OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 7.30pm. The Langa Commission’s final report on alleged election fraud in Lesotho contained no surprises, an aide of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday afternoon. The director-general in Deputy President Thabo Mbeki’s office, Frank Chikane, indicated that the findings were similar to the commission’s interim report in August, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kuala Lumpur | Thursday 11.40am. STAR pole-vaulter Ockert Brits has pulled out of the South African Commonwealth Games team, troubled by a hamstring injury. Brits will also no longer be competing in the Athletics World Cup, which begins at the Johannesburg Stadium on Friday. Brits informed Athletics SA secretary-general Banele Sindani of his […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 9.00pm. THE Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has alleged that young elephants from Botswana are being ill-treated in a warehouse near Johannesburg. SPCA director Marcelle French claimed the elephants were tied together by their front legs and that one front leg and one back leg were chained. […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Luanda | Wednesday 11.30pm. SEVENTY MPs belonging to Angola’s rebel Unita movement who were dismissed from parliament last week have refused to joint the breakaway faction which has established itself as the movement’s alternative leadership. Five ministers, also dismissed for being Unita members, last week denounced leader Jonas Savimbi and set up a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Wednesday 11.30pm. DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki has told a Lesotho government delegation that the findings of the Langa commission of inquiry into electoral fraud in the mountain kingdom will not be made public until the Southern African Development Community meeting in Mauritius on Sunday. He gave the same response to Lesotho […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kuala Lumpur | Tuesday 11.00pm. THE Commonwealth Games general assembly decided on Tuesday to limit the number of participating sports in future meetings to 14. The limit has been forced on officials as they struggle to compete against an ever growing international sports calendar. Other changes decided at the federation’s general assembly include […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Wednesday 10.00pm. MPUMALANGA’S finance MEC, Jacques Modipane, was aware of the province’s parks board attempts to get an illegal R500-million offshore loan in December last year but failed to report the matter to the Reserve Bank or any other institutions until two weeks ago. The R500-million loan scheme centred on the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kisangani | Wednesday 11.00pm. REBELS occupying the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Kisangani are striking north and aiming for the strategic town of Buta after overrunning Banalia, 100km north of Kisangani, their military commander said on Wednesday. Commander Jean-Pierre Ondekane said that Banalia had been under rebel control for some time, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Wednesday 9.00pm. FORMER police commissioner General Johann Coetzee told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committee in Pretoria on Wednesday that he never agreed to any political assassinations, including that of Ruth First. Coetzee, who is applying for amnesty for the bombing of the ANC’s London offices in March 1982, was […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 5.30pm. THE travel and tourism industry in South Africa has the capacity to create 174000 new jobs by 2010, according to a report by World Travel and Tourism Council president Geoffrey Lipman on Tuesday. The council’s assessment is based on the ability of the sector to attract substantial private sector […]