ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Vosloorus | Thursday 7.00am WHEN unfashionable Jomo Cosmos are on song and playing at homely Vosloorus Stadium they are a match for any Premier Soccer League team as Sundowns discovered on Wednesday afternoon. The Ezenkosi triumphed 2-0 before an encouragingly large home crowd on a hot afternoon deep in the East Rand and […]

THE Northern Bulls have made seven changes for Friday’s Super 12 rugby game against the Crusaders and have sent three injured players home. Springboks prop Os du Randt, flanker Schutte Bekker and fullback Hannes Venter left for South Africa on Wednesday to recuperate. Midfielders Wynand Lourens and Eugene Meyer are also on the casaulty list […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Johannesburg | Wednesday 1.00pm GEORGE Koumantarakis has been recalled to Bafana Bafana for a Castle Cup Southern Africa (Cosafa) championship match against Mauritius on Saturday at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in Phokeng. Big George was capped twice as a substitute three years ago, coming on for David Nyathi in a World Cup […]

Steven Mann, Cape Town | Thursday 8.50am. CHINESE President Jiang Zemin wraps up his controversial four-day state visit to South Africa with a tour of Robben Island on Thursday. About 20 pro-Tibet supporters staged a placard protest against Chinese human rights abuses outside the entrance the his hotel when he arrived in Cape Town on […]

THE World Bank has announced approval of a $30-million loan to help Mozambique finance equipment for rebuilding infrastructure in the wake of devastating floods. Heavy rains in Mozambique, which began in early February, have left 640 people dead in the country’s southern provinces and have displaced or stranded 491000, according to the Bank.

NIGERIAN Vice President Atiku Abubakar arrives in South Africa on Wednesday for a five-day official visit. Abubakar will be accompanied by some ministers, including those of agriculture, industry and commerce. Others are President Olusegun Obasanjo’s special adviser on petroleum, and officials from the justice, education, science and solid minerals ministries.Nigerian officials said they hoped the […]

NIGERIA has begun implementing a new revenue sharing formula with its nine oil-producing states by which the latter receive 13% of oil revenues. An official statement published by national newspapers on Tuesday said the government has disbursed a total of 11,9-billion naira ($1,1-billion) to the states for their share of oil revenues for the first […]

SOUTH AFRICAN singer Margaret Singana died in her sleep on Saturday — almost penniless, according to her family. Singa, whose career was at its peak in between the sixties and eighties, starred in the hit musical “Ipi Tombi”, and sang such chart busters as “Hamba Bhekile” and “I Never Loved a Man The Way I […]

THE Malawi army introduced its first women recruits this week after they completed a gruelling eight-month military training course. The 59 women trainees will graduate on Friday. Lieutenant Colonel McLoyd Chidzalo was enthusiastic about the trainees, who were accepted to the college after pressure from women’s rights activists who argued that women in the army […]

AT least 60% of all Mozambicans seeking medical treatment suffer from malaria and an estimated 40% of the country’s hospital beds are occupied by malaria victims. The country’s health minister, Francisco Songane, describing the statistics as “the worst in southern Africa and possibly the world,” on Tuesday said malaria was beginning to have a serious […]