US1,2BN PLEDGED
By Thebe Mabanga
A huge road and rail infrastructure upgrade project, which aims to link Southern and Eastern Africa to boost trade, got off the ground with US$1,2bn pledged by African and international donors in Lusaka this week. The North-South Co...

TEA IN NUMBERS
By Jacqueline Bullard
US$3/kg The price black tea has breached in recent weeks as crop shortfalls became evident. $2,33/kg The average price of tea in 2008, up a third from $1,76 ...

FIRM HANDSHAKES
By Rob Rose
Under the new King 3 governance code, Absa would have been panned for poor governance for awarding former CEO Steve Booysen a huge R19,1m "golden handshake". The size of this golden handshake, due to be paid in August, is likely to rankle with...

WRY CRIME BUSTER
By Thebe Mabanga
As high-powered crime busters go, Willie Hofmeyr is about as unlikely a figure as you can encounter, with his shy manner and wry smile. As deputy national director of public prosecutions, he was closely involved as an adviser on the w...

WINNERS & LOSERS

WINNER Jacob Zuma Whatever you may think of the NPA letting him off the fraud hook, Msholozi can now make whoopee: he won't be going to court and is a shoo-in to become president. WINNER Mokotedi Mpshe The NPA's acti...

WE'LL START THE PRICE WAR'
By Duncan McLeod
SA's telecommunications companies, who think there will be a gradual decline in bandwidth prices over a period of years, are in for a rude shock. That's because prices will fall off a cliff, and soon. At least that's the view of EC...

CUT AT SOURCE BY SA TEAM
By Sasha Planting
Linc Energy and Golden Nest International specialise in converting coal into liquids, notably diesel fuel. Both companies have reported positive results from the pilots. The logic of the Wits scientific team was simple: it is easier to reduce ...

NO LONGER RUSHED
By Thebe Mabanga
One of the more unusual yet memorable figures of SA's first democratic elections in 1994 was then Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) president Clarence Makwetu. He led what has turned out to be a tragically lost cause of trying to establish...

COMINGS & GOINGS

Sim Tshabalala Standard Bank of SA's CE has been appointed one of three new deputy CEs of the Standard Bank Group, together with COOs Ben Kruger and Peter Wharton-Hood, under group CE Jacko Maree. Cedric Savage Re...

RENEWABLE ENERGY
By Sasha Planting
What is the renewable-energy feed-in tariff (Refit)? It is an incentive structure introduced last week by the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) to encourage the development of a renewable-energy industry. Eskom is obligated to allow privat...

IT'S MOST UNUSUAL
By Linda Stafford
You wouldn't take your granny there. Unless you fitted her with ear-plugs first. Or unless she was game to recapture the wildest days of her youth. Which is probably why, among RoseBoys' generally 30-something patrons, you will spot ...

WHAT FINANCIAL CRISIS?
By Razina MunshiIain
Judging by the behaviour of annuity company The Unlimited Group, one would think the financial crisis was a figment of the imagination. Where other financial services companies are ducking for cover, The Unlimited is going on the offensive. ...

MOBILE SUN CHARGER
By Duncan McLeod
How many times has your cellphone's battery gone flat at the most inopportune moments? It's happened to all of us. Worse, you could be out in the bush without access to electricity, or on a five-day hiking trip across the Drakensberg. Anything could ...

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

MOKOTEDI MPSHE NPA ACTING DIRECTOR in his statement on the matter state vs Zuma and others - on April 6. Mpshe found evidence of behind-the-scenes manipulation in the decision to prosecute Jacob Zuma ...