OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 7.00pm. ZIMBABWE’s minister of transport and energy resigned on Friday, saying he is unable to alleviate a critical fuel shortage in the country, worsened by heavy floods in the region. Petrol stations are running dry across Zimbabwe as floods and rain cut back fuel deliveries. All South African border posts […]

THE government plans to increase the health budget by R2,39-billion to a total of R32,32-billion for the next year, Manuel announced in his Budget. This represents growth of 6,6 percent. More than 90% of national health spending is made up of transfers to the provinces; these transfers are expected to grow from R5,4-billion in 1999/2000 […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Bombay | Friday 2.00pm. INDIA are 75/5 at stumps of the second day of the first Test against India at the Wankhele Stadium after a day which saw 15 wickets go down. South Africa were bundled out for 176 runs, but bounced back to decimate the Indian batting with some fine bowling. India […]

WISDEN editor Matthew Engel said on Thursday he is quitting the job at the cricket almanack for at least a year because he is tired of having to write about England’s “relentless failures.” “I have been obliged to edit Wisden against a background of failure. This is not failure on the part of the almanack […]

Jubie Matlou The Department of Home Affairs has instructed a Cape Town woman to have her sex certified by a district surgeon after her complaint that the department arbitrarily changed her gender on her identity document. The apparent mishap occurred when Georgia Kinghorn lodged her application for an identification document nine years ago. She only […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni One of South Africa’s most prominent liberal voices, Sheena Duncan, has resigned from the Human Rights Commission Trust in protest at the inquiry into racism in the media. Duncan, a stalwart human rights activist, was attached to the Human Rights Commission’s (HRC) fundraising wing. She says she has been dismayed by […]

Peter Dickson In a move the police have codenamed Operation Beetle, a squad of 200 armed public order officers has been deployed to Uitenhage to keep the peace after car-maker Volkswagen’s sacking of 1E300 factory workers. Police hope Operation Beetle will prevent further incidents of post-strike intimidation that has already resulted in the hospitalisation of […]

Windows 2000 has hit the shelves, and many computer users will be wondering whether the time has come to upgrade. Before you dash out to spend a fortune on the latest code from Redmond, however, pause to consider whether Bill Gates’s latest offering is really for you. Firstly, the hype around this release has largely […]

Howard Barrell Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel played the ball deep into the private sector’s court with his budget speech on Wednesday. He showed that he had succeeded in getting the public finances into their best shape in decades and in creating an outstanding environment for business to take the economic lead, to invest for […]

Sasha Sanders I like the Seven Elevens. I really do. I like that I can walk up the road and buy milk or chocolates in the middle of the night. I like that I can buy a drinking yoghurt on my way to work early in the morning. And I like that they bake really […]