The decision on whether the name of Johannesburg International airport will change to OR Tambo International airport will be announced later this month, the Ministry of Arts and Culture said on Wednesday. ”Minister [of Arts and Culture Pallo] Jordan will make an official statement on the status of the … name change … in mid-August,” it said in a statement.
Speaking during Kumba Resources’ first-half results presentation on Wednesday, chief executive Dr Con Fauconnier said most mines were still running despite the current strike action and that the company was still managing to meet the demands of customers.
United Nations powers on Wednesday warned rivals in the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) not to sow unease among voters as they await results of the first multiparty election in 46 years. Politicians and the media should avoid "misrepresentation" of early counting, said the International Committee supporting the Transition in the DRC.
Resources group Kumba on Wednesday reported a 61% leap in headline earnings per share to 508 cents for the six months ended in June. This was achieved on the back of 32% growth in revenue to R6,9-billion from a restated R5,247-billion for the previous comparable half-year.
Although still in positive territory, the JSE was well off its highs in noon trade on Wednesday as the chill wind of Thursday’s expected rate hike swept through the market. Gold stocks continued to shine, however, as the metal reached the $650 level for the first time in over two weeks.
Zimbabwe’s ruling party is to set up a political school to train cadres along the lines of China’s communist party, it was reported on Wednesday. Elliot Manyika, Zanu-PF’s national commissar, made the announcement following a lecture by visiting academics from the Communist Party of China, said the state-controlled Herald newspaper.
Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony told journalists he was committed to negotiating peace after 19 years of war, and denied he had committed war crimes. Kony, whose Lord’s Resistance Army is fighting a rebellion in northern Uganda, rarely appears in public.
Somalia’s government was trying to regroup on Wednesday after nearly 30 lawmakers resigned in less than a week, saying the virtually powerless administration has failed to reconcile with Islamic militants who have taken over the capital. ”The prime minister has failed to talk to the Islamic union,” said Hasaan Abshir Farah, an ex-minister.
Hezbollah guerrillas battled up to 6Â 000 Israeli troops on five fronts in south Lebanon on Wednesday, escalating a conflict that Israel’s prime minister vowed to pursue until a strong international force arrived. Israeli commandos snatched suspected Hezbollah members from Baalbek in a helicopter-borne night raid backed by air strikes that killed 19 people, including four children.
Parliament’s planned discussion on floor-crossing, called for by President Thabo Mbeki in his State of the Nation address earlier this year, will take place from September 19. The chairperson of Parliament’s standing committee on private members’ legislative proposals and special petitions, Vytjie Mentor, said there was no way discussions could take place without public hearings on the matter.