GOVERNMENT has effectively given South Africans permission to party especially hard at the turn of the millennium. The cabinet agreed in principle on Wednesday to declaring December 31 1999 and January 2 2000 public holidays in addition to the traditional New Year holiday. Cabinet spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said the extra holidays will allow four consecutive […]
THE SANDF budget has been cut by about 40% over the past nine years from 4,5% of gross domestic product to under 1,5% at present. Navy chief, Vice Admiral Robert Simpson-Anderson, said the SANDF did not demobilise after the Angolan war and it is now imperative to establish a smaller, sleeker and cheaper defence force. […]
A THREE-day search in the Western Cape to find a little girl who was abducted from her parent’s Kuils River flat at the weekend gained momentum on Tuesday when police called in the army for assistance. Four-year-old Renata Ismail disappeared from her mother’s bed while relatives were watching television in the lounge on Saturday night. […]
TWO Free State towns have made last-minute arrangements with electricity parastatal Eskom to pay their arrears to avoid having their supply cut off, SABC radio news reports. According to an Eskom spokesperson, Hertzogville and Fauresmith have both paid most of their arrears, narrowly beating a Tuesday deadline to pay up or be cut off. Last […]
WORKERS at the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation went on strike on Monday morning, demanding increased salaries. The workers have threatened to switch off transmission if their grievances are not addressed by management, which is locked in discussions with the employees’ representatives. The workers say they are the least-paid employees of all Zimbabwe’s media parastatals and […]
THE National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union said on Monday that it will call a nationwide strike on April 28 in solidarity with tertiary education workers. Explaining the decision to strike, Nehawu spokesperson Makoko Lekola claimed tertiary education management used tactics at a recent Nedlac meeting to delay transformation in the sector. The union […]
ZAMBIAN police on Tuesday charged yet another journalist from the independent Post Newspapers for espionage in connection with an article about Zambian military capabilities. Dickson Jere said he was summoned to the police headquarters in the Zambian capital where he was interrogated by two officers before being charged with espionage. Earlier this month police charged […]
THE African National Congress is “within reach” of obtaining a two-thirds majority in the June 2 genneral election, according to results of a Markdata poll published in Afrikaans daily Beeld on Tuesday. The poll shows the ANC’s strong position, despite the party and its alliance partner, the SA Communist Party, having acquired few new supporters […]
THE managing editor of Inkatha Freedom Party-owned Durban daily Ilanga has been fired following a disciplinary hearing. Amos Maphumulo’s dismissal follows an editorial last week in which he accused whites and Indians of oppressing blacks and wished for the birth of a new Idi Amin in South Africa. The editorial was criticised from across the […]
OTAGO centre Jeremy Stanley has been suspended for three weeks after being cited for a dangerous tackle during a Super 12 match against the Sharks in Durban on Friday. The Sharks won the match 32-8. Stanley’s opposite number, Shaun Payne, did not have the ball when the New Zealander collided with him at full speed. […]