TUESDAY, 6.00PM: A SECOND Mandela name was dragged into the Truth Commission’s hearings yesterday. Gift Ntombeni, a former Mandela United Football Club member confirmed claims by previous witnesses that the club had carved the letters ‘ANC’ and ‘WM’ into the flesh of victims, and burnt their feet. But he said Zinzi Mandela-Hlongwane, daughter of Nelson […]

TUESDAY, 11.30AM FORMER political prisoner Koigi wa Wamwere, considered the only serious challenger to Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi, has had a four year jail sentence scrapped to allow him to contest the elections at the end of this month. Wamwere, presidential candidate for the Kenya National Democratic Alliance party, was warned last week that […]

TUESDAY, 10.00AM: MORIBO Investment Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Thebe Investment Corporation, has made a bold leap into the gaming industry by buying five of Sun International’s casinos in a deal worth R95-million. Thebe chairman Vusi Khanyile and Sun International SA MD Peter Bacon said on Monday a new joint venture company will acquire […]

MONDAY, 11.00PM: GROSS gold and foreign exchange reserves held by the South African Reserve Bank made a surprise fall in November, dropping R800-million in November to R26,5-billion, according to provisional figures published by the Reserve Bank on Monday. The figure had been expected, following October’s stock exchange crisis when the bank had to step in […]

TUESDAY, 6.00PM: THE Goldstone Commission report into the Truth Commission, released on Tuesday, clears commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza of involvement in the 1993 Heidelberg Tavern killings, but fails to answer the central riddle: who ‘framed’ Ntsebeza, and why? Goldstone was appointed last month by President Nelson Mandela to probe why Guguletu gardener Bennett Sibaya accused Ntsebeza […]

MONDAY, 11.30PM THE African National Congress on Monday accused the former National Party government of knowing about of the secret burial of African National Congress cadres. The accusation follows the discovery of secret graves in Barberton and Piet Retief in Mpumalanga last week. ANC spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa on Monday said that to date over 160 […]

MONDAY, 11.30PM: A STATE witness in the treason trial of Zanu-Ndonga leader Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole on Monday presented documents to show that the opposition leader wrote out cheques to Philemon Fernando and William Namakonya, both convicted of attempting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe. Assistant commissioner Zachius Nyathi said he led a team of investigators who […]

MONDAY, 3.30PM GAYE DERBY-LEWIS, wife of the man who planned the murder of ANC leader Chris Hani, says a written admission she made while in detention was forced upon her by police and was untrue. She told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Monday she had changed her statement five times under police pressure, while […]

MONDAY, 10.00PM CYRIL MBATHA, one of two men convicted for the murder of Soweto doctor Abu-Baker Asvat, tried to reconcile the three different version of his story of the killing of Dr Abu-Baker Asvat before the truth commission on Monday. Mbatha claimed his first version of events was contained in his confession used in his […]

MONDAY, 11.30PM THE African National Congress Youth League said on Monday that health cannot be a privilege of the wealthy, but has to become a right for all. ANCYL president Malusi Gigaba made the statement in response to the death of Durban kidney patient Thiagraj Soobramoney, 41, who died soon after a Constitutional Court ruling […]