THE Ugandan government has allowed South African and Spanish firms to bid for two lucrative concessions in the Ugandan power sector, whose privatisation is in final stages, senior finance ministry official Emmanuel Nyirikindi said on Sunday. Nyirikindi said that the two firms — Eskom Enterprises of South Africa and Union Fenosa Internacional of Spain — […]

MORE than 120 Nigerian women have been deported from Benin on allegations of prostitution. A senior Nigerian immigration official, Ekpedeme King, told the television that the young women were deported last week after a raid by Beninois immigration officials. The girls, whose faces were shown on the television, are currently being screened by immigration and […]

A US federal court in Los Angeles on Monday postponed for the second time the sentencing of an Algerian convicted of terrorism in a plot to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport during 2000 millennium celebrations. “The sentencing has been continued until February 14th at (9:00 am) because the defence requested more time,” court representative […]

South African former president Nelson Mandela left South Africa on Monday to take a well-deserved two-week holiday at a secret location with his wife.

SOUTH African bank BoE Ltd announced it had bought private client asset manager Stenham Gestinor for R404-million as part of efforts to boost its investment management and private banking business. The cash deal for the Guernsey-based Stenham Gestinor has already received regulatory and exchange control approval. BoE’s head of investment management Paul Leaf-Wright expected the […]

SOUTH Africa’s Harmony Gold Co Ltd said on Monday it would not oppose the agreed merger of Australian gold miners Delta Gold Ltd and Goldfields Ltd. Harmony, South Africa’s third-largest gold producer, currently holds a 23% stake in Goldfields. Harmony marketing director Ferdi Dippenaar said the South African firm had not been consulted on the […]

PHIL CHETWYND, New York | Tuesday WITH fists punching the air and cheers engulfing the vast trading floor, the world’s biggest stock exchange came back to life on Monday after its longest closure in 70 years, and fended off disaster. ”Welcome back to the greatest market on the face of the earth,” proclaimed New York […]

GOVERNMENT is to build a R12,6-million presidential arrival and departure facility at Cape Town’s airport to help beef up security, according to Public Works Minister Stella Sigcau. Briefing the media in Parliament, she said the tender process for the contract, to be undertaken on behalf of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), would be fast-tracked. […]

The private car of the mayor of Engcobo, near Umtata in the Eastern Cape, was set alight early on Sunday morning. Mayor Mthetheli Xundu said the incident occurred at about 3am. ”I heard the alarm of the car going off,” he said. ”When I looked outside the car was ablaze. With the help of neighbours […]