Yearly Archives: 2001

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Wednesday RED-FACED South African police have been forced into a humiliating apology after a mock hostage drama – which they reported as real – was broadcast to the world at large by unsuspecting local and international media. The incident has sparked outrage amongst the media, members of the public and even […]

Justin arenstein, Nelspruit | Wednesday MPUMALANGA has fast-tracked disciplinary hearings against four senior hospital managers who allegedly allowed a volunteer rape crisis group to distribute anti-Aids drugs to rape victims without written authorisation. Health department representative Lucky Molobela confirmed that the disciplinary hearing against Rob Ferreira hospital superintendent Dr Thys van Mollendorf, hospital manager David […]

COLONEL Eddy Kapend, a key aide to assassinated Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) president Laurent Kabila, has been arrested for “involvement” in his slaying, the French daily Le Monde reported. Kapend played a key role in the succession of the dead president, approving the choice of his son Joseph, 29, over several other contenders including […]

DUMISANE LUBISI, Pietersburg | Wednesday THE President of the Student Representative Council (SRC) at the University of the North, who has been at the institution since 1992 for a four-year B Juris law degree, is among 10 SRC members suing the institution for R1m for defamation for revealing that they owed more than R400_000 in […]

OVER the next 50 years, the world’s poorest nations will triple in size – while its richest will shrink, a new UN study predicts. The world, 6.1bn people strong today, is anticipated to reach 9.3bn by 2050, the UN Population Division estimates. Nine of every 10 people will be living in a developing country, one […]

REBELS in southern Sudan have handed over more than 2_600 child soldiers to United Nations aid agencies which have flown them out of the conflict zone, UNICEF chief Carol Bellamy announced. The UN Children’s Fund will try to trace the families of the children, aged 8 to 18, who are being cared for in reception […]

DUTCH Prime Minister Wim Kok, nearing the end of a five-day goodwill visit to South Africa, has praised the country’s democratic and economic progress and urged foreign business to pour in money. ”I am firmly convinced of the fact that it is worthwhile for businesses to be here and to come here,” he said after […]

SOUTH Africa’s diversified agricultural company OTK Holdings Ltd has sold its R921m interest-bearing debtors book to two banks. OTK sold its debtor book to Wesbank and the Land Bank for R203m and R718m respectively in a transaction effective from January 31 this year. The deals would generate substantial cash for the group and shareholders would […]

NIGERIAN Vice-President Atiku Abubakar was on board a presidential aircraft when it crash-landed in Spain at the weekend. Officials said the Boeing 727 which took Atiku and 15 aides to Portugal last week developed engine problems on its return before crash-landing on the Spanish island of Tenerife. No one was hurt. It was the second […]

THE United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says it is concerned about the risk of increasing deforestation in Kenya after the government announced its intention to clear forest land for settlement. Earlier this month Kenya’s Environment Minister Francis Nyenze gave 28-days notice of intent to allocate 68_000 hectares of forest land in 14 locations around Mount […]