FRIDAY, 4.00PM: The soldier who removed the landmine intended to blow up Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s armoured Mercedes Benz (see below) said it was not powerful enough to penetrate the car’s armour. Lance Corporal John Manunure told the treason trial of opposition leader Ndabaningi Sithole that the claymore mine was an anti-personnel mine. While it […]

FRIDAY, 10.30AM: LATEST credit extension and money supply growth figures released by the Reserve Bank on Thursday have scotched hopes of an early interest rate cut and once again raised questions about the reliability of these indicators as a basis for monetary policy. Private sector credit extension growth in October increased 14,41% against the same […]

FRIDAY, 3.30PM A POLICEMAN has been arrested for selling stolen goods believed to belong to murdered Newcastle farmers Nicholas and Magda Marais. The policeman appears to have arrested a suspect in connection with the murders, then freed him and tried to sell the stolen goods. Meanwhile in Pretoria, Freedom Front leader Constandt Viljoen organised a […]

Richard Williams : Motor Racing Formula One is a world of clever people, and Bernie Ecclestone is the cleverest of them all. His unprepossessing title is vice-president in charge of promotional affairs for the Fdration Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the sport’s worldwide governing body. What he actually does is run Grand Prix racing. He is […]

Neil Manthorp : Cricket South Africa’s cricketers have both endured and enjoyed a very, very long week in Perth since their arrival last Friday. The veterans of the 1994 tour, and the 1992 World Cup, wasted little time in reacquainting themselves with the delights of southern hemisphere hospitality while the Oz rookies discovered just what […]

Owen Bowcott Detectives in Sydney this week ruled out auto-erotic sex games as the cause of rock star Michael Hutchence’s death, but said they were awaiting toxicology tests to determine whether he had taken drugs or alcohol. As the INXS lead singer’s distraught British fiance, Paula Yates, flew to Australia with their 16-month-old daughter, the […]

Nicky Barker The Campaign for St Lucia was reactivated at a meeting in Durban last Sunday, amid fears that Richards Bay Minerals may be reconsidering mining in the area. In the early 1990s, the campaign co- ordinated the largest single petition ever compiled in this country, leading to the scrapping of plans to mine titanium. […]

Mail & Guardian reporters The beginning of November was D-day for radio stations: one in five songs or 20% of their music must now be a home-brew. Although a number of radio stations are below that quota, only one has applied to the Independent Broadcasting Authority for a broadcasting exemption. Highveld Stereo’s station manager Malcolm […]

Thebe Investment Company pioneered a new South African corporate culture but black business still has far to go, writes Charlene Smith Seven years ago there were no black companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange; indeed there was not a single black corporation. Pondering this, Vusi Khanyile, then finance head of the African National Congress, […]