SOME 700 members of Angola’s Unita movement opened a congress here on Monday to elect a new chairman in place of Jonas Savimbi, whose hardline militarism split the group in September. Angola late last year plunged back into civil war between Unita rebels, who long fought the formerly Marxist regime after independence in 1975, and […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 7.00pm. THE rand weakened dramatically on Tuesday, rising above the R6 to the dollar mark for the first time in months and causing anxiety in local bond markets where the yield on the R150 shot up to 15,95%. However, the rand’s weakness pushed up the gold index 13 points to […]

TWO Siamese twins born on Saturday and separated on Sunday were stable on Tuesday and remain in ventilators and on intravenous feeding at the Garankuwa Hospital. The two were born connected at the central part of the abdomen. The operation was an interim measure, ahead of a more sophisticated operation planned for six months time.

FORMER Anglo American Corporation of South Africa chairman Gavin Relly died on Sunday after a short illness, the company said in a statement on Monday. Relly, who was 72, was chairman of South Africa’s largest company and the world’s largest bullion producer from 1983 to 1990. He succeeded Harry Oppenheimer and led Anglo through the […]

CHAD’S economy grew by 7% in 1998, helped by good rains which pushed up food production, according to a bulletin published by the presidency’s economic service. The Bank of France’s Franc Zone secretariat has estimated Chad’s 1997 economic growth at 6,5%, the bulletin said. A clear improvement was noted in state revenues, payment of civil […]

FORMER Western Cape premier Hernus Kriel, who had a heart attack at his holiday home in Kleinmond in the Western Cape on Saturday, is recovering in the Panorama Heart Clinic in Cape Town. Kriel (57) is reportedly feeling much better. SAAF TO MARION’S RESCUE THE South African Air Force is to dispatch a C-130 transport […]

THE Namibian defence ministry has lifted the media blackout on the country’s involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, The Namibian newspaper reported on Tuesday. The decision to lift the press restrictions was taken after discussions between Defence Minister Erikki Nghimtina and the editor of The Namibian on Monday. The government imposed […]

PEOPLE living near the R488-million Driekoppies Dam in Mpumalanga fear for their lives and have urged both the government and the dam’s developers to move them from the area. Concerned Driekoppies residents said at a recent community meeting in Schoemansdal that many local houses were cracking and subsiding. ”We feel unsafe and the village feels […]

THE cost of Botswana’s peacekeeping operation in Lesotho was 4,2-million pula (R5,5-million) by the end of November, a Botswana Defence Force spokesperson said on Monday. Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Molefe said Botswana would foot the bill. There was still no date for the withdrawal of the country’s troops, sent to Lesotho in September last year as part […]

LOCAL cellphone manufacturers Alcatel and Malaysian company Telekom Cellular (TCSB) have signed a new three-year contract valued at R760-million for a major extension of their GSM 1800 network in Malaysia. TCSB is one of Malaysia’s leading cellphone operators, which markets its services under the name TM TOUCH. The orders come in addition to the 2500 […]