A SECOND suspect faced murder charges in Soweto’s Protea Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday in connection with last week’s ambush of a Soweto police van and subsequent mass escape of awaiting trial prisoners. Sowetan Lawrence Dube (22) was charged with the murder of Sergeant Christopher Sithebe and Sergeant Elias Matima Senwamadi in a bloody ambush last […]

SHEPHERD “Mzimba” Kiviet will replace Stanley Christodoulou at the helm of the South African National Boxing Control Commission, according to the body’s outgoing chairman, Peter Ngatane. Christodoulou resigned just before Sports Minister Steve Tshwete fired the commission’s executive committee on Christmas Eve. Kiviet will run the commission until February 1, when an interim commission will […]

GERMAN soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer hinted on Tuesday that South Africa was still leading the race to stage the 2006 World Cup finals despite mounting opposition from England and Germany. “The next logical step, after Asia, is for the World Cup to go to Africa,” said Beckenbauer. “The question is, is Africa ready?” Beckenbauer, president […]

MALAWI’S former works and supplies minister, Abdul Pillane, was arrested on Tuesday night on charges of corruption, an official of the country’s Anti-Corruption Bureau said on Wednesday. Pillane is expected to be brought before a lower court in the administrative capital Lilongwe on Wednesday. The official said Pillane, the first Malawian minister to be charged […]

FORMER Japanese premier Ryutaro Hashimoto flew into Johannesburg on Wednesday at the start of a four-day visit that will focus on establishing a partnership between his country and South Africa. Hashimoto, who became a senior foreign adviser to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi after resigning in July, arrived in the country from Kenya where he was […]

POLICE have arrested suspects in two serial killer cases. Gauteng police commissioner Sharma Maharaj and Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi announced the breakthrough on Tuesday, saying a suspect who was arrested in Orlando, Soweto, on rape and hijacking charges has been linked to 14 of the Nasrec serial killings. Maharaj added that Pretoria police […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Dakar | Tuesday 8.30pm. In a desperate bid to prop up the ailing Congolese franc, embattled President Laurent Kabila has banned all foreign currency transactions outside the banking sector. Reports from the capital Kinshasa said Kabilla issued a decree over the weekend which says all transactions on DRC territory mustnow be conducted in […]

FIVE Zimbabwean troops deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were killed when an air force plane crashed on the outskirts of Kinshasa, Zimbabwean defence authorities announced on Monday.”[The] Ministry of Defence regrets to announce that a ZDF (Zimbabwe Defence Forces) CASA 212 transport aircraft crashed a few kilometres outside Kinshasa killing all five […]

THE International Monetary Fund has approved a $14-million loan for the tiny West African country of Benin which borders Nigeria. The IMF expects average real growth of 5,5% of gross domestic product over the coming years. The IMF says the Benin government plans new efforts to restructure its economy, privatising firms and reforming the the […]

MALIAN former president Moussa Traore and his wife Mariam were condemned to death on Tuesday after they were convicted of economic crimes. Traore’s brother-in-law and former head of customs Abraham Douah Cissoko was given the same sentence. The accused had been charged with “embezzling public funds, illicit enrichment and complicity in illicit enrichment.” Traore, who […]