking) swept in to win the Booker Prize ahead of Salman Rushdie’s favoured The Moor’s Last Sigh The final volume in Barker’s trilogy about […]
Ann Eveleth Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi has lost a significant battle in his bid to clean up the controversial KwaZulu Police force. Former Sundumbili station commander Major Owen Zama — the first of 14 officers Mufamadi ordered suspended last year — was acquitted on Friday on charges related to an alleged 1990 attempt […]
Evan Speechley may be a “glorified water boy”, but his job is a lot more important to the Springboks than that RUGBY: Luke Alfred THE sports physiotherapist’s role is overlooked by fans and journalists, yet the physio is surely one of the more crucial members of any team. In the case of Evan Speechley, physio […]
Jay Naidoo MENTION the “word” RDP and what’s the reaction? People look around for the bricks and houses. Where are the houses one year after? How many are there? Yes, ultimately, the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) is about putting roofs over people’s heads and food on the table. But before getting there, we need […]
Ann Eveleth African National Congress (ANC) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leaders have taken off their gloves to wage an all-fronts battle between their respective power- As negotiators from both parties prepared to sit down at the table this week for what turned out to be little more than “talks before talks before talks” discussions, […]
RUGBY: Barney Spender=20 AFTER a noisy, boisterous Saturday night to celebrate a=20 Welsh victory over Japan, the Hard Rock Cafe in=20 Bloemfontein was a ghost pub on Sunday at lunchtime.=20 Michelle, a bubbly waitress, who had seen the tips over the=20 previous 10 days rise quicker than a Kobus Wiese line-out=20 lift, cut a forlorn […]
Aspasia Karras Mike Gcabo has landed a coup: the North West Builders=20 Federation (NWBF), of which he is president, has just=20 embarked on one of the biggest construction contracts ever=20 awarded to black builders. A R60-million joint venture between Mawite (a consortium of=20 nine builders from the NWBF) and LTA Building will rebuild=20 the Mabopane […]
The listing of two new companies on the JSE this week put dealers in the mood for making money, Jacques Magliolo Investors received a double treat at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) this week as two new company listings took place, bringing to an end weeks of lacklustre market performance. The listing of ChromeCorp Holdings […]
Pauline Corfe THIS weekend, two exhibits from Cape Town’s South African National Gallery — Ezakwantu: Beadwork from the Eastern Cape and Jane Alexander’s The Butcher Boys — left for Europe and the prospects of international acclaim. But SANG curator Emma Bedford said lack of funds could jeopardise the showing of the latter work at the […]
Indigent people may soon gain wider access to legal representation, reports Justin Pearce Contingency fees — where lawyers are only paid if they win the case — could soon be officially recognised. This will enable the poor to invoke the power of the law without the financial risk of losing a case. Although contingency fees […]
Anouk Mommer Fathers of children born out of wedlock will soon have a fair chance to gain access rights. The Minister of Justice has referred a number of important recommendations of the Law Commisssion to Parliament in the form of a draft Bill. Fathers currently have no rights over children born out of wedlock — […]
With rugby in South Africa no longer just for whites, radio=20 commentary of the World Cup will be in all 11 official=20 RUGBY: Barney Spender WITH the World Cup rollercoaster gathering pace, and black=20 market tickets for the big games already changing hands at=20 silly prices, it is important to stop and reflect for a=20 […]
The Mark Gevisser Profile Why, I asked Minister of Justice Dullah Omar, did he think that, of all the issues before our first Government of National Unity, the one that nearly brought the whole damn house tumbling down was his Truth and Reconciliation Bill? “All of us involved in this bill,” he replied with those […]
Eddie Koch WHY did only black workers die in last week’s tragedy? The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) says it is because racial segregation is still rife on the mines. The charge is denied by the owners of the Vaal Reefs Gold Mine. Union officials say black and white mineworkers are hoisted separately on many […]