AN UNNAMED black empowerment company has snapped up a prime piece of council-owned Hyde Park land for R3,5m – the highest value online auction item yet sold in South Africa. The auction, which attracted 20 bids, attracted several overseas bidders, according to David Bloch, CEO of auctioneers SalesBid. The vacant property was one of several […]

ACQUISITIVE South African diamond group De Beers is likely to post a hefty 112 percent increase in earnings per share when it releases its interim results on Wednesday, analysts say. The world’s top gem producer and marketer is expected to benefit from record first-half sales of rough gems, which hit $3.52bn, a 44 percent rise […]

SHARES in Standard Bank Investment Corp (Stanbic) jumped more than five percent, close to year highs, as investors banked on the banking group posting strong increase in earnings when it announces results later this week. ”Stanbic’s up ahead of the results. We are looking for a pretty good figure, up around 26 percent,” said one […]

AN Antonov cargo plane has crashed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing all 21 passengers and six crew members on board, according to state television and sources at the national aviation authority. State television reported that 13 bodies had so far been recovered from the wreckage. The plane crashed on Saturday afternoon 63km […]

ABOUT 40 000 people in Mozambique’s central province of Sofala face starvation because peasant farmers have lost almost all of the second planting season, says a government spokesman. “The population of Chiramba and Sena in the Sofala districts of Chemba and Caia respectively might go hungry in the next few months,” Chemba’s district administrator Framcisco […]

PRESIDENT Pierre Buyoya of Burundi arrived in South Africa on Monday night to discuss attempts to end seven years of civil war in Burundi. Buyoya is likely to meet former South African president Nelson Mandela, now the chief mediator of Burundi’s peace process. He is expected to be in South Africa for four days. Mandela […]

PEOPLE infected with the Aids virus in 14 central and west African countries have agreed to set up a network of “exchange and action” to help deal with their condition. The network will bring together people infected with Human Immune-deficiency Virus (HIV), the virus that leads to Aids. About 20 people from the 14 countries, […]

THE ANC has accused its rival Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) of being behind an attack on the home of ANC MP Prince Zeblon Zulu at Nongoma. While police claim yesterday’s attack was motivated by robbery, ANC Nongoma general-secretary Philemon Ntuli said the attackers were IFP supporters attending a rally in the vicinity of Zulu’s home. […]

SWAZILAND claimed this week the international community had turned a deaf ear to its calls for food aid for thousands of people faced with starvation in the wake of devastating floods earlier this year. An estimated 14 000 rural Swaziland villagers have already run out of food and thousands more are at risk unless the […]