Staff Reporter
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/ 10 June 2000

RWANDA, UGANDA IGNORE CEASEFIRE

RWANDAN and Ugandan troops resumed fighting for the fifth consecutive day on Friday in Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite orders from both sides for troops to cease hostilities. The sides have been exchanging artillery fire steadily from 8am. There were heavy gun battles late on Thursday several hours after a ceasefire […]

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/ 10 June 2000

Nigerian fuel riots claim more lives

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Friday 3.45pm. AT least six people have been killed and 16 arrested as a strike over the fuel price in Nigeria’s economic capital Lagos entered its second day, paralysing businesses and international air traffic. Business was brought to a standstill on Friday in Lagos, Abuja and other major cities, as shops […]

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/ 10 June 2000

N PROV PREMIER’S LINES STILL CUT

NORTHERN PROVINCE Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi’s office was still without telephones on Friday, a week after they were cut because various departments owe Telkom a total of R39-million for outstanding bills. Officials have been forced to use their cell phones, or run to other departments whose lines are working to fax and email. Government spokesman Jack […]

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/ 10 June 2000

MBEKI SIGNS DECLARATION WITH NORDIC PMS

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki signed the Skagen Declaration with Nordic prime ministers in Denmark on Thursday. The Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – have “noted the enormous challenges the African continent continues to face at the dawn of the 21st century”. Officials said it was agreed that the continent’s challenges call for […]

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/ 10 June 2000

LESOTHO ELECTIONS DELAYED

ELECTIONS set for next March in Lesotho will be delayed because proper preparations have not been done. Deputy Prime Minister Kelebone Maope said on Friday that if preparations had started in May, the elections could have been held in March or April next year but the present problems will delay the process. Maope said there […]

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/ 9 June 2000

Mayor who lived by the sword dies

Paul Kirk and Jaspreet Kindra The mayor of KwaNongoma, who was slain this week, had been running a protection racket in which he and his associates allegedly beat residents of the KwaZulu- Natal town if they did not pay him R50 a month. The assassination of mayor Bhekuyise Sikhonde, an Inkatha Freedom Party strongman, instantly […]

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/ 9 June 2000

The steamy past of a Free State town

For one week during 1971 the small Free State town of Excelsior was crawling with reporters from all over the world. A sex ring had been uncovered in which local farmers and businessmen were engaged in steamy escapades with their black maids. Zakes Mda reports I have recently become a frequent visitor to Excelsior, since […]

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/ 9 June 2000

Deputy mayor ‘assaulted’ kids

Paul Kirk The deputy mayor of Durban has been charged with assault after being accused of attacking four teenagers with electrical garden equipment, sjamboks and knobkieries. Mveli Mavundla, the African National Congress deputy mayor of Durban Metro, appeared briefly in the Umlazi Magistrate’s Court this week after allegedly assaulting four teenagers accused of being thieves. […]

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/ 9 June 2000

Sundowns, Chiefs ready for Super Bowl showdown

NAWAAL DEANE, Johannesburg | Friday 12.30pm. SOCCER City will set the stage for a thrill-a-minute showdown between arch-rivals Sundowns and Chiefs in the BobSave Super Bowl final on Saturday. The berths for the final were decided following Chiefs’ 3-1 drubbing of Bush Bucks, while Sundowns went through with a 1-0 clincher against AmaZulu. Tradional pre-match […]

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/ 9 June 2000

‘Pure’ escapism with a lot of hot gas

exploding David Shapshak For once, you couldn’t really say that the film betrays a great novel. L Ron Hubbards’s novel Battlefield Earth is an epic mostly because it’s 1E064 pages long, not because it’s one of the great science- fiction novels of the genre. Hubbard is not the Tolkien or Asimov of his field and […]