OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday VICTIMS of the March floods in Alexandra, Johannesburg have been barred from moving into temporary housing on eight hectares of land adjoining the Leeuwkop Prison after a successful court injunction by residents in the area. The Pretoria High Court blocked the flood victims from moving into the houses until an […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and REUTERS, Johannesburg | Tuesday SOUTH Africa, the world’s biggest gold producing country for the past century, faces the prospect of losing its No 1 status by the end of the decade – and a new report suggests that only two of the country’s ageing gold mines will survive beyond 2025. The Department […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday VODACOM, the cellular phone network operator, is expected to retrench staff at one of its subsidiaries because of financial losses resulting from “duplication of duties,” a Johannesburg daily newspaper has reported. Business Report said that confidential company documents indicated the imminent restructuring and looming job losses had been triggered by […]

A WHITE Zimbabwean farmer was injured when squatters on his farm attacked him after he refused to stop working his tobacco fields, farming officials and police said. Marshall Roper was slashed across the face in an assault which cut his cheek to the bone and sliced across his nose, said farmers in the Karoi region, […]

SA HEALTH and fitness group LeisureNet says it has signed a letter of intent to dispose of all of the assets of its offshore operations to US-based Fitness Holdings Worldwide. The announcement signals a sudden reversal of strategy for LeisureNet, which last month said it was thinking of seeking an overseas listing to help consolidate […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, AFP and AP, Johannesburg | Wednesday SECURITY guards at the Johannesburg offices of mining giant Anglo American sprayed about 150 demonstrators with pepper spray as they arrived to protest IMF and World Bank policies. Their protest came as several hundred like-minded demonstrators clashed violently with police in Prague as the two financial institutions […]

A 67-year-old Dundee farmer has been found guilty of hiring a professional assassin to murder a State witness scheduled to testify against his son. Cooks Henning showed little emotion when Dundee Magistrate Barney Visagie found him guilty of conspiracy to murder. Magistrate Visagie said the evidence confirmed that Henning hired Sasolburg hitman Gerard Opperman to […]

AT least 36 people have died, and 44 are missing, after a Greek ferry with 511 people aboard ran aground and sank off the Aegean island of Paros. A port official also suffered a heart attack and died after hearing news of the sinking, the coast guard said. CNN reported that rescue teams are heading […]

THE government may raise the legal age for gun owners from 16 to 25 in a move it hopes will ensure better control of firearms. A number of stringent new controls are to be discussed this week in the National Assembly when the new draft of the Firearms Control Bill is debated. Expected amendments include […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Pretoria | Wednesday THE Reserve Bank has described South Africa’s loss of 39 213 formal jobs in the second quarter of this year after widespread restructuring and government retrenchments as “alarming and concerning”. Statistics SA said in its Survey of Total Employment and Earnings (STEE) that at the end of June […]