THE government is considering using expropriation to make land available for restitution, new Land Affairs director-general Gilingwe Mayende said on Tuesday. Addressing the Pretoria Press Club, Mayende also announced an imminent crackdown on those who illegally evicted people from their land. Mayende said an over-reliance on market forces and the willing buyer-willing seller principle had […]
THE UN Security Council has approved a resolution banning trade in diamonds mined from rebel-held areas of Sierra Leone. Diamonds are the main source of revenue for the Revolutionary United Front, which had taken 500 UN peacekeepers hostage in May. Resolution 1306, proposed by Britain, passed with 14 votes and one abstention from Mali. The […]
IN an attempt to spread its influence further into Southern Africa, the Development Bank of Southern Africa has signed a US$10m loan with Zambia’s Copperbelt Energy Corporation. This is the first loan to a private power company. The 12-year loan will finance the extension of the company’s electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure in the mineral […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg. TELKOM is to implement a R1.2bn regional telecommunications network, for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) with the first phase rollout expected to be completed by the end of 2001. The entire project should be completed in five years, while it is intended that links between Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana and between […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg. MOTOR vehicle sales showed sustained growth during the first six months of 2000 to end the half year 19% up on the same period last year, with a total of 165 678 sales recorded by Naamsa. In June, sales were up a substantial 25,7% over the same month in 1999. The passenger […]
THE world’s largest diamond company, De Beers, has decided to follow a strategic review in marketing and planned acquisitions. It wants to boast its own gems and run more foreign mines. Hence the $175m hostile bid for Canadian miner, Winspear. Although De Beers controls up to 70% of the world trade in rough gems and […]
Former president Nelson Mandela, mediator in the peace process for Burundi, said on Tuesday he was "confident we will have a breakthrough" when talks resume this month in Arusha, Tanzania.
A NEW night time curfew began on Tuesday night in Ivory Coast after soldiers took to the streets for the first time since the December coup. Military ruler General Robert Guei imposed the 7pm. to 6am curfew after soldiers took to the streets of Abidjan and other towns in the country. Firing into the air […]
FIVE elderly women were killed and nine other people were injured in a fire at a retirement home in Port Elizabeth. The victims were all women aged between 88 and 98, police said. It was initially unclear if they burned to death or died from smoke inhalation. The injured were taken to hospital and treated […]
BELGIAN Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt will visit South Africa on Thursday and Friday for talks with President Thabo Mbeki on the situation in central Africa and the Great Lakes region. Verhofstadt would also call on former president Nelson Mandela to discuss the peace efforts in the Great Lakes region. He will be accompanied by Belgium’s […]