WEDNESDAY, 3.00PM SOME 1 200 soldiers were on standby during the 1994 Zulu march on Johannesburg, but police chose not to use them because soldiers are trained to fight, not to control crowds. Police Senior-Superintendent Kobus Peche told the Shell House inquest in Johannesburg on Wednesday, “Soldiers use live ammunition and not rubber bullets and […]
WEDNESDAY, 8.30AM The troubled Transnet communications service Transtel Cellular, which lost R83m in the year to March, is to be sold to MTN, and its staff either retrenched or redeployed inside Transnet. A Transnet spokesman said the deal had been canvassed with government and labour, who agreed that the losses — mainly due to bad […]
WEDNESDAY, 6.00PM RACIAL clashes have blown up at a Pretoria high school, closed since Tuesday after brawling when two black pupils allegedly insulted a white teacher. White pupils at Elandspoort High School in Pretoria West were sent home at 10.00am this morning after renewed fighting, and while principal Hennie Breedt addressed the black pupils. The […]
WEDNESDAY, 8.30AM A DELEGATION of top executives from the $76billion a year Korean multinationl Daewoo arrived in South Africa to look at new investments of up to more than R1,2 billion. But first, the delegation wants a meeting with government to discuss tax breaks and other incentives for investing here. The company has been offered […]
WEDNESDAY, 6.00PM: VIOLENCE erupted again in the Groblersdal area on Tuesday night, as demonstrators set fire to a truck and to the local ANC offices, in continued protests demanding that the area to be included in Mpumalanga Province. Despite the tesnions, Constitutional Affairs Minister Valli Moosa failed to arrive to address a crowd of 15 […]
HUGE FINNISH AID DEAL FINNISH President Maarti Ahtisaari signed a R50 million aid and development co-operation agreement with President Nelson Mandela at Tuynhuys today. Ahtisaari, who lavished praise on Mandela for his role as an African peace broker, is known to South Africans as the UN mediator who overaw the transition to independence of Namibia. […]
TUESDAY, 8.30AM GOLD climbed out of its three week trough in overnight trade, thanks to the weaker dollar, the gains by silver, platiunum and palladium — and the discovery that a rich new Indonesian gold seam was a hoax. The JSE all gold index was up 2,5% or 30 points to 1 268; and gold […]
‘ARE YOU A JEW?’ DISCIPLINARY action may be taken against National Party MP, Willem Odendaal, who offended members of parliament yesterday when he asked ANC MP Andrew Feinstein: “Are you a Jew?” Odendaal asked the question after Feinstein was questioned on whether he is a communist during his speech on the SA Revenue Services budget […]
TUESDAY, 5.00PM: SABOTAGE by officials in the Department of Arts and Culture is hampering the functioning of the Pan South African Language Board, board chair Professor Nxalati Golele told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday. The board was set up a year ago to promote the development of South African languages. But none of the board […]
TUESDAY, 8.30AM SA EXPRESS, jointly owned by SAA and Thebe Investments, has bought six new 50-seater jets from the Canadian company Bombardier, in an R600 milion deal that includes selling six old turboprop planes back to the Canadians. The company, which has annual turnover of R240 million and is said to operate at a profit, […]