INDONESIA has invited former Gauteng premier Tokyo Sexwale to monitor Indonesia’s parliamentary elections on June 7, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs announced on Tuesday. The institute said that Sexwale will leave for Indonesia on Wednesday. Forty-eight parties will be contesting what is expected to be Indonesia’s fairest election since 1955.
VIOLATIONS of a week-old ceasefire between rebel forces and the government side in war-wracked Sierra Leone have been reported to the United Nations, observers said on Tuesday. The UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (Unomsil) ”continues to receive reports of violations or attempted violations of the ceasefire which can put the peace talks in Togo […]
THREE men who police caught carrying firearms into a voting station in KwaMbonambi, KwaZulu-Natal, are believed to be bodyguards of African National Congress member Walter Felgate. Felgate, a former Inkatha Freedom Party hardliner, suffered a physical assault a month ago while campaigning for the ANC. KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman director Bala Naidoo said the men are […]
THE funeral service for former Democratic Party leader Dr Zach de Beer was held in Cape Town on Monday afternoon. De Beer died of a stroke at his Clifton home last Thursday. De Beer’s son, also a medical doctor named Zach, said he had been scheduled to be in Scotland on Wednesday but is now […]
IN a move that opens up the race to stiff competition, Malawi’s Electoral Commission has withdrawn its appeal case against a High Court decision allowing two leading opposition party leaders to contest the June 15 presidential elections as running mates. The withdrawal of the appeal case means incumbent President Bakili Muluzi faces a tougher election […]
OVER 40 elderly Swazi widows are celebrating their acquittal in a South African court in Pongola on charges of defrauding the government of thousands of rands of pension monies. They were arrested in May last year while queueing at a government office in Pongola to draw pensions using illegally obtained South African documents. They were […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kinshasa | Tuesday 8.30pm. RWANDAN forces on Tuesday violated Kigali’s unilateral declaration of a ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kinshasa charged on Tuesday. Rwandan troops backing a rebellion against DRC President Laurent Kabila launched “offensive actions” in central Kasai and southeastern Katanga provinces following heavy losses last month, DRC Deputy […]
THE Democratic Party said on Monday that it has evidence proving that the SABC has been deliberately biased against it. This follows similar complaints lodged against the SABC by the PAC. DP spokesman Douglas Gibson said the DP is in possession of extracts from an SABC-produced document which gives its journalists, anchors and analysts guidelines […]
MONDAY, 10.30AM: THE Finance Department has decided to allow market-makers in South African government bonds to quote wider spreads between buying and selling prices than the two basis points allowed thus far during periods of volatility in the bond market. Analysts say the move is a sign that some primary bond dealers were particularly hard […]
RONNIE ELIOTT and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Tuesday 10.30am THE case against fugitive and suspected heist artist, Collin Chauke, was on Tuesday postponed to April 3 next year for trial. Charges have been withdrawn against two of Chauke’s three co accused — Munuku Matjene and Chauke’s right-hand man and best friend Muntu Mahlangu — due […]