COMMUTER rail operator Metrorail is planning service reductions and job retrenchments as a result of a R300-million budget shortfall. This came after the transport ministry axed the parastatal’s request for R1,55-billion for its 1999 budget amid increasing demands for ministry resources. Government and the commuter operator is negotiating budget cuts, retrenchments and station closings. Metrorail […]

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Alfred Nzo appointed Sheila Sisulu ambassador to the United States on Monday. Sisulu replaces the colourful Franklin Sonn, who on Monday announced that he is leaving politics to concentrate on a new business venture. Nzo also announced that he has appointed Thuthukile Mazibuko-Skweyiya as ambassador to France, Kingsley Mamabolo as ambassador to […]

THE North African state of Mali is to sell some of the government’s stake in the ailing state-owned telephone and electricity companies, Finance Minister Soumaila Cisse said on Sunday. He said the government’s stake in Energie du Mali, the local power company, will fall from 97,2% to 51%, he said. No figures were provided as […]

SEVEN people were shot and injured when two men armed with a shotgun and a 9mm pistol ran through a house in Kraaifontein near cape Town in the ealry hours on Sunday. Police spokesperson Superintendent Wicus Holtzhausen said the two men pulled up in a white bakkie and ran through a house, believed to be […]

ZIMBABWE”s three major economic sectors — manufacturing, mining and agriculture — recorded declines in growth in 1998, Ziana news agency reported on Sunday. According to figures released by the Ministry of Finance, they were hit by inflationary pressures due to the plunging Zimbabwean dollar. The Agricultural sector was expected to record more growth, although crop […]

UGANDA Airlines has sacked 72 of its 280 employees, including senior managers, in a cost-cutting measure ahead of privatisation in March, airline officials said on Saturday. The government has been spending an estimated $12-million annually to subsidise the state-owned airline. Four international airlines — British Airways, Sabena, Air Mauritius and Alliance Air — have submitted […]

ZAMBIAN President Frederick Chiluba, due to have arrived in South Africa on Sunday, has postponed his visit indefinitely to allow him to continue consultations with the leaders of countries involved in the Democratic Republic of Congo peace process, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki’s office said on Sunday. Chiluba arrived in Harare on Sunday morning to consult […]

THE BOTSWANA pula is undervalued, says the Bank of Botswana but not by the 24% against international currencies that a report by Stockbrokers Botswana claims. The bank has also indicated it is unlikely to change its policy of linking the pula to the South African rand. It sells 90% of its manufactured goods to South […]

THE Italian government has announced a grant of $455000 to an Ethiopian relief agency to help people who have been displaced by the border conflict with Eritrea. The aid, destined for the northern Tigre and north-eastern Afar regions, was handed over by ambassador Marcello Ricoveri to the head of the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission, […]

ZIMBABWE’s Forestry Commission warned on Sunday that it will destroy new settlements in state-protected forests, Ziana news agency reports. Reacting to complaints by evicted Molocorm Farm squatters, in the country’s Matabeleland North province, the commission said it will do everything possible to deter people from settling in protected forests. Molocorm villagers claimed that the land […]