POLICE are investigating whether a missing Kruger National Park field ranger was murdered before being eaten by wild animals. Field ranger Salamoa Mongwe’s torn clothes, identity book, boots and bank card were found in bloodstained grass near the staff quarters on September 4. There were signs of leopard and hyena in the area and bits […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and REUTERS, Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTH African motorists, already reeling from a series of fuel price hikes which has driven the price of a litre of petrol to R3,66, could be paying up to five cents more per litre from next month, which will put increased pressure on domestic inflation. Strong international petroleum […]

REUTERS, Mexico City | Wednesday A THIRD of the world’s six billion people live in a state of extreme poverty, a state of “brutal inequality” that mars the dawn of the new millennium, says the United Nations. In a preview to a report on world population, the UN Population Fund representative in Mexico said one […]

DEFENCE Minister Mosiuoa Lekota says he cannot rule out racism as a motive for the shooting of a naval officer by a subordinate at Simon’s Town. “It’s not impossible that it was racial,” he said, adding that racism was endemic to South African society. However, South Africans were generally quick to resort to extreme violence […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT AND ELLIS MNYANDU, Johannesburg | Wednesday ORGANISED labour in South Africa has uncovered the deepest cracks yet in the ruling alliance with the African National Congress (ANC) government, saying it would not be reduced to “rubber-stamping” ANC-formulated social and economic policies. “The relationship is dangerously undefined. Government takes decisions without effective alliance participation,” […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pietermaritzburg | Wednesday GOVERNMENT is considering compensating farmers for losses following the outbreak of foot and mouth disease on a pig farm at Camperdown in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, which has already seen Namibia banning all pork imports from South Africa and Botswana and the European Union weighing their options. Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, New York | Wednesday SOUTHERN African foreign ministers have expressed deep opposition to proposed US legislation to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe if democratic reforms and changes to a controversial land reform program are not implemented. In a meeting here with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the foreign ministers from the […]

AFP, Johannesburg | Wednesday THE Anglican Church in South Africa has waded into a huge Aids controversy, saying history will rank the current lack of action by the government against the disease as a crime against humanity on the same scale as apartheid. Cape Town archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, the head of the church, issued a […]

REUTERS, London | Wednesday TANZANIA has assured major oil companies that its first offshore oil licenses, which have just been launched, will be corruption free and not bogged in red tape. The east African nation, which currently is not a major producer of hydrocarbons, launched the licensing round in Houston last week, followed by a […]

SOUTH Africa’s Metropolitan Life (Metlife) says it is confident of its future as a stand-alone entity despite the failure of a planned merger with life assurer Sanlam. Sanlam, Metlife and black empowerment company New Africa Investments Ltd (Nail) said this week they had called off talks to form South Africa’s second largest financial services group […]