Staff Reporter

A tendency for films to celebrate the evil of violence brings censorship closer, argues Reg Rumney AS a writer I feel bound to oppose censorship because I will contest anything that tries to limit artistic expression. As an ordinary person I increasingly favour censorship, particularly of violence. This was distilled for me by Natural Born […]

Moveable Feast Marino Corazza ACCORDING to Marco Polo, milk ices were being sold in the streets of Chinese towns in 3000 BC. The Italians, who are renowned for their ice-creams, can thank the Chinese for its introduction — Polo brought the recipe back from China in 1274. Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) was said to […]

The King Committee report won’t satisfy everybody, but it’s a good start to more openness and accountability by companies at board level. Reg Rumney reports COMPANIES will soon be under pressure to reveal exactly how much directors as a group earn. But individual salaries of the top dogs in the corporate pack — unlike in […]

THE code of corporate practice and conduct set out by the King report applies to all listed companies, large public entities, banks, financial and insurance companies, large unlisted companies, and large unlisted quasi-state entities such as control boards and co-ops. Key recommendations of the code are that each company subscribing to the code should: * […]

Critical Consumer Pat Sidley JUST when you thought it was safe to dump your increasingly expensive Telkom phone and service and invest in a cellular alternative, Telkom has opted for legal action to make it less tempting to get the “better connection”. Court action — which was postponed this week, but will go ahead in […]

Mduduzi ka Harvey THE Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has split, amid accusations that the leadership has given undue priority to police issues, misused union money and failed to resolve internal problems. The newly formed breakaway group, the Correctional Officers Union of South Africa (Cousa) — launched last week by prison staffers and […]

CINEMA: Stanley Peskin OLIVER STONE’S Natural Born Killers portrays a Darwinian vision of modern society as an inferno in which only the most brutal survive. America is perceived as a war zone, not unlike Vietnam territory, that encourages guerrilla warfare and mass slaughter. In a florid and tendentious treatment of the career of two serial […]

Urban Creep have been called an ‘African REM’. Can they live up to it? Luke Alfred reports THERE’S nothing to stop Urban Creep becoming the best band in South Africa. They have a high standard of musicianship, stage presence, some great epic songs and an uncommonly well-articulated vision for the future. They also have a […]

You want a Monet, but can’t afford to pay the price? No problem, says the self-styled queen of fakes. She spoke to Hazel Friedman DEONA VAN VUUREN is disarmingly honest. She calls a spade a spade. Which is pretty impressive given the fact that, in her line of work, spades often pass for spoons, and […]

Jacques Magliolo `ALL I owed was R5 000 — that’s all! And now I’ve lost my business.” Renowned South African couturier Hilton Weiner was placed in liquidation by holding company Bergers before it too was placed under final liquidation.Like so many professionals Weiner concentrated on his craft and neglected making it a priority to understand […]

CINEMA: Fabius Burger THERE are amazing explosions in Blown Away. It’s just as well, considering the plot is so silly. A mad bomber (Tommy Lee Jones) kills off members of Boston’s bomb disposal unit, trying to wipe out James Dove (Jeff Bridges) — something to do with trouble back in Belfast. Blown Away is an […]

WE have sympathised with new cabinet ministers who have had to grapple with sometimes recalcitrant departments as they try to take hold of the machinery they need to implement their policies. So we are quite taken aback at Minister of Defence Joe Modise’s frank admission that he seeks no such control over his charge, the […]

Intersite is showing the way in profitable, socially responsible use of state land, reports Reg Rumney A LITTLE-KNOWN property company managing R2,3-billion worth of assets mainly in the major metropolitan areas — and getting a good return — claims also to be achieving this in a socially responsible way. It’s the done thing now to […]

Teigue Payne THE new director general of trade and industry, Dr Zav Rustomjee, has given an exposition of his vision of how industry works and how it should be encouraged to be more competitive. The vision involves identifying pipelines, or forward and backward linkages, and nurturing these to greater competitiveness through tariffs, assistance and incentives. […]

Media and Marketing Clive Simpkins MARKET-SHARE greed versus service standards calls for scrutiny in the cellular telephone industry. I was advised by an overseas cellular guru that on the launch of cellular services, the existing telephone network operator is usually in a better technical position for the first year or so. It is then typically […]

Steuart Wright in East London SUN City supremo Sol Kerzner is safe from prosecution for bribery — at least for the next seven months Business Age, an overseas magazine, has suggested that Kerzner could escape prosecution following a secret deal with President Nelson Mandela and Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, who the magazine said was a […]

