POLICE are investigating whether a missing Kruger National Park field ranger was murdered before being eaten by wild animals. Field ranger Salamoa Mongwe’s torn clothes, identity book, boots and bank card were found in bloodstained grass near the staff quarters on September 4. There were signs of leopard and hyena in the area and bits […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and REUTERS, Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTH African motorists, already reeling from a series of fuel price hikes which has driven the price of a litre of petrol to R3,66, could be paying up to five cents more per litre from next month, which will put increased pressure on domestic inflation. Strong international petroleum […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and REUTERS, Johannesburg | Wednesday THE South African Communist Party (SACP) has lashed out at the country’s financial institutions as “commercial oligarchies” which use working class money to finance white luxuries, and urged the government to force banks to invest in black communities. “Commercial banks in South Africa today command enormous financial resources, […]

CRIMINALS are more likely to target people who are armed because they want firearms, according to a Gun Free South Africa survey. The anti-gun interest group commissioned the study to determine under what circumstances licensed firearms were lost to criminals. Anthony Altbeker, a lecturer in the policing programme at the University of the Witwatersrand, conducted […]

AFP, Johannesburg | Wednesday THE Anglican Church in South Africa has waded into a huge Aids controversy, saying history will rank the current lack of action by the government against the disease as a crime against humanity on the same scale as apartheid. Cape Town archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, the head of the church, issued a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pietermaritzburg | Wednesday GOVERNMENT is considering compensating farmers for losses following the outbreak of foot and mouth disease on a pig farm at Camperdown in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, which has already seen Namibia banning all pork imports from South Africa and Botswana and the European Union weighing their options. Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza […]

DEFENCE Minister Mosiuoa Lekota says he cannot rule out racism as a motive for the shooting of a naval officer by a subordinate at Simon’s Town. “It’s not impossible that it was racial,” he said, adding that racism was endemic to South African society. However, South Africans were generally quick to resort to extreme violence […]

REUTERS, Mexico City | Wednesday A THIRD of the world’s six billion people live in a state of extreme poverty, a state of “brutal inequality” that mars the dawn of the new millennium, says the United Nations. In a preview to a report on world population, the UN Population Fund representative in Mexico said one […]

Former South African president Nelson Mandela and regional African leaders have begun arriving in Kenya for a summit aimed at consolidating a fragile peace accord in the tiny nation of Burundi.

SOUTH Africa’s Anglo-American Platinum Corporation (Amplats) says production at the world’s biggest platinum producer has been unaffected by a strike that started this week. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said its work stoppage was gaining momentum with around 10000 members off the job since Monday night. An Amplats spokesman said only 5500 workers out […]