TELECOMMUNICATIONS parastatal Telkom has cut the telephone lines in provincial government departments of the Northern Province government, including the office of Premier Ngoako Ramathlodi, over unpaid bills totalling about R40-million. The provincial government has described Telkom’s action as ‘unnecessary abuse of power to achieve its results and aimed at disrupting government services to millions of […]
LONMIN, South Africa’s third biggest platinum producer, on Wednesday reported a 121% surge in half-year pre-tax earnings and forecast a major expansion in platinum production. Lonmim reported pre-tax profits of $135-million for the six months ended March 31 and proposed a 16% increase in the interim dividend to 14 cents per share. The sterling equivalents […]
THE council of the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has resolved to reinstate the interconnection guidelines published in the Government Gazette in March. The move is a slap in the face for communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, who in April attempted to withdraw the regulations, illegally according to Satra. The guidelines lay down the rules that […]
UGANDAN and Rwandan troops resumed fighting in Kinsangani in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo early on Wednesday. Sporadic gunfire was heard in the centre of the town at about 5am, less than 24-hours after the United Nations Observation Mission to the DRC announced it has brokered a ceasefire in the town. Early skirmishes were followed […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, London | Thursday 11.00am. SOUTH Africa on Wednesday defended its deal with Brazil to back each other’s bids for upcoming football World Cups, and insisted the 2006 event has to go to Africa to give the continent a greater slice of world revenues from soccer. In an interview with the BBC’s Newsnight program, […]
JUDGE Edwin King has denied an application by TV station e.tv and radio news service Live Africa Network News to screen the Hansie Cronje cricket inquiry live. Delivering his decision on Thursday morning, he said it was more important that the witnesses could testify freely than the public’s right to know. “Having regard to the […]
Former president Nelson Mandela said he believes his successor Thabo Mbeki has done a good job during his first year as president.
RUSSIA’s upper house of parliament approved sending reinforcements to the United Nations peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone on Wednesday. The Federation Council, empowered to approve the sending of troops abroad, voted to back the dispatch of 115 men and four Mi-24 helicopters to the west African state, where rebels earlier took hundreds of UN peacekeepers […]
A SOUTH African military reconnaissance team was due to arrive in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Wednesday to discuss South Africa’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations. A spokesman for the South African National Defence Force said that the team was expected back in South Africa on 12 June and that they would brief […]
ALAN FINLAY & Reuters, Johannesburg | Thursday 4.30pm. THE rand has eased back to the R7 to the dollar mark for the first time in a week, after the currency failed to take inspiration from a firmer euro. The currency strengthened somewhat in midday trade to be last bid at R6,98 to the dollar but […]