OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Wednesday 9.00pm. FORMER police commissioner General Johann Coetzee told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committee in Pretoria on Wednesday that he never agreed to any political assassinations, including that of Ruth First. Coetzee, who is applying for amnesty for the bombing of the ANC’s London offices in March 1982, was […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 3.30pm. PARLIAMENT on Tuesday approved legislation paving the way for life assurance giants Sanlam and Old Mutual to proceed with their plans to demutualise later in the year or early next year. The demutualisation will see the two giants convert from mutual societies into listed companies. The National Council of […]

SARAH BULLEN in Johannesburg | Tuesday 5.30pm. THE local stock market continued to hold out for the second day running on Tuesday, with firmer Asian markets providing a boost for local and European equities alike. Dealers are now speculating that most markets have contained their exposure to Russia. Institutional investors were again back in the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Wednesday 9.00pm. ALMOST half the Alien Investigation Unit in Pretoria has been arrested for taking bribes and sleeping with foreign prostitutes. A senior Home Affairs official has also been arrested, and a further 15 cases are under investigation, SABC3 reports. The arrests, which include the former acting commander of the unit, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 5.30pm. THE travel and tourism industry in South Africa has the capacity to create 174000 new jobs by 2010, according to a report by World Travel and Tourism Council president Geoffrey Lipman on Tuesday. The council’s assessment is based on the ability of the sector to attract substantial private sector […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Wednesday 10.00pm. MPUMALANGA’S finance MEC, Jacques Modipane, was aware of the province’s parks board attempts to get an illegal R500-million offshore loan in December last year but failed to report the matter to the Reserve Bank or any other institutions until two weeks ago. The R500-million loan scheme centred on the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.00am. TRANSNET has been cross-subsidising some of its business units, using its profitable companies to subsidise its loss making one, the transport department’s Moving South Africa study suggests. The transport parastatal has long denied crossfunding, despite widespread speculation within the sector that it is a common practice by Transnet. The […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kisangani | Wednesday 11.00pm. REBELS occupying the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Kisangani are striking north and aiming for the strategic town of Buta after overrunning Banalia, 100km north of Kisangani, their military commander said on Wednesday. Commander Jean-Pierre Ondekane said that Banalia had been under rebel control for some time, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Wednesday 11.30pm. DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki has told a Lesotho government delegation that the findings of the Langa commission of inquiry into electoral fraud in the mountain kingdom will not be made public until the Southern African Development Community meeting in Mauritius on Sunday. He gave the same response to Lesotho […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Luanda | Wednesday 11.30pm. SEVENTY MPs belonging to Angola’s rebel Unita movement who were dismissed from parliament last week have refused to joint the breakaway faction which has established itself as the movement’s alternative leadership. Five ministers, also dismissed for being Unita members, last week denounced leader Jonas Savimbi and set up a […]