DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday the government will not delay this year’s general election, expected to be held in May, despite legal wrangling over electoral rules. “The government has no intention to ask for a postponement of the general election,” Mbeki told parliament, adding that he hopes the exact poll date will be […]

THE Human Rights Commission released the terms of reference for its investigation of racism in the South African media on Thursday. The full terms of reference will be published in this Friday’s Government Gazette and on the SAHRC website. In a statement the commission said it is finalising the appointment of the project’s co-ordinator and […]

JUSTIN Hobday set a new course record by shooting a 61 (-11) in the first round of the South African Masters on Thursday at the Oppenheimer Park Golf Course in Welkom, Free State.

INTERNATIONAL investment bank Deutsche Bank is due to launch the first of its Index Tracking Certificate markets — linked to the Alsi 40 Index — on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Thursday. An ITC is a financial instrument listed on the JSE. The instrument tracks the performance of a specific underlying index — in this […]

ALL eyes in Nigeria will on this weekend’s meeting of the Nigerian People’s Democratic Party in Jos, in the central plateau region, where party members meet to pick from a list headed by former military ruler Olusegun Obasanjo and former vice presidential candidate Alex Ekwueme. Obasanjo, a retired general who ran Nigeria from 1976 to […]

SUDANESE civilians may be tried by military courts for crimes involving firearms, explosives, espionage, and military secrets, a source cited by the official Suna news agency said in Khartoum on Thursday. “If the army commander-in-chief and state prosecutor agree, civilians suspected of these crimes may be judged by the armed forces tribunal, responsible for the […]

A COALITION of eight opposition parties in Niger has taken the lead in weekend municipal elections, according to preliminary and partial results released in the capital Niamey on Thursday by the National Independent Electoral Commission (Ceni). The coalition, which has fared better in Niger’s main cities, has captured 318 municipal seats out out 570 districts, […]

PRELIMINARY figures collated by the Rural Safety Task Team indicate a significant decrease in the number of attacks on farms and smallholdings since the Summit on Rural Safety and Security on October 10 1998. The number of attacks decreased from 79 in October 1998 to 50 in January 1999. The task team said there were […]

FUGITIVE German billionaire Jurgen Harksen collapsed at the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday after being refused bail. Harksen was admitted to hospital under police guard with a suspected heart attack. Cape Town Magistrate Mike Wagener, who earlier this week ordered Harksen’s extradition to Germany on tax evasion charges, on Wednesday refused him bail and […]

ZIMBABWE’S short-term money market rates spiked higher on Wednesday in their first large reaction to the central bank’s weekend rates hike. However, localised student unrest at the university campus on Wednesday had no effect on trade, dealers said. The Reserve Bank lifted its benchmark bank rate on Saturday by 2,5 percentage points to 45% and, […]