A top-secret Armscor document contains startling information about arms sales. Gaye Davis reports ARMSCOR sanctioned the sale of military materiel to repressive dictatorships like Haiti, to countries on the brink of civil war such as Somalia and Sudan, and sold weaponry to Warsaw Pact countries — though not the Soviet Union — well before the […]

The Locker Room Project is a showcase for ‘queer’ culture – – but that doesn’t mean it’s a moffie jol, writes Justin Pearce THE River Club looks as if it will never be the same again. That’s probably a good thing. The club may be Cape Town’s most interesting music venue, but until now it’s […]

The prison service is breaking its own guidelines on the treatment of HIV-positive prisoners, reports Mark Gevisser WHEN the kitchen staff of Johannesburg Prison were told, in September last year, that blood would be taken from them as part of a routine annual medical checkup, “Gerrit” thought nothing of it. Two weeks later, he was […]

Pat Sidley SPORTS sponsorship received a major boost this week when the Department of Health announced stringent new regulations for advertising and packaging tobacco products. With both packets and adverts re-quired to carry visible health warnings, sports sponsorship may look to the to-bacco companies as the only way to go. The new regulations take effect […]

Vuyo Mvoko STORMY petrel of the North-West, Rocky Malebane-Metsing, still expects to be reinstated as the regional government’s MEC for agriculture — despite premier Popo Molefe’s pledges to the contrary. Molefe, who fired Metsing two weeks ago, has insisted that the latter cannot be accommodated in the provincial cabinet but may be given a lesser […]

A modelling roadshow gives rural women a chance to become Cinderellas of a screen fantasy. Ann Eveleth reports GROWING up in the Transkei village of Lusikisiki, Pamela Mandisa-Singenile and her four brothers had to huddle around a small television set connected to a car battery to get a glimpse of the modern world. Now 22-year-old […]

MUSIC: Johnny de Goede THE power of her voice and stage presence alone have ensured Heather Mac a prominent place among South Africa’s rock luminaries. I remember being spellbound by one of her performances with Ellamental in 1984, after which the band went to Europe, basing themselves in Ireland. They even got to play at […]

Senior National Parks Board members have pushed their own self-destruct button. Eddie Koch reports A SHAKE-UP in the management of South Africa’s game reserves is on the cards. Senior members of the National Parks Board have — in the face of pressure for them to resign — pushed their own self-destruct button by asking the […]

Vuyo Mvoko THE story of the annual Old Mutual National Choir Festival can be summed up in the words: a tale of love fulfilled through years of suffering. “It’s like a miracle every year,” says Wits School of Music head Carl van Wyk, patron of the festival. “It’s definitely the premier event in the choral […]

FINE ART: Ivor Powell THE season is upon us when art galleries put on their festive end-of-year theme exhibitions. Such shows traditionally strive to be “fun” on the one hand — and emporia of upmarket Christmas gifts on the other. Somewhere they usually include in their conception a vague message of goodwill. The Thompson Gallery […]

Their adrenalin flows, they move in fast cars and are envied by other policemen. But, reports Mduduzi ka Harvey, flying squad cops are ill-rewarded for their hazardous work IT is 7pm in a small office at the Brixton police station. Two men in their twenties carry out a final inspection of their instruments of war; […]

The government’s affirmative action policy is cruel, heartless and immoral, argues Martin Brassey. Why are its victims so silent? OFFICIAL job reservation, scrapped in 1987, was reintroduced to South Africa a fortnight ago. Yet not a word has been said in protest. Where once the policy provoked uproar, now it evokes mere silence. Silence from […]

ATHLETICS: Julian Drew THE annual Soweto Marathon takes place for the second time on Sunday and despite the teething problems with the organisation of the race, it is fast becoming South Africa’s premier city marathon. Last year the race did not obtain official sanction from the South African Road Running Association. The Transvaal Amateur Athletic […]

Batting blues: Selectors need to think again after dismal failure against Kiwis CRICKET: Jon Swift THERE are, in the light of South Africa’s 137-run loss to Ken Rutherford’s touring New Zealanders at the Wanderers this week, a number of matters to be pondered. The most pressing of these is the continuing failure of the South […]

The formation of a House of Traditional Leaders in kwaZulu/Natal has created conflict between the ANC and IFP, writes Farouk Chothia BEHIND the ANC’s opposition to a House of Traditional Leaders in kwaZulu/Natal lies realpolitik: it wants to prevent its newly-acquired asset, Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini, from being exposed as a monarch without a crown, […]

What spurred last week’s panic attack at the JSE and what should investors do to prevent future losses? Jacques Magliolo reports BEARS had a field day last week when the Johannesburg Stock Exchange overall index fell a mere 100 points. No sooner had the index fallen in line with Wall Street — on the back […]