Staff Reporter
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/ 13 April 1999

CONSTRUCTION REMAINS IN TROUBLE

BUSINESS conditions in the building remain tough for at least the next six months, the Bureau for Economic Research at Stellenbosch said on Tuesday. The BER, attached to Stellenbosch University, said it anticipates that the overall construction cycle will reach a low in the last quarter of the year before general conditions improve. The survey, […]

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/ 13 April 1999

NAMPOWER LINE ON TRACK

CONSTRUCTION of the 400-kilovolt powerline between Windhoek and Namibia’s border with South Africa is well on course and should be completed before the end of this year. NamPower on Monday reported progress on the 735km single-circuit powerline which has already reached Gibeon while the new Kokerboom substation 15km east of Keetmanshoop is nearing completion. The […]

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/ 13 April 1999

NIGERIAN STRIKE STARTS

THE Nigeria Labour Congress, the main trade unions’ federation, on Tuesday launched strike action over a minimum wage and said it expects “solid support” in two th The NLC last week called the strike to press for application of an agreed minimum wage which the governments of 24 states say they cannot afford to pay. […]

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/ 13 April 1999

POINTE NOIRE POWER RESTORED

ELECTRICITY was restored on Monday in Pointe Noire, Congo’s main port and its economic capital, after being cut off since January, local residents report. Power supplies to the city were cut off when rebels loyal to former president Pascal Lissouba captured the Moukoukoulou dam some 350km south-west of the capital Brazzaville. Two weeks ago, government […]

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/ 13 April 1999

Zimbabwe sells ivory

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Tuesday 10.00pm. FOLLOWING Friday’s sale of 20 tons of Namibian ivory, the first legal ivory auction in a decade, Zimbabwe has followed suit, selling 20 tons to Japanese buyers on Tuesday in Harare. Willas Makombe, director of the Zimbabwean National Parks and Wildlife Management, said that the parks authorities were satisfied […]

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/ 13 April 1999

TREVOR TUTU PLEADS NOT GUILTY

TREVOR TUTU, the son of Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Desmond Tutu, pleaded not guilty to two charges of tax evasion in the Johannesburg Regional Court on Monday. The controversial Tutu told the court he could not pay tax or submit returns during 1996 and 1997 as he was a ”fugitive from justice” at the […]

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/ 13 April 1999

PETROL UP 200% IN DRC

THE Democratic Republic of Congo government raised petrol prices 200%, official television announced. The move, announced on Sunday, takes the price of a litre of petrol to three Congolese francs. This comes after the DRC’s central bank devalued the currency on April 8, dropping its exchange rate to the dollar from 2,9 to 4,5, a […]

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/ 12 April 1999

PHIRI IN HOT WATER

THE state will decide this week whether it will prosecute music legend, Ray Phiri, after he broke into his rented farmhouse in Mpumalanga when his landlord tried to evict him for being three months late with his rent. Senior public prosecutor Marius van Heerden says police are still investigating charges of housebreaking, theft and trespassing […]

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/ 12 April 1999

EXPLOSION IN KAMPALA

FOUR people were injured, one of them seriously, when a bomb went off overnight in the Ugandan capital Kampala, police said on Sunday. “Three (people) had minor injuries but one of the victims was seriously injured. She had shrapnel wounds in her head and eye,” police spokesman Bob Ngobi said. The explosion occurred late on […]

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/ 12 April 1999

ELECTION RALLY VIOLENCE

A POLICE officer was wounded on Sunday when shots were fired at an Inkatha Freedom Party election rally in Durban, police said. Five people were taken in for questioning about the incident. Shots were also fired at a rally of the new United Democratic Movement south of Durban. No injuries were reported. Tensions are rising […]