The JSE Securities Exchange was firmer in noon trade on Tuesday after a stock specific morning. The bourse’s gains came despite a stronger rand. By 11.56am, the all share index was up 0,45%. Resources rallied 0,77%, with the gold and platinum mining indices gaining 1,06% and 0,99% respectively.
The South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) on Monday criticised the South African government for not being vocal enough about the Zimbabwe government’s clampdown on the independent media, warning that the country’s upcoming elections won’t be free.
South African transport parastal Transnet and mining group Kumba Resources on Monday announced that they had signed a new iron ore contract and had agreed on the expansion of Transnet’s rail and port infrastructure to allow Kumba to expand its iron ore output by 10-million tonnes by 2009.
The Tshwane City Council voted on Monday to retain the name Pretoria for the city centre only, whereas the name Tshwane will refer to the greater metropolitan area. The council authorised the municipal manager to affect all the necessary legal and administrative procedures to register the geographical area that constitutes the municipality as a city with the name Tshwane.
Josh Cunliffe (21) eagled Wingate Park Country Club’s par-five 18th hole on Monday to take a one-stroke lead at the halfway mark in the men’s Sanlam South African Stroke-Play Championship. Cunliffe, from Dainfern, carded a 71 for the day and is on 139, five under par, with the third and fourth rounds to be completed on Tuesday.
Arsenal will need to pull off a first-class performance, as Monaco and Deportivo la Coruna did last season, to avoid elimination from the European Champions League by Bayern Munich on Wednesday. Liverpool, however, have a great chance of reaching the quarterfinals of the competition after beating Bayern’s Bundesliga rivals Bayer Leverkusen.
Zimbabwe’s ministry of foreign affairs confirmed on Monday that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum will not be invited to observe the country’s election in three weeks’ time. The forum — comprising representatives of all SADC states, including Zimbabwe — has traditionally observed elections in SADC countries.
Bafana Bafana defender Mbulelo Mabizela joined Norwegian side Valerenga on Monday after being without a club for almost six months. The big Mabizela has been without a club after English Premiership side Tottenham Hotspur terminated his contract last October. He tried his luck at various clubs in Europe and Scandinavia without any joy.
A seven-year-old Jordanian boy stole his father’s hard-earned salary to buy prepaid phone cards to vote for his favourite female candidate on a television reality show, Petra news agency reported on Sunday. The boy was enamoured by Algerian candidate Salma al-Ghazali, who appears on the <i>Star Academy</i> reality show.
A latex puppet of Prince Charles’s bride-to-be Camilla Parker Bowles, seen on the cult British television satire <i>Spitting Image</i>, failed on Monday to find a buyer in an eBay online auction. The 71cm-tall effigy of Charles’s long-time lover, seen on the programme in 1996 shortly before it went off the air, attracted 49 bids.