WEDNESDAY, 5.30PM A FORMER police spy, John Horak, has claimed more than half a million rand from the government and the Sanlam insurance company for failing to pay his disability benefits. But his court bid today was postponed because his state insurance policy was so secret that he was never told the details himself. Horak […]

‘VICTIMISED’ BY TRC THE Truth Commission’s investigative head Dumisa Ntsebeza has accused the commission of victimising him. Ntsebeza’s lawyer accused the TRC’s amnesty committee on Wednesday of relying on conflicting statements by a single witness to implicate Ntsebeza in the 1993 Heidelberg Tavern bombing. “Unless there is victimisation of my client or incompetence … I […]

WEDNESDAY, 11.00AM: SOUTH AFRICAN all-rounder Brian McMillan is on his way back home and will miss the quadrangular one-day cricket tournament at the Gaddafi Stadium in Pakistan on Friday. McMillan said he is going home because he has a business to take care of at home. “Unfortunately something urgent has cropped up and the tour […]

WEDNESDAY, 5.30PM STOCKS made a recovery on the JSE on Wednesday, but managed to claw back only around half of yesterday’s record losses. The all share index closed 385 points stronger on 6392. The gold index climbed 16 points to end the day at 877, the industrial index finished 499 points up on 7932 and […]

WEDNESDAY, 11.00AM: CORRECTIONAL services national commissioner Dr Khulekani Sitole says that the only way to ease massive overcrowding in the nation’s prisons may be to release about 45 000 petty criminals. He said while such a step could cause friction between the department, the rest of the criminal justice system, and the general public, the […]

WEDNESDAY, 8.45AM: SPRINGBOK coach Nick Mallett has made it clear that he will not consider candidates playing abroad, but will also do nothing to prevent foreign scouts approaching Springbok players. “My policy is clear. I will not pick a player playing in Europe and it is up to every individual to decide for themselves,” said […]

WEDNESDAY, 9.30AM: The two ringleaders of the bungled Zambian coup launched upon the coup as an afterthought after drinking heavily, reports Wednesday’s Zamiba Post in the first detailed account of the ludicrous coup. The paper reports that Captains Steven Lungu and Jack Chiti spent the day together. Lungu has apparently been ill recently, which his […]

Nelson Mandela was back in Libya for a second time on Wednesday, but the welcome was no less effusive.

TUESDAY, 5.00PM: A TRADE and development agreement between South Africa and the European Union (EU) could be concluded by mid-1998, according to former Irish Republic foreign minister Gerald Collins. Collins is leading a EU parliamentary delegation to South Africa. He said on Tuesday talks have been going on for 27 months, and such agreements usually […]

THURSDAY, 8.00AM POET MZWAKHE MBULI, ever the publicity master, phoned the Sowetan newspaper from his jail cell last night to claim police framed him with bank robbery charges (see below). He said he was “asked by these two guys” to take them to Pretoria, which he did, and stopped his car willingly when asked to […]