DE BEERS, the world’s largest producer of diamonds, has completed its successful 305m Canadian dollar bid for the takeover of diamond producer Winspear Diamonds.The offer saw 96.2% of Winspear shareholders accept De Beers’ bid of C$5 per share. De Beers last month concluded the agreement for the acquisition of Winspear, which counts among its assets […]

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday reserved judgment in jailed clergyman Allan Boesak’s application for leave to appeal against a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling. Boesak was imprisoned for three years in May after being convicted on charges of fraud and theft. His lawyers argued at the Constitutional Court that the Appeal Court breached the Constitution […]

MINING group Anglo American has unveiled surging first-half profits, with its operating result up 71% to $1.6bn, and attributed the strong performance to buoyant commodity markets. The group, which listed on the London Stock Exchange last year, said pretax profit was also up more than 70% to $2.08bn. Sales rose 5.5% to $10.31bn. South African-listed […]

More than 100 dangerous awaiting-trial prisoners were erroneously released from Pollsmoor Prison in the Western Cape, the correctional services department confirmed.Murder, robbery, rape and arson suspects did not qualify for the government’s early release programme to bring down overcrowding in South Africa’s prisons. The government plans to release 11 000 awaiting-trial prisoners countrywide by Friday, […]

AP and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Congo | Wednesday A TRIBAL militia loyal to Congolese President Laurent Kabila attacked a rebel-held market town on Congo’s border with Uganda, setting off a battle that left at least 30 attackers dead. Using spears and machine guns the pro-government fighters, known as the Mai-Mai, attacked at Butembo in the northeastern […]

NAVY and police divers have found the bodies of two fishermen who drowned when their trawler sank off the west coast, joint taskforce spokesman Piet Paxton said. The Pokki M, a 65-ton fishing trawler with a crew of nine sank shortly before 4pm on Tuesday. The trawler was heading for home when she capsized and […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTH Africa has ranked 34th out of 90 countries in a Transparency International (TI) survey on perceptions of corruption. The 2000 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released Tuesday, showed that South Africa had almost retained its position since 1998 when it ranked 32nd out of 85 countries. The least corrupt country […]

Radio 702 will invite Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to appear on talk show host John Robbie’s show again. The African National Congress on Tuesday accepted 702 owner Primedia’s apology for the way Robbie’s interview with the Minister ended last week. Robbie told her he had never heard “such rubbish” and told her to “go away” […]

An opposition alliance in Mauritius appears headed for a landslide victory in the general elections according to early results released on Tuesday. With about one third of the votes counted, the alliance looks poised to sweep all 60 of the National Assembly seats being contested. The race is chiefly between an alliance of Prime Minister […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Johannesburg | Wednesday AS soaring petrol prices spark worldwide protests, the South African government is to establish a committee to find ways to control the price. While South African consumers and businesses have meekly accepted the hike, protesters blocked highways across Europe. Belgian Transport Minister Isabelle Durant announced that European Union […]