MPUMALANGA fired controversial local government director James Nkambule for the fourth time on Monday, without waiting for the outcome of disciplinary action against him. All three earlier attempts to axe Nkambule had to be withdrawn after the government admitted that it failed to follow established labour procedures. The latest dismissal was announced in a terse […]

THE environmental affairs department has spent more than R500000 on investigating allegations that the process of allocating fishing quotas was riddled with corruption, but had not uncovered any material evidence implicating its officials. The probe’s other findings were still being evaluated, but in the interim, the department’s marine inspectorate was upgraded, Environmental Affairs Minister Valli […]

AJAX Cape Town are celebrating their successful debut season in the PSL by signing a Brazilian player and putting seven players on the transfer list. Ajax finished a solid fourth on the Premier Soccer League log and look to be upward-bound next season after securing the services of Brazilian striker Rodrigo Gomes of Aracatuba. The […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday 1.45pm ALI Bacher is likely to be the first witness called by the South African inquiry into the Hansie Cronje affair, an official said on Wednesday. “He used to open the batting in his playing days, so we may as well start with him here,” the secretary of the […]

INDUSTRIAL group Barlow intends spend R3-billion on acquisitions as part of a worldwide expansion programme, the Business Day reports. Barlow has also won a 90-million deal with the British military to repair and maintain forklift trucks over 10 years. According to the paper the group has been on the acquisition trail over the past six […]

APARTHEID chemical warfare expert Wouter Basson held freeze-dried HIV-infected blood and a cocktail of poisons and bacteria to kill or sicken opponents of the white regime, a witness told his trial on Wednesday. Bacteriologist Mike Odendaal said he collected lethal substances while working at Roodeplaat Research Laboratories outside Pretoria, a front company for the apartheid […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday 1.25pm. ACT Brumbies coach Eddie Jones on Wednesday turned the heat back on the Canterbury Crusaders, questioning their lineout tactics ahead of Saturday’s Super 12 rugby final in Canberra. Jones is tired of opposing teams continually querying the legality of the Brumbies’ lineout methods in recent weeks, seeing it […]

PATHOLOGISTS have said that neurological shock resulting from burns was the cause of death among members of a bizarre religious sect in Western Uganda in March. A senior police officer said that this was contained in the first analytical report on the Kanungu inferno, in which about 530 people died 17 March in a church […]

REBELS in the Democratic Republic of the Congo said on Tuesday they would withdraw their troops this week from the disputed diamond city of Kisangani along with Ugandan and Rwandan forces. But Kin-Kiey Mulumba, spokesman for the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), said rebels would reserve the right to defend the town from any attack […]

NATIONAL Parks chief executive Mavuso Msimang said on Wednesday that 13 sites in the country’s national parks are to be commercialised over the next few months. Nine of these are rest camps in the Kruger National Park. Others are in the Addo Elephant National Park, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and at Golden Gate. Msimang said […]