ANGLO American Platinum Corporation — the world’s biggest platinum producer — on Monday said it has “as a last resort” retrenched 415 employees at its Lebowa mine in Northern Province. Amplats spokesperson Johan Adler said Lebowa has not been performing well for “quite a few years”. “We explored everything as required by the Labour Relations […]

UNITED States oil giant Texaco has suspended production activities in Nigeria’s Niger delta region after an attack by armed youths demanding compensation for an oil spill, a company official said on Tuesday. “We have suspended scheduled loadings for the week,” the official, who did not want to be named, blaming the decision on the attack […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Colombo | Wednesday 9.15am. SRI Lanka’s Tamil Tiger guerrillas are planning to send a top leader to South Africa to seek Pretoria’s help in ending the island’s separatist war, a press report in the capital Colombo said on Wednesday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) plann to send the group’s ideologue, Anton […]

SPRINGBOK skipper Gary Teichmann will be fit to play against Wales in the inaugural match at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on Saturday. Teichmann, who holds the record at 32 for the most caps as Bok captain, passed a tough fitness test after strained a previously torn knee ligament in the first Test against Italy. He missed […]

PRESIDENT Mbeki’s office has begun advertising key positions, including that of presidential spokesperson. The post of chief director of communication will pay a basic R208326 for a person with “high-level managerial, communication and negotiation skills”, whose duties will include researching and writing speeches for the president. Mbeki’s current spokesperson, Ronnie Mamoepa, who is expected to […]

THE state has decided not to prosecute music legend Ray Phiri on three criminal charges that his former landlord laid against him in March. Senior public prosecutor Marius van Heerden said on Friday that he decided not prosecute Phiri, but declined to give reasons for his decision. Phiri was facing charges of housebreaking, theft and […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 1.30pm NEW regulations boosting the powers of ministers in managing their departments were launched in Pretoria on Tuesday. The public service management framework, which comes into effect on July 1, will enable ministers to create and abolish posts, as well as to recruit, appoint, promote, transfer and discharge employees. Deputy […]

FOURTEEN Zambian children face death by brain seizure after a dog suspected to have rabies bit them during a two day rampage in the country’s central province of Kabwe. The only way to avoid the fatal disease after exposure is immediate and relatively expensive treatment. “Victims of the mad dog’s rampage are in despair, as […]

A 19-year-old woman suspected of strangling her newborn baby is under police guard at the Matikwana Hospital in the Northern Province. Police said on Tuesday that the teenager, of Cork village near Calcutta in Bushbuckridge, gave birth at the hospital to a healthy baby girl on Sunday. Nurses found the baby dead on Monday morning […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Sydney | Tuesday 4.30pm. KENYAN great Kip Keino on Tuesday predicted a continuing hold for his country on the steeplechase title at the 2000 Olympics. The soft-spoken Keino, who gave Kenya its first gold medal at the 1968 Olympics when he won the 1,500 metres and went on to win the steeplechase gold […]