THURSDAY, the last day of 1998, is the cut-off date for land restitution claims. The Commission on Restitution of Land Claims reports a sudden flurry of claims, and says the office is fielding over a thousand phone calls a day. About 40 000 claims are expected, which will take five years to process.

THE Land Affairs Ministry this week strongly denied claims by former MD Helena Dolny that the department is conducting an “ethnic cleansing” against the “white left” in its ranks. Dolny, who last week resigned from the Land Bank following an investigation of alleged mismanagement at the bank, made the allegations in an interview with e.tv […]

AT LEAST 289 families have been left homeless after a fire swept through the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa outside Cape Town on Tuesday evening. Forty fire-fighters battled for several hours to extinguish the blaze. Many of the stranded families were queuing at a nearby school on Wednesday to collect relief funds and other […]

THE death toll on South African roads reached 735 by Thursday morning, 56 short of last year’s December tally of 791. On Wednesday Transport Minister Dullah Omar said that traffic law enforcement will be stepped up in all provinces with immediate effect in an attempt to curb the mounting toll. After meeting transport MEC’s in […]

THE Congolese army has sent in armoured vehicles to “crush all resistance” by anti-government militia forces near the capital Brazzaville, a military source said on Wednesday amid heavy fighting. Armoured units backing President Denis Sassou Nguesso rolled into the Pool region adjoining Brazzaville on Monday and Tuesday as part of a mounting offensive against Ninja […]

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER Tony Blair will visit South Africa in the New Year, mainly to meet incoming president Thabo Mbeki, and to discuss such issues as the DR-Congo war and South Africa’s failure to reach a trade agreement with the EU. Blair’s visit comes a week before the first South African-British bilateral trade talks to […]

THREE men, including a police sergeant and a police reservist, appeared in the Kuils River Magistrate’s Court on Thursday in connection with an attempted break-in at the police forensic laboratory in Faure, outside Cape Town, on Tuesday. The court has ruled that their names should not be published. The three were not asked to plead […]

ED STODDARD, Johannesburg | Wednesday 12.10pm THE money supply and private credit extension grew a bit faster than expected in November but analysts said the numbers are not too worrying. Economists said the figures are traditionally on the high side in November in the run up to the Christmas shopping season and still look good […]

ZAMBIA’S cash-strapped football team are expecting an injection of government support for their African Nations Cup preparations after a stand-off between the Football Association of Zambia and the sports ministry ended with the resignation of the association’s entire executive committee this month. The team had an ill-fated training trip to the United States which they […]

THE Unita rebel movement in Angola has called for peace talks with the government next year, following a string of defeats in its south-eastern strongholds. In a statement published in Paris, Unita said peace has to go further than a simple end to hostilities. “Peace must come from a dialogue on the deep historical and […]