OVER 1000 emerging sugarcane growers in Mpumalanga face bankruptcy because they can’t get an estimated R60-million to fix flood damage to irrigation infrastructure. The farmers grow sugarcane on more than 7000 hectares in the Onderberg region in a project described as the most successful black empowerment project in Africa. A flood relief body in the […]
NORTHERN Province’s local government and housing department has juggled its budget to free R385 million to repair flood damage wrought in February, announced department spokesman, Danny Msiza, on Wednesday. He said housing projects worth R228 million would now be aimed at the 18 781 families left homeless in 342 villages by the floods. An amount […]
NIGERIAN workers began a general strike on Thursday over petrol price increases after last-ditch talks between labour chiefs and the government ended in deadlock. Witnesses said protesters barricaded roads into the main business districts in the commercial capital Lagos. Shops and banks were also closed. “The streets are deserted because protesters turned back the few […]
OLD Mutual, South Africa’s largest life and pensions group, may spend up to 1,5-billion on new acquisitions in the United States and Britain, the company was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Old Mutual chief executive Jim Sutcliffe told Business Day newspaper that the group, which recently acquired UK broker and fund manager Gerrard Group for […]
RUSSIA’s upper house of parliament approved sending reinforcements to the United Nations peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone on Wednesday. The Federation Council, empowered to approve the sending of troops abroad, voted to back the dispatch of 115 men and four Mi-24 helicopters to the west African state, where rebels earlier took hundreds of UN peacekeepers […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, London | Thursday 11.00am. SOUTH Africa on Wednesday defended its deal with Brazil to back each other’s bids for upcoming football World Cups, and insisted the 2006 event has to go to Africa to give the continent a greater slice of world revenues from soccer. In an interview with the BBC’s Newsnight program, […]
A SOUTH African military reconnaissance team was due to arrive in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Wednesday to discuss South Africa’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations. A spokesman for the South African National Defence Force said that the team was expected back in South Africa on 12 June and that they would brief […]
THE council of the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has resolved to reinstate the interconnection guidelines published in the Government Gazette in March. The move is a slap in the face for communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, who in April attempted to withdraw the regulations, illegally according to Satra. The guidelines lay down the rules that […]
TELECOMMUNICATIONS parastatal Telkom has cut the telephone lines in provincial government departments of the Northern Province government, including the office of Premier Ngoako Ramathlodi, over unpaid bills totalling about R40-million. The provincial government has described Telkom’s action as ‘unnecessary abuse of power to achieve its results and aimed at disrupting government services to millions of […]
ZIMBABWE enjoyed a comfortable 49-run win over an Ireland side bolstered by the presence of Australian Mark Waugh on Wednesday. Grant Flower led the way for Zimbabwe, making an undefeated 64 from 73 balls as the touring side totalled 227 for four from their 50 overs. Flower then helped to ensure there was no shock […]