South Africa and Saudi Arabia have signed a "memorandum of understanding" to boost oil exports to South Africa and build an oil refinery.

TUESDAY, 1:00PM: The Mozambique government declared a public health emergency late on Monday in the face of a cholera epidemic that has claimed 120 lives, mostly in Maputo, over the past two months. An international health team organised by Medecins Sans Frontieres arrived on Monday with an emergency airlift of medicines and equipment to fight […]

TUESDAY, 9.25AM: KAIZER Chiefs coach Paul Dolezar is not worried by the absence of Nigerian defender Muisi Ajoa in the team to face archrivals Orlando Pirates in a Castle Premiership match at the FNB on Saturday. Ajoa was red-carded in the game against Manning Rangers for head-butting Rangers striker Kerryn Jordaan. “I don’t think the […]

TUESDAY 11.30AM: A STALLHOLDER at the Fresh Produce Market in Pretoria has discovered cardboard boxes among the stalls, containing 75 matric biology exam papers. The education department seals on the box have been broken. Police are investigating the discovery, but education department officials — embarrassed by yet another exam fraud discovery — say the papers […]

TUESDAY, 5:00PM: Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano told an investment summit on Tuesday that Southern African countries should guard against competing among themselves to attract investment. Presenting the keynote speech at the International Herald Tribune Southern African trade and investment summit in Gaborone, Botswana, he said such competition would be counter-productive, whereas the emergence of Southern […]

TUESDAY, 11:00AM: Reserve Bank gross reserves soared this year from R10,3-billion to R27-billion, according to a report Reserve Bank deputy governor James Cross released on Monday. At the same time, South Africans invested about R21-billion offshore via asset swaps and the transfer of individuals’ savings. This is the first yer South Africans have been allowed […]

TUESDAY, 8.45AM: NICK Mallett is likely to name Werner Swanepoel as the replacement for injured Springbok scrumhalf Joost van der Westhuizen, who returned home to South Africa on crutches on Monday. Swanepoel has been an understudy of Van der Westhuizen for some time now. Swanepoel played three Test matches this season — as a replacement […]

TUESDAY, 10:00AM: The National Council of Provinces has three days to approve or reject 30 crucial Bills this week affecting housing, health, justice and education. Most have already been approved by the National Assembly. Among the Bills the NCoP will be whipping through are the Health Department’s three controversial measures on parallel imports of prescription […]

TUESDAY, 9.15AM: The black empowerment group Real Africa Holdings has announced its most ambitious deal to date, buying up half of the country’s largest information technology group. Real Africa, headed by Don Ncube, will pay R1 billion by May next year for half the South African operations of PQ Data. PQ Data was itself only […]

TUESDAY, 6.15PM: THE JSE had a lacklustre day, in which only R802-m worth of shares was traded. Rises in Tokyo coupled with losses in Hong Kong led to a directionless local market. At the close of trade the all share index was 8,8 points lower at 6 419, the all gold index had lost 2,1 […]