OWN CORRESPONDENT, Luanda | Thursday 3.30pm. SUPPORTERS of Jonas Savimbi, leader of Angola’s Unita rebel movement, have blamed the new split in the movement as the result of government maneouvring, and say it “will achieve nothing”. Five influential Unita leaders, including Jorge Valentim, suspended hotels and tourism minister, and the suspended defence, interior and assistance […]

Own CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Thursday 10.30PM. ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe snatched the limelight on the final day of the Non-Aligned Movement’s 12th summit in Durban on Thursday, announcing that peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo is imminent and that a meeting of all warring parties will be held within three days. His statement followed […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Thursday 6.30PM. MPUMALANGA’S provincial government is facing yet another corruption scandal following an urgent request for the Heath special investigative unit to probe a suspected R19,3-million salary scam. The request from Mpumalanga’s portfolio committee on public accounts was ratified by the legislature on Thursday after uncooperative officials managed to stall a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 9.00pm. PAN Africanist Congress of Azania official Jabulani “Ace” Khumalo said on Thursday that the PAC will seize white-owned farms without compensation to resettle black South Africans if it is elected to government next year. Khumalo said in a statement that, when in power, it will limit the amount of […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | THURSDAY 11.00PM. SOLDIERS of the Lesotho defence force and Lesotho police shot at each other with automatic weapons outside the palace of King Letsie III early on Thursday evening, killing one civilian. Witnesses said they saw a man’s body being taken into Maseru’s Queen Elizabeth II hospital, followed by 16 injured […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 9.30am. THE five-year Browde Commission of inquiry into the 1992 collapse of the Tollgate group of companies fingers former Tollgate chairman Julian Askin for playing a major role in bringing the group to its knees. The report, released on Wednesday, says the main cause of the “Tollgate debacle” was the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 9.50pm. SOUTH Africa’s Amanda Coetzer moved into the third round of the US Open tennis tournament on Thursday beating Romanian Raluca Sandu comfortably 6-0 6-2. The 13th South African seed will meet vastly improved Barbara Schett of Austria, who beat Coetzer in their last meeting in Boston last month, en […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Luanda | Thursday 9.30pm. THE split in the rebel Unita movement, in which five of leader Jonas Savimbi’s top aides announced an alternative leadership on Wednesday, has been greeted with delight in Luanda and presented as a rift between those who want peace and hardline “belligerents”. The official Angolan media set Luanda’s tone […]

MICHAEL METELITS, Johannesburg | Thursday 6.30pm. The cumulative effect of bad economic news around the world pushed the JSE and other local markets deeper into negative territory today. While in the last few days, the bond and currency markets escaped the carnage and managed to scrape back some precious losses, today all the broader indices […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.15pm. SOUTH African soccer has been given a five-year R200-million sponsorship by cellular network company Vodacom, it was announced in Johannesburg on Wednesday. The sponsorship deal is the largest ever on the African continent and will also make Vodacom an official partner in South Africa’s bid to host the 2006 […]