OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Sunday 5.45pm. THE Zimbabwe government on Sunday attacked a British newspaper report asserting that the African country was on the brink of bankruptcy. “From all perspectives, the article is inaccurate, biased and designed to do maximum damage to Zimbabwe,” Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa said in a statement published by the state-owned […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kabale, Uganda | Sunday 5.30pm. TALKS aimed at uniting the three main rebel groups operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continued this weekend but the groups were under pressure from their allies and showed little enthusiasm, a rebel source said. Mozambique was presiding over the talks in the southern Ugandan town […]

AFRICAN qualifying matches for the 2002 World Cup begin over the weekend of April 7-9, according to a statement from world governing body FIFA. Second-leg matches in the knockout first round are scheduled for April 21-23 and the 25 victors will be divided into five groups with the winners advancing to the finals in Japan […]

ALL Black great Colin “Pinetree” Meads was named New Zealand’s greatest rugby union player of the century by a rugby magazine. Meads, who played 55 tests for the All Blacks between 1957 and 1971, finished ahead of George Nepia, Wilson Whineray, Sean Fitzpatrick and Michael Jones in a public poll run over the past 12 […]

SWAZILAND officials have admitted using over-age players in the recent Southern Africa youth championships in South Africa. “We cannot deny there were ineligible players and the buck stops with us because we approved the squad,” national football association president Adam Mthethwa told the Times of Swaziland. Defender Mxolisi Mthethwa admitted to the Times of Swaziland […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Tembisa | Saturday 7.00pm. Classic (3) 5 (Tucker 18-og, Mackett 39, Zwane 42, Matsitela 50, Mthunzi 63) Hellenic (1) 4 (Young 35, 73, Madida 48, O’Gorman 72) JUST when I was giving up on the ability of the Castle Premiership to provide anything more than degrees of mediocrity, along came Classic and Hellenic […]

BEN HIRSCHLER, London | Friday 7.15pm DIAMOND giant De Beers is expected to report record 1999 sales of uncut stones on Monday, with business through its London-based Central Selling Organisation topping $5-billion for the first time. Analysts polled by Reuters forecast sales of $5,0-billion to $5,3-billion compared with actual 1998 sales of $3,34-billion, an 11-year-low […]

STEVEN MANN, Johannesburg | Saturday 5.30pm. TWO people died in the head-on collision between two passenger trains near Kaalfontein east of Johannesburg and not three as originally reported, police said on Saturday. Rescue workers rigged up a crane in the early hours of Saturday morning to lift the mangled train carriages off the track, and […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Pretoria | Friday 8.00pm. IT is surely a case of when rather than if Roy Matthews is removed as coach of SuperSport United after they lost 1-0 at home to mid-table African Wanderers at Caledonian Stadium on Friday night. This was defeat No 11 in 21 Castle Premiership matches and Matthews, a hero […]

A BLISTERING 99 by Romesh Kaluwitharana launched Sri Lanka to a series-clinching six-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the fourth one-day international in Harare on Saturday. Zimbabwe totalled 260 for four to which Sri Lanka replied with 262 for four in 44.4 overs to win with 32 balls to spare. Kaluwitharana scored his runs off just […]