SEVEN foreign firms and a Nigerian company are seeking to invest in the 51% equity put up for sale in Nigeria’s ship-building and repair company, Nigerdock, officials said on Wednesday. Nigeria’s privatisation agency, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) received the applications before the June 18 close of bidding, BPE representative Joseph Anichebe said. The […]

Mbabane | Thursday THREE youths from southern Swaziland were found guilty by a traditional Swazi court on Wednesday of carrying out a rampage of attacking single women while disguised as primates. The youths, wearing baboon suits, had demanded food and sex from single and widowed women, after invading their homes in the Ezikhotheni area at […]

THE South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Northern Province officially launched its Red Weekend Against Blacklisting campaign in Pietersburg on Tuesday. Provincial SACP secretary Justice Piitso said the campaign, which is demanding that banks provide easier access to credit and that credit bureaus be regulated, is part of the SACP programme of Mass Mobilisation […]

THE Ministry of Social Development has announced the death of another inmate at the Noupoort Christian rehabilitiation unit for drug and alcohol addicts. The latest death was that of a 15-year-old, Theo Hurley. Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya has ordered an urgent investigation into the death, the second in two months at the centre which […]

PETER CUNLIFFE-JONES, Tudun Adabu | Thursday RESIDENTS of this village in a remote corner of central Nigeria say that 58 people died when ethnic Tiv youths attacked the area two days ago, the worst single reported massacre in a spate of ethnic killing. News of the massacre in Tudun Abadu when it reached the Nasarawa […]

Cape Town | Thursday A 71-year-old man who played Father Christmas at a Cape Town children’s hospital last year appeared in court Wednesday on child porn charges. Police representative Captain Rod Beer said more than 5_000 photographs depicting children as young as four in sexual acts with adults were discovered on James McNeil’s computers. Members […]

SOUTH Africa’s Competition Tribunal on Thursday approved the $31-billion merger of Australia’s BHP Ltd and London-listed miner Billiton Plc, which has major operations in South Africa. BHP Billiton is set to become the world’s largest diversified miner when the deal closes on Friday, with the eventual split in ownership to be 58-42 in favour of […]

Washington | Thursday ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon huddled with South African President Thabo Mbeki here on Wednesday to discuss the Middle East crisis and the UN conference on racism set for late August in South Africa. ”We need to see what we can contribute to facilitate peace in the Middle East,” Mbeki told reporters […]

LUNGA MASUKU, Mbabane, Swaziland | Thursday SWAZILAND’s former colonial master, Britain, registered its concern on Wednesday about the perceived erosion of the independence of the kingdom’s judiciary and media. Outgoing British High Commissioner to Swaziland, Neil Hook, said that a contentious decree published at the weekend had disappointed both political and business observers in the […]

ZIMBABWE’S central bank is soon to issue a Z$500 note and a Z$5 coin. News reports quoted Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe spokesperson Ignatius Mabasa saying on Sunday that the new denominations were “for the convenience of the public”. There have been calls for several months for new denominations to be introduced as rampant inflation forces […]