Portfolio of Places cracks the whip

Motor racing enthusiast Eberhard Samson had an inside line on negotiating a reduced price for the broadcast rights to Formula 1 races for the SABC. He kept the SABC informed about the negotiations. Just as he thought he had clinched the deal however, Vuzo Mbebe arrived at Bernie Ecclestone's office in London . . .

A little known aspect of Saambou's recent demise was that the bank had, until recently, been systematically overcharging it's clients on their mortgage bonds. So much so that, by now, it could owe them a billion rands or more! Now that FirstRand has taken over, will the balances be corrected, or will FirstRand go along with the official DTI cover-up? (Will any Saambou client who finds a surprise credit on his monthly statement please let us know!)

It's apparently not acceptable for mere mortals to poke fun at corporate holy cows such as Standard Bank and SA Breweries. Or so they claim in an extraordinary high court application against young entrepreneur and satirist Justin Nurse, and his company, Laugh It Off Promotions.

Has the atmosphere in parliament turned so hostile and boorish to women that some of the smartest and most capable are about to walk out?

It's years later and Maria van Waasbergen still has not received most of her R6m divorce settlement. Just why emerges in a ding-dong interrogation of her ex-husband's lawyer in the divorce - Abe Swersky!

In 1999, Eurobusiness quoted a former Kroll Associate's assessment of his ex-boss: 'The optimist sees the glass as half full, the pessimist sees it as half empty, but Jules will see it as a theft in progress.' We need not wonder what he would have made of SA then.

Amidst the flood of 'Nigerian' scam e-mails, many South Africans would recently have been delighted to receive the following sweet e-mail: Dear Chocolate Lover Ever wanted to invent you ...

I was having an out-of-body experience and almost astral travelled yesterday, so I centred myself with the help of my spirit guides and then the phone rang.

Lada Niva owners are moving to form a pressure group to 'force' Combined Motor Holdins Group (which owns outlets for Ford, Mazda, Landrover, Volvo and, until recently, Lada) to react to negative rumours about its back-up commitment to current Lada owners.