TUESDAY, 4.00PM GOVERNMENT officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday refused demands by UN investigators that they be allowed to search for mass graves in the west of the country. The latest refusal comes in the face of a 48-hour ultimatum by the UN team attempting to investigate claims that troops of President […]

TUESDAY, 12.30PM: NATAL kept their lead at the top of the Bankfin Currie Cup log after this weekend’s rugby matches. A depleted Natal team were made to work hard on Saturday for their 29-19 win over the Mpumulanga Pumas at King’s Park Stadium while their closest rivals, Western Province, ran rampant over North West 52-18 […]

COSATU CONGRESS BEGINS THE Congress of SA Trade Unions’ annual congress got under way shortly before 10am on Tuesday morning. More than 2 300 delegates arrived at the World Trade Centre in Kempton Park near Johannesburg in buoyant mood. Before the conference the Cosatu executive committee met to discuss how to respond to the revised […]

MONDAY, 2.00PM ZAMBIA has banned all imports of flour, including flour in transit, in a bid to gain a preferential trade agreement with South Africa. About 10_000 tons of flour a year are supplied to Zambia by SA flour millers Premier Milling, Tiger Oats and Bokomo/Sasko, making it SA’s third-largest flour export market. The Zambians […]

MONDAY, 2.00PM SOUTH African sugar dealers are defrauding the fiscus of at least R36-million annually, by round-tripping sugar through neighbouring states, according to industry sources. The sources say that SA sugar is being routed through Lesotho and Namibia, resulting in VAT rebates from the SA government, GST refunds from neighbouring states and discounts from wholesalers […]

MONDAY, 1.00PM: SOUTH AFRICAN cricketers will continue with their build-up practice matches ahead of the tour to Pakistan when they play a four-day match at Kingsmead starting on Tuesday. The squad will split into teams of equal strength and potential balance of batting and bowling skills. The team in which skipper Hansie Cronje will play […]

MONDAY, 5.30PM BUSINESS South Africa and Union federation Cosatu on Monday denied consensus had been reached on the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill. Cosatu welcomed Labour Minister Tito Mboweni’s decision to place a revised Bill before Parliament, but cautioned that it wants further changes to the Bill and consensus has not been reached. “While we […]

MONDAY, 2.00PM SOUTH Africa’s callback operators are going back to court to prevent the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Satra) from carrying out a renewed threat to shut down callback operations. The regulator had previously said that it will not initiate prosecutions against callback operators until the completion of a pending high court hearing on […]

TUESDAY, 9.00AM POLICE commissioner George Fivaz said on Monday that the Witwatersrand attorney-general has indicated he will institute criminal proceedings against Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and her “football team” for the murder of Lolo Sono if the young man’s body can be found. Sono was a member of the Mandela United Football Team, a gang of township […]