Yearly Archives: 1999

NIGERIAN-led Ecomog intervention troops had Sierra Leonean rebels encircled in Freetown early on Thursday, depriving them of any way out of a battered city. Units of Ecomog soldiers, who have since Sunday made progress on fronts between Hastings and Waterloo on the Freetown peninsula, linked up late on Wednesday and trapped the rebels, military sources […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Goma | Friday 8.00pm. UNITED Nations humanitarian agencies will resume operations in the rebel-controlled east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, visiting UN official Martin Griffith announced on Friday. “The humanitarian situation justifies our intervention, but it is still too early to set a date,” Griffith, the UN deputy secretary general in charge […]

THE United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation has chosen the Western Cape’s Kogelberg reserve as a biosphere reserve, Cape Nature Conservation announced on Friday. The Kogelberg biosphere reserve is about 80km east of Cape Town, stretching from Gordon’s Bay to the eastern shores of the Bot River Vlei and inland to the northern foothills […]

OLYMPIC swimming champion Penny Heyns has triumphed at the short course swimming World Cup in Hobart, Tasmania. Heyns came first in her event, the women’s 50m breaststroke, in a time of 31:18. She was followed by two Australians, Samantha Riley (32,01) and Helen Denman (32,07). This follows a win on Saturday when she took the […]

MPUMALANGA Premier Mathews Phosa appointed one of the province’s most respected and proactive administrators, Coleman Nyathi, as acting provincial director general on Friday. The appointment follows the unexpected resignation of former director general Frank Mbatha in mid-January. Mbatha resigned to pursue a private-sector career after his authority began slipping, with bodies such as the Mpumalanga […]

SOON BOTES admits that unknown fighters are dangerous, but he’s predicting he will be too smart against Mweli Msomi in their fight for the vacant South African light heavyweight title at Nasrec on Sunday. “It’s true I do not know him….I will then [after the first round] have the idea as to what he is […]

THE Eastern Cape towns of Mount Ayliff and Thabankulu have been declared disaster areas after they were ravaged by a tornado on Monday. The decision to declare a disaster in the areas follows a visit to the affected parts on Thursday by Welfare Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi and Constitutional Affairs Minister Valli Moosa, and was made […]

THE South African Football Association announced on Wednesday that Lesotho has agreed to face South Africa’s under-23 soccer squad, the Sasol sponsored AmaGlug-Glug, after Egypt withdrew from a two-match series. AmaGlug-Glug manager Barney Kujane said the venues for the matches which were scheduled for Thursday at the Dobsonville Stadium and Saturday at Vosloorus Stadium have […]

CONVICTED child-killer Dan Mabote has been found guilty of raping two young girls, including the girl he murdered. The Germiston Magistrate’s Court convicted Mabote on Thursday of raping Mamokgethi Malebane (7), whom he murdered to keep from testifying against him, and an unnamed young girl in 1996. He was acquitted on a third rape charge. […]

economy, stupid Beneath the triumphalism and euphoria, a deep unease pervades Middle America, argues Robert Kuttner Yes, in many respects life in the United States has never been better. But there are four notable soft spots in the American utopia: insecurity, holes in the welfare state, inequality and stress. First, insecurity: social critic Richard Sennett […]