PUBLIC prosecutors staged a placard demonstration outside the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court at lunch time on Monday, in protest at 6% salary increases announced last month by Justice Minister Dullah Omar. Spokesperson for the picketers Yolande Labuschagne said the prosecutors restricted their protest to lunch hour after they were threatened with dismissal if they protested during […]

THE trial of 50 Lesotho soldiers on mutiny charges hit an unexpected snag on Monday when all six lawyers in the defence team withdrew. Spokesperson for the defence team Khalaki Sello said the lawyers withdrew to register their objection to the trial being held inside a maximum security prison. The trial was adjourned to Tuesday […]

BAFANA Bafana have suffered a series of setbacks just 48 hours before flying to Mauritius for an African Nations Cup qualifier on January 23. A knee injury rules out Swiss-based striker Shaun Bartlett, midfield anchor John Moeti has been suspended by Orlando Pirates and wingback Steve Lekoelea was briefly detained by police at the weekend […]

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 […]

A BOTSWANA judge granted an eleventh-hour stay of execution for two men due to be hanged for murder on Saturday amid an outcry from human rights groups that the men were convicted on circumstantial evidence. Justice Reynolds ruled late Friday night that the death sentences for Gwara Brown Motswetla, and Tlhabologang Phetolo Maauwe were unconstitutional. […]

A LIGHTNING bolt struck a house and killed a family of seven in the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape late on Sunday, police said. Two other people were injured and admitted to hospital. Police said a grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, two teenage boys and a girl were killed by the bolt in the Libode […]

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 […]

AT least 18 people were killed in a clash between Ethiopian government troops and rebel Oromo Liberation Front militiamen at the Kenyan frontier town of Moyale on Saturday, Kenyan newspapers reported on Monday. Several people were also injured in the fighting which, other reports said, killed as many as 40 people on both sides of […]