PLAY has been cancelled in the fourth day of the fifth Test between England and South Africa on Monday. “Not coming back for the rest of the day,” said umpire Rudi Koertzen at 1pm, after a pitch inspection. Koetzen and felloew umpire Darrell Hair are concerned that wet patches on the bowlers run up Play […]

THE third day of the final Test was washed out. Not a ball has been bowled since play finished early on Friday and there have been only 45 overs in all. Rain has fallen almost incessantly, quagmiring the playing area, and although it stopped long enough for the captains Nasser Hussain and Hansie Cronje to […]

WELFARE and Population Development Minister Zola Skweyiya unveiled a five-year plan on Friday to ensure that welfare services are accessible to the poorest of the poor. The new plan aims to restore ethics of care and human development and promote the culture of volunteerism. The department will also design an integrated poverty-eradication strategy and develop […]

UGANDA have been asked to host the East and Central Africa club championship, officials said in Kampala. Original hosts Sudan were ruled out after a state of emergency was introduced and Eritrea said they could not afford to stage a competition won last year by Young Africans of Tanzania.

WHILE the eyes of the world are on the opening of his famous royal relative’s museum in Umtata in February, influential young Tembu paramount chief Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo will be appearing in the high court in a desperate last battle to stave off a five-year jail term for sabotage. Dalindyebo, third king to rule the Tembu […]

PRINCE Ernst-August of Hanover, husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco, and a gang of men have put a German hotel and disco owner in intensive care after a punchup in Kenya. The disco owner, Joe Brunnlehner, was on Sunday being treated in hospital in the Kenyan coast city of Mombasa, where his wife Narriman said […]

NICOLE MORDANT and DARREN SCHUETTLER, Johannesburg | Monday 5.45pm HARMONY Gold company said on Monday it has taken operational control of Randfontein Estates after a sweetened R862-million bid won the approval of Randfontein’s board. ”Randfontein, as of this morning, will be flying the Harmony flag,” Harmony CE Bernard Swanepoel told analysts at a briefing in […]

ITALIAN-based Cote d’Ivoire midfielder Saliou Lassissi has been detained in a military camp on Abidjan after he was dropped from the national squad for the African Nations Cup for indiscipline, newspaper reports said.

DEON POTGIETER, Johannesburg | Friday 5.00pm. THE first super-fight of the new century will take place in South Africa on February 19 at Carnival City in Brakpan. “Baby” Jake Matlala and the powerhouse puncher Hawk Makepula will meet in one of the most eagerly awaited contests in South African boxing history. They will contest the […]

KENYAN riot police used tear gas in central Nairobi on Friday against about 100 protesting students who threw stones at the police and at passing motorists, blocking the city’s main highway. The clashes followed similar unrest on Thursday, which broke out between supporters of rival political groups with opposing views on who should draw up […]