THURSDAY, 12.30PM: TWO penalty tries given against the Northern Bulls cost them the match against Welsh champs Swansea on Wednesday night. The game, which was played on Swansea’s home turf and was decided in driving rain, was frequently interrupted for a total of 22 penalties — 18 going against the Bulls. Springbok scrumhalf Dan van […]

THURSDAY, 5.45PM: THE Mpumalanga portfolio committee for public accounts berated the province’s legislature on Thursday after it failed to explain mismanagement, inefficiency and financial irregularities over the last two years. After provincial auditor-general Douglas Maphiri told the committee that the legislature had failed to address many problems of uncontrolled expenditure and waste reported by the […]

THURSDAY, 5.45PM: THE all share index on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange ended a relatively thin day’s trade on positive ground, thanks to an 85-point leap in the financial index. At the close the financial index was up 84,7 points at 9 891,7 while the industrial index fell 17,4 points to 6 946,7. The all gold […]

THURSDAY 3.30PM: A DISMAL future is predicted for world food supplies by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. In his report for 1997, FAO director-general Jacques Diouf identified the increase in frequency and severity of disasters caused by war and climate as the likely causes. Diouf said that since the 1960s, the […]

THURSDAY, 12.00NOON: MAKHAYA NTINI may make history on Friday at The Waca. If Ntini gets the nod to play he will be the first black player to represent South Africa in a fully fledged one-day international. Ntini, who has played in first class matches on the tour, will probably play against New Zealand in order […]

WEDNESDAY, 12.30PM: CAPE TOWN Spurs, so brilliant at the weekend against Chiefs, disappointed in a dull goalless draw against AmaZulu at the Kings Park soccer stadium in Durban on Tuesday evening. Spurs played unimaginative football, and were hardly a shadow of the side that steamrollered Kaizer Chiefs 4-2 at the weekend. Meanwhile Chiefs spokesperson Louis […]

WEDNESDAY 8.30AM: THE school year began in four provinces on Tuesday, with primary schools turning away Grade 1 pupils who failed to register on time, or whose parents were attempting to register them in schools outside their home districts. But while schools in mainly white suburbs were overcrowded, principals of township schools reported a large […]

TUESDAY, 11.30AM: SHAREHOLDERS in Gold Fields of SA, Gencor, Oryx, Beatrix, New Wits and Kloof threw their support behind the scheme of arrangement for Goldco on Tuesday. Alan Wright, the proposed deputy chairman of Goldco said the more than 90% of shareholders in support of the new company demonstrated massive confidence in Goldco. However, markets […]

WEDNESDAY, 12.30PM: NAMIBIAN Coach Rusten Mogane has warned his Bafana Bafana counterpart Jomo Sono not to underestimate his team when they meet in a Cosafa cup clash in Windhoek next Saturday. Mogane yesterday said he believed that the exclusion of experienced players like Doc Khumalo, Eric Tinkler and Shoes Moshoeu could prove costly to Bafana […]

IN BRIEF BANDA’S DEAD, BUT ON TRIAL FORMER Malawian President Hastings Banda died in November — but he is still facing fraud charges. Malawi’s Supreme Court is to hear a state appeal next week against the dismissal of fraud charges against Banda, accused last year of theft of $10-million of funds from a public trust […]