MONDAY, 2.00PM: Bantu Holomisa, co-leader of the United Democratic Movement, claims there is an African National Congress conspiracy to discredit him and, perhaps, to kill him. In a five-page letter to President Nelson Mandela, he asks that his safety be assured. He says he was briefed by ANC members on Sunday that the party is […]

MONDAY, 9.00AM: A R2,5-billion contract to upgrade and operate transport links between Matadi and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been won by Group Five Goodwin, a subsidiary of the South African construction compay Group Five. The contract, which will stretch over a number of years, will entail upgrading port facilities in both […]

MONDAY, 5.00PM: IRAN’S foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi says his visit to South Africa (see below) is chiefly to encourage trade and sign a treaty to abolish double taxation and protect investments. South African foreign minister Alfred Nzo says the talks, on Monday and Tuesday, will look at ways to narrow the trade gap by encouraging […]

MONDAY, 11.30AM: More than a third of the 850 municipalities in South Africa are not financially sustainable, Constitutional Development deputy director general Chippie Olver told the Presidential Review Commission at the weekend. And a lack of co-ordination and co-operation between government departments is hampering delivery. The commission, reviewing transformation and delivery in the public service, […]

MONDAY, 6.00PM: The gardener who implicated a Truth Commission investigator in the bombing of a pub, has privately admitted to TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu that he had made false statements after having been tortured in 1994. Tutu told a press conference on Monday that gardener Bennet Sibiya had been tortured by unnamed persons and […]

KAUNDA AND CHONWE STAY OUT FORMER Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda, expected home on Monday, has instead flown off to London, following pressure from party associates who believe he will be arrested under the new state of emergency. His son, major Wezi Kaunda, claims to have been told that the government has already issued warrants of […]

MONDAY, 8.55AM: CAPE Town Spurs walloped Jomo Cosmos 4-0 in a Castle Premier Soccer League match at Greenpoint Stadium on Sunday. In the 40th minute Ian Gorowa scored Spur’s first goal after receiving a pass from Mumba Ngandu. Spurs went to the interval 2-0 up after Theo Hempe scored the second goal from a Mathew […]

If you have started reading this column with any hope of being reduced to helpless laughter by yet more of the trenchant and witty invective by means of which I have for many years patiently scoured my puny name on to the lists of South African also-rans, then you’re going to be mildly disappointed. Before […]

Gustav Thiel : Rugby Louis Luyt will win the battle for the presidency of the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) because he ‘bought the loyalty of the smaller unions’. But there is hope for rugby fans in the country who feel that Morne du Plessis is the sport’s messiah: he will oppose Luyt in […]