OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 11.30am. ATHLETICS South Africa general secretary Banele Sindani said on Tuesday that South Africa’s Commonwealth Games athletics victories will mark a sea change in the relationship between athletes and administrators. “We have reached a turning point in South African athletics after the medals we won at the Games and the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 11.00am. DESPITE a bad start, South African middleweight champion Giovanni Pretorius won on points on Tuesday night in his eight-round bout against Russian Roman “Rauf” Babaev, at the Carousel north of Pretoria. The Russian came out well prepared in the first round, landing a heavy left-right-left combination early on, and […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Freetown | Wednesday 3.00pm. THE West African intervention force Ecomog needs at least 2000 additional troops to put an end to the war in Sierra Leone. Ecomog spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jimoh Okunlola said on Tuesday: “Ivory Coast, Gambia and Mali have promised their support. We need at least 2000 men, real fighters, as […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kampala | Wednesday 8.30pm. A FORMER Ugandan cabinet minister and nine others have appeared in court in Kampala charged with treason. Assistant Police Superintendent Charles Dickens Ojakol, leading the prosecution, said that the 10 accused, and others still at large, plotted in Kampala and the Buganda region of central Uganda to overthrow the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.00am. THE government is making a push for low-cost housing rental in a bill that abolishes rent control and sets up a host of housing rental tribunals. The Housing Rental Bill, published this month for comment, argues that there is a general agreement that rent control curtails investment. The abolition […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Tuesday 5.45pm. LOCAL stock had a disappointing day on Tuesday, closing flat despite expectation that the latest bull run will roll on into the week. Dealers said the pullback was surprising, as all major indices except gold ended in negative territory. Markets were influenced by a both international and domestic factors, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Tuesday 6.45pm. THE South African hitsquad en route to plant a bomb in the African National Congress offices in London ran into numerous predicaments that almost blew the entire operation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Pretoria on Tuesday. Former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock told the amnesty hearing that […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Freetown | Tuesday 11.00pm. THE Sierra Leone government announced on Tuesday that it had foiled a jailbreak plot that would have led to the release of dozens of collaborators of the ousted military junta who are being tried for various offences. Attorney General and Minister of Justice Solomon Berewah told reporters in Freetown […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 8.30pm. THE strike by employees belonging to the South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union on Monday forced the Edgars group to close certain operations, including shops in the Johannesburg CBD. Workers toyi-toyied outside shops, and several scuffles with police ensued, resulting in four workers being injutred and 10 […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kampala | Tuesday 7.30pm. A SMALL aircraft carrying civilians and a top Ugandan army officer to a town controlled by rebels in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has gone missing, a Ugandan army spokesperson said on Tuesday. Captain Shaban Bantariza said the aircraft, chartered from Tropical Airways, left Entebbe for Bunia, about 370km […]