OPPOSITION presidential candidate Afonso Dhlakama and his Renamo party had won five of Mozambique’s 11 provinces by Wednesday to four for incumbent President Joaquim Chissano and his ruling Frelimo party. Results being announced over state radio as counting continues from the elections held earlier this month show voters repeating the pattern of the Mozambique’s first […]

THE Nigerian stock exchange has approved the sale of government shares in two major groups under the first stage of a privatisation programme, exchange officials said on Tuesday. The shares are in the West African Portland Cement Company (Wapco), the largest cement company in the country and the fourth largest group on the exchange, and […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Wednesday 5.50pm. NIGERIA’s two top football officials will be sacked if the country does not get to the semi-finals of next month’s African Nations Cup, Sports Minister Damishi Sango warned Wednesday. “It would be a disaster if the Eagles don’t get as far as the semi-finals of the championship,” being co-hosted […]

IN a Caste Premiership match at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Wednesday night, Orlando Pirates beat bottom-of-the-log Mother City 2-0. The first goal was scored in the 51st minute by Phumlani Mkhize. In the 90th minute Pirates sealed the game when striker Sibusiso Zuma dribbled past three defenders before unleashing the ball into the […]

SOUTH Africa has been appointed as one of the three countries auditing the United Nations, new Auditor-General Shauket Fakie announced on Tuesday. This will result in a yearly foreign income of about R10-million for the country, he said at a news conference in Pretoria. The UN contract is four times the size of the one […]

SYNTHETIC fuel producer Sasol said on Tuesday it had approved an R835-million capital budget to build a new butanol plant with a capacity of 150000 tons a year. Sasol said in a statement basic engineering for the plant is likely to be completed by March 2000 and the plant is expected to enter production during […]

SWISS-based ferrochrome and vanadium producer Xstrata said on Tuesday that it has reinstated 369 dismissed workers after resolving an industrial dispute at its mine in Thornecliffe. All workers who were fired on the basis that the company reserves the right to discipline employees involved in acts of violence will be re-employed.

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Thursday 4.30pm THE five-yearly congress of Zimbabwe’s governing Zanu(PF) party opened on Thursday with President Robert Mugabe blaming the country’s economic woes on sabotage by foreign-owned companies and banks operating in the country. Mugabe said steep price rises and shortages of commodities such as fuel and foreign currency are artificial and […]

MALAWI’s President Muluzi said in a statement on Wednesday that the small country of R10-million people had qualified for debt relief. He announced the good news after being officially assured of his country’s status at a meeting with British Secretary of State Claire Short. Britain also pledged to increase bilateral aid to Malawi to K5-billion […]

FORMER president Nelson Mandela left South Africa for Berlin, Germany, on Wednesday night to launch the “Cities without Slums” initiative. His spokeswoman Zelda la Grange said Mandela was invited by the World Bank and the United Nation Centre for Human Settlements. Mandela is scheduled to address a meeting on Thursday at a hotel in Berlin […]