THE rate of consumer inflation averaged 5,2% in 1999, its lowest level since 1969 when it stood at 3%, slowing from 6,9% in 1998, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. Stats SA said in a statement that the average rate for core inflation over 1999 was 7,9%, which was slightly higher than 1998’s 7,5% average. […]

THE United Nations has dispatched a delegation to the Ivory Coast in an effort to persuade the country’s military rulers of an early return to constitutional rule following last month’s coup.

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN and NIKI MOORE, Durban | Tuesday 6.10pm THE Inkatha Freedom Party has appointed disgraced former Home Affairs director-general Albert Mokoena as a special consultant. President Thabo Mbeki personally fired Mokoena from government last year following media revelations that he abused his position for personal gain. Mbeki’s intervention came after home affair minister and […]

SWAZILAND’S embattled media won the first round in the kingdom’s latest attempt to dilute press freedom on Friday, by getting temporary High Court protection for not revealing its sources. Judge Tom Masuku ruled on Friday the State-owned Swazi Observer was not obliged to hand over leaked government documentation it based news reports on. Swaziland Attorney-General […]

AT least 200 suspected members of a militant ethnic Yoruba group have been arrested during the past week for a spate of violence in Nigeria’s capital, Lagos. Lagos State Police Commissioner Mike Okiro said some of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) suspects would be charged with murder and arson for ethnic violence, lynching of criminals […]

ENGLAND’s Graeme Swann has been fined for oversleeping on his team’s tour of South Africa. Having played just two first-class games so far, the Northamptonshire all-rounder overslept on the first day of the fifth test against South Africa at Centurion Park on Friday. “Swann has been fined 250 for missing the team bus on the […]

NORTHERN Province police believe they have made a breakthrough into a spate of armed robberies and rapes against foreigners on the N1 toll road. Far North police spokesman Captain Ailwei Mushavhanamadi said on Tuesday three suspects were arrested last Thursday, and the fourth was picked up on Monday night. He said the robbers used a […]

ELLIS MNYANDU, Cape Town | Tuesday 6.45pm LAWMAKERS on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to ask parliament to pass a law seeking to boost small black businesses through government contracts when it sits on Friday. The Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Bill is among four crucial pieces of legislation that parliament is expected to pass before a constitutional […]

MARK GLEESON, Accra | Tuesday 3.30pm. CAMEROON’S Issa Hayatou is expected to remain president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Thursday’s election at the congress in Accra. Hayatou, president for the last 12 years, faces a rare challenge from Armando Machado of Angola. Machado, until last November president of his country’s football association, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 10.15pm. WESTERN Cape fire chiefs suspect that arsonists could be behind some of the 120 fires that have destroyed thousands of hectares of veld, wine farms and dozens of homes in the region since the weekend. Firefighters battled from early on Sunday until late on Monday to bring most […]