NORTHERN province police are investigating a Seshego police sergeant who allegedly inserted his fingers into the private parts of a teenage girl who had just been raped. The policeman, a member of the crime prevention unit, has not been arrested or suspended. The teenage girl said The policeman lured her into his room at the […]

A MALAWI newspaper editor has been demoted for not using a story about President Bakili Muluzi opening a plastic factory as his newspaper’s front page lead. The editor used a story headlined ”Malawi Police to Serve in Kosovo” as its main article instead of an account of Muluzi’s visit to the plastic factory. The Media […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Tuesday SOUTH Africa’s much-delayed local government elections will take place on December 5, Local and Provincial Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi announced. Mufamadi made the announcement on Tuesday after President Thabo Mbeki pledged to prevent the erosion of powers of traditional leaders. Mbeki earlier met the joint technical committee established to determine […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday THE Heath Special Investigating Unit intends to investigate South Africa’s controversial R32m arms deal after studying an Auditor-General’s report which highlighted several flaws in the procurement process. If the Heath unit’s application for a proclamation to probe the deal is approved, it will become the third body to probe […]

SOUTH Africans are using some 75% more condoms this year than last, an indication HIV/Aids awareness programmes are working, says Deputy President Jacob Zuma. “The demand for free condoms issued by government has increased from 200m last year to about 350m this year,” Zuma told a gathering in the Free State to mark the second […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday THE Heath Special Investigating Unit intends to investigate South Africa’s controversial R32bn arms deal after studying an Auditor-General’s report which highlighted several flaws in the procurement process. If the Heath unit’s application for a proclamation to probe the deal is approved, it will become the third body to probe […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday THE Truth and Reconciliation Commission has reserved judgment in a former military intelligence operative’s application for amnesty for planning the bomb attack which maimed Constitutional Court Judge Albie Sachs. Henri van der Westhuizen, 40, said that prior to the hearing he approached Sachs – who as an African National Congress […]

HEALTH Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has acknowledged that MPs enjoy subsidised access to the anti-Aids drug AZT, which the state has decreed should not be given to HIV-infected people at public hospitals. The Sunday Times reported that the parliamentary medical aid scheme, which also serves provincial legislatures, pays R35_ 000 for anti-HIV therapy and provides AZT […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Bisho | Tuesday A DATE for South Africa’s much-postponed municipal elections could be announced by the end of the week after a committee reviewing the concerns of traditional leaders over new municipal boundaries finalised a report for President Thabo Mbeki. “We’re almost there,” said Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi. The announcement […]

A TRADE delegation from Gauteng led by Premier Mbhazima Shilowa has arrived in the US to establish joint ventures between local information technology companies and their US counterparts. According to the Gauteng Economic Development Agency (Geda), the aim is to increase access to US and other foreign markets for local companies. “It is not easy […]