SOME 1126 new medical graduates will begin their year’s compulsory community service on Friday, the Health Department said on Wednesday. Department spokesperson Lulu Sebake said 234 interns will be posted to KwaZulu-Natal, 169 for Gauteng, Eastern Cape 145, Northern Province 143, Western Cape 118, Free State 102, Mpumalanga 80, North-West 79 and the Northern Cape […]

THE Land Bank is considering legal action against outgoing Land Bank MD Helena Dolny after she allegedly made defamatory remarks this week. At the same it is expected that Dolny will sue The Star newspaper as well as former Land Bank chair Bonile Jack who brought allegations of racism and corruption against her. Dolny claimed […]

ED STODDARD, Johannesburg | Wednesday 4.30pm. THE JSE has reason to celebrate as it ends the last day of trading on a high note and looks set to extend a recent bull rally into the new year. The bourse’s key All-Share index was up 1,28% at a fresh historic high of 8556.8 points at 1pm, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 3.45pm. HALF of the matriculants nationwide failed their 1999 exams according to final results released on Thursday. The national pass rate dropped to 48,9% from 49,3% in 1998, but Education Minister Kader Asmal said on Thursday that this was cause for “sober reflection” rather than major disappointment. At a media […]

A MAN was arrested and charged on Thursday for allegedly kicking Johannesburg accountant Johannes Snyders to death for urinating on a car in Sea Point, Cape Town, earlier this month. Vincent Michael Bracale, a 48-year-old security company manager, handed himself over to police on Thursday and later told the Cape Town Magistrate’s court that he […]

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER Tony Blair will visit South Africa in the New Year, mainly to meet incoming president Thabo Mbeki, and to discuss such issues as the DR-Congo war and South Africa’s failure to reach a trade agreement with the EU. Blair’s visit comes a week before the first South African-British bilateral trade talks to […]

AN 11-year-old boy pointed a gun at an armed security guard on Tuesday — and was promptly shot dead. An Eskom guard at a village in the Northern Province found himself confronted by a realistic-looking gun, and fired back, instantly killing young Elias Matlamela. Police, investigating a murder charge against the unnmaded security guard, have […]

THREE men were shot during gang related violence in Belhar, Cape Town, SABC radio news reported on Thursday. The men, from the Twenty Eights gang, were attacked by members of another gang, the Sexy Boys. They were shot in the head and taken to Tygerberg Hospital. In another incident, a petrol bomb was thrown at […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Thursday 2.00pm. ZIMBABWE’s government called an emergency meeting with civil servants on Thursday after they threatened to strike if demands for a 150% pay hike are not met. Sources in the various unions among the 155000 civil servants said the government — which last month awarded cabinet ministers and parliamentarians up […]

FEMALE mountaineer Deshun Deysel (28) is to become the first black South African woman to lead an expedition to the peak of an African mountain, organisers said on Tuesday. Three Peaks 2000 said in a statement on Tuesday that the six-member team is expected to reach the summit of Mount Kenya early on Friday morning […]