soil Richard Bowker If we are to have a history Then their consensus is It lives best in conversation, disagreement, And has its being in the history-makers Of the passing moment. – Cathal Lagan, Alcantara Memories, 1956, iii. Song for Miguel Lovedale Press has been around for so long it has almost sunk into the […]

AJ VENTER thinks his best chances of playing for the Springboks lie with the Natal Sharks. The form eighthman of last season, who was controversially left out of the World Cup squad in Wales, is in a contractual wrangle while trying to leave the Golden Lions for the Durban outfit. He has not been included […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 6.00pm. THE leading yacht in the Cape to Rio 2000 yacht race, the Californian maxi Zephyrus IV, is expected to cross the finish line in Rio de Janeiro early on Friday local time, organisers said. At 07:00 GMT Thursday, the yacht, skippered by Robert McNeil, was only 255 miles […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Thursday 11.00am US oil giant Texaco has struck oil off the coast of Nigeria with a find estimated at around one billion barrels, valued at $25-billion at current prices, the company confirmed Wednesday. Texaco Overseas Oil Corporation and a Nigerian partner, FAMFA Oil, made the find in a deep-water offshore field […]

ONE of the three suspects arrested in connection with the murder of Brenda Fairhead, 55, and her daughter Kia, 11, appeared in the Port Alfred Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, SABC radio news reported. The 16-year-old suspect’s evidence was heard in camera. Police are formulating murder, robbery and kidnapping charges against him. His mother asked that […]

MEMBERS of rival student unions in Burkina Faso’s capital used batons and bludgeons against each another during clashes on Wednesday at the University of Ouagadougou campus. The clashes broke out after the National Union of Faso Students (UNEF) ordered a four-day strike beginning on Monday, while the larger National Association of Burkinabe Students (ANEB) expressed […]

CANADIAN gold producer Placer Dome said on Monday its joint venture with South Africa’s Western Areas Ltd is unaffected by the shock resignation of Western Areas’ deputy chairman Brett Kebble at the weekend. Vancouver-based Placer also said it was confident of Western Areas’ ability to meet its financial commitments to the promising South Deep gold […]

THE bail application of Abdus-Salaam Ebrahim, the leader of the organisation People Against Gangsterism and Drugs, was postponed for a day in the Cape Town Redgional Court on Wednesday, because the magistrate was unavailable. Ebrahim faces several charges, including the 1996 murder of gang boss Rashaad Staggie, who was shot and set alight by a […]

NAMIBIA intends replacing its General Sales Tax and Additional Sales Levy systems with Value Added Tax, the Namibian Press Agency reported on Tuesday. A parliamentary committee heard on Tuesday that computer hardware for the proposed VAT system is already in place and that finance ministry staff are undergoing training to be able to train and […]