A CONVICTED rapist who rejected a legal aid defence to represent him before a judge, saying the counsel was not present when the rape happened, has been jailed for life for raping a 10-year-old girl last year. Justice R Smit said court records showed Harry Ngcobo, 38, of Barberton lured the girl into his house […]

AFP AND OWN CORRESPONDENT, Beijing | Tuesday CHINA is to announce a reduction in some of the debts of the poorest African countries during the first China-Africa Cooperation Forum in Beijing, say senior officials – but the eight countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan will not benefit from the debt reduction scheme. Vice Minister […]

MARIAM ISA AND OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday SOUTH African banks are unlikely to be badly hit by the impending collapse of LeisureNet, the country’s biggest health club operator, but a Cape Town black empowerment company has shed 44% of its share price after five directors resigned. The share price of Sekunjalo Investments dropped 8c […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday AVGOLD, the local gold producer, is evaluating three alternatives for the development of an ore body in the Free State, north of its Target project, which would cost between R1bn and R3bn, the daily Business Report said. Julian Gwillim, an Avgold spokesman, said they were mulling over three development options […]

THE Gaddafi Human Rights Prize has been awarded to Cuban President Fidel Castro in recognition of his “heroic role” in resisting imperialism, according to a report in the Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma. Libya’s permanent representative to the United Nations Abuzeid Omar Dorda handed the award to Castro in a “simple but moving” ceremony at […]

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 Africa’s telecommunications operator Telkom has launched a $250m one-year revolving credit facility in the euro-syndicated market to restructure existing group indebtedness and for general corporate purposes. The tenor of the facility is one-year, with a 15-month term out option, Telkom said in a statement. The deal is being managed by Credit Agricole Indosuez and […]

BUCHIZYA MSETEKA AND OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday STRIKING miners at the world’s top platinum producer Anglo American Platinum (Angloplat) will march on the firm’s headquarters on Wednesday to press for higher wages, their union said. As the strike dragged into its 23rd day, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which is representing strikers at […]

SOUTH Africa’s Competition Tribunal has approved four outsourcing deals concluded by telecoms operator Telkom aimed at cutting its non-core activities ahead of a 2001 initial public offering. It said the deals, some of which had initially faced opposition from workers concerned about their jobs, were subject to a stay of retrenchments by all parties in […]