YOUTH clubs in Mpumalanga are being urged to introduce the ancient SiSwati custom of virginity testing in an attempt to fight the spread of the pandemic. Mpumalanga has the second highest Aids and HIV infection rates in South Africa. The first youth club to adopt the practice, Vukuzakhe Youth Club in the small farming towns […]

Local favourite Simon Finch shocked national champion Glen Gore and Olympic team fixture Lieuwe Boonstra to win the Mr Price Triathlon on the Durban beachfront on Sunday morning. The 24-year-old Finch completed the two-lap 800m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run in a brisk 1 hour 02 minutes 53 seconds. Gore finished 43 seconds behind […]

KAIZER Chiefs star midfielder Doctor Khumalo is the latest celebrity to try his hand at the Dusi Canoe Marathion, which takes place in the Umsindusi river between Pietermaritzburg and Durban from January 21 to 23. Khumalo will team up with SA surfi ski champion Oscar Chalupsky for the race. Also taking part will be local […]

GAUTENG jockey Craig Magua, 36, died at a Johannesburg hospital on Sunday night after sustaining severe head injuries in a racing accident at Gosforth Park on Sunday afternoon. The freak accident occurred in the fourth race in which Magua rode a 33-1 outsider, Whistling Nun. She was a backmarker in the race when she stumbled […]

AN unmarried Egyptian couple caught kissing in public were sentenced this week to one year in prison under Egypt’s morality laws, judicial officials said on Saturday. Noha Ali and her boyfriend Magdi Abderahim were locked in a passionate embrace outside the courthouse in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria in May 1997, oblivious to everything and […]

THE South African Under-23 soccer squad play their Egyptian counterparts in a two-match friendly encounter next week in further preparation for qualification for the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. The sides meet next Thursday at Dobsonville Stadium, followed by a clash at Vosloorus Stadium on Saturday. “This will also be preparation for the All-Africa […]

ACTIVITIES at the Lagos docks were at a standstill on Thursday, the third day running, due to a strike by licensed customs agents protesting against the continued presence of unauthorised security agencies at the waterfront. The customs agents said they will continue with the strike until the banned agencies leave the ports, as directed by […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 7.30pm. Ernie Els shot a four-under-par final round of 68 on Sunday to win the Alfred Dunhill PGA Championship in Johannesburg, the opening event of the European Tour, by four strokes. Els finished at 273, 15-under-par, for his third PGA title. Fellow South African Richard Kaplan was second on 277 […]

SENTENCE in the 17-day trial of former Zimbabwean head of state, Canaan Banana, will be delivered on Monday by judge president, Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku. The judge last year found Banana guilty of 11 counts of sodomy, indecent assault and attempted indecent assault.

THE ratio of profitability — measured by net profit on turnover — in the South African manufacturing industry jumped 4,1% in the third quarter of last year, from 3,7% in the second quarter after seasonal adjustment. However, the profitability ratio at 4,1% was slightly lower than the corresponding period in 1997 when it was at […]