DAVID LE PAGE, Johannesburg | Friday 2.00pm. A BROAD and sweeping plan for South African development was laid out on Friday morning by President Thabo Mbeki in his state of the nation address to a joint sitting of the National assembly. Covering every issue from crime to the humiliation of the Bushmen, and announcing a […]

BRYAN PEARSON, Cape Town | Friday 3.00pm. PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki on Friday announced measures to increase the competitiveness of the South African economy, boost job creation and promote foreign investment in the country. Addressing parliament in his maiden state-of-the-nation address, Mbeki also committed his government to continuing the liberal free-market macro-economic policies of his predecessor, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 10.15am. THE South African Reserve Bank cleared local banks on the Year 2000 problem, saying there is “no reason whatsoever” for massive withdrawals ahead of the millenium. Registrar of Banks Christo Wiese said banks have been prepared for potential millenial problems because of extensive Reserve Bank pressure. He was speaking […]

FORMER apartheid-era hitmen Abraham “Slang” van Zyl and Leon “Chappies” Maree have gone to court to demand the banning of a book which says they plotted to murder former Tollgate chairman Julian Askin. The two former policemen, whose names featured in Truth Commission hearings, want the book “Dangerous Deceits – Julian Askin and the Tolgate […]

ZIMBABWEAN authorities have suspended 18 top management members of Harare’s municipality for allegedly contributing to maladministration and chaos. The suspension of the 18 senior council workers, just two weeks after government sacked the elected mayor and all his councillors, came amid reports that emergency services were falling apart, with only four out of a total […]

A PRETORIA English teacher resigned on Thursday after angry parents called him a “racist” for setting an exam based on a Herman Charles Bosman extract containing the word “kaffir”. The short story, “Unto Dust”, deals with a quarrel over the skeletons of a “boer soldier” and a “kaffir”, making the point that no-one can tell […]

Former African presidents Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere and Sir Ketumile Masire are likely to be called on regularly to promote the cause of Africa.

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 6.00pm. NEW National Party MP and former Cabinet minister Abe Williams, who faces more than 35 counts of fraud and corruption, should be axed immediately from Parliament, the African National Congress’ Western Cape leader Ebrahim Rasool said on Friday. Rasool, who is being sued by Williams for almost R2 million […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 6.30pm. PAKISTANI Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered a probe into allegations of match fixing against the national cricket team which lost to Australia in the World Cup final. Sharif’s Ehtesab (Accountability) Bureau has undertaken inquiries against Pakistan’s players after their humiliating defeat amid rumours the side staged a fixed […]

FRIDAY, 12.30PM: ALL THREE South African tennis players who went into the second round at Wimbledon on Thursday, emerged unscathed to take their places in the third round of the illustrious competition. Wayne Ferreira trumped his former nemesis, Spaniard Albert Costa, beating him 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3. The Spaniard resorted to breaking Ferreira’s concentration by […]