Robert Kirby : Loose cannon A lot of commentators are playing down the question of who will take over leadership of the National Party now that FW’s going. ”Who cares?” they cry. ”The NP is a spent force,” they mutter. ”It matters not who pilots a stalled wagon-train.” I have to disagree. The future health […]

John Rodda It’s time for that big Olympic Moment – not another medal ceremony but that heart- stopping, economy-booming (or busting) pronouncement which comes twice every four years. This Friday in the Olympic city of Lausanne Juan Antonio Samaranch, now in his 17th year as president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), will step up […]

THURSDAY, 4.00PM ALLAN BOESAK, former head of the now defunct Foundation for Peace and Justice, made a suprise appearance in the Cape High Court on Thursday with his co-accused Freddie Steenkamp, the foundation’s former bookkeeper. They were only due to appear in court on September 15, when counsel for Boesak intended bringing an application for […]

THURSDAY, 4.00PM FIGHTING on the breakaway Comoran island of Anjouan left two government soldiers with bullet wounds, an army source said on Thursday after the government claimed to have put down the separatist insurrection there without bloodshed. Independent reports on the extent of fighting were difficult to obtain as telephone and transport links were cut […]

THURSDAY, 1.00PM: MAMELODI Sundowns on Thursday recieved a massive sponsorship boost from Reckitt & Colman Pharmaceuticals to the tune of R7-million for the next 24 months. Accepting the sponsorship, Sundowns chairman Abe Krok said soccer in South Africa has become a big business. “Sundowns have worked hard to become one of the country’s top clubs […]

WEDNESDAY, 5.00PM: The bull trend on US markets helped spur industrial shares on the JSE on Wednesday, but the gold index fell below 1 000 points for the first time since the most recent contraction on Wall Street began in early August. At the close the all gold index had dropped 8,9 points to 992,8. […]

THURSDAY, 8.30AM FORMER policeman and Civil Co-operation Bureau operative Ferdi Barnard appeared briefly in the Pretoria Regional Court on Wednesday, where his charge sheet gave the first details of how the state has reconstructed the 1989 murder of anti-apartheid activist Dr David Webster. The state says that Barnard, who had monitored Webster’s house for some […]

THURSDAY, 11.00AM: LATEST retail sales figures released by the Central Statistical Service show seasonally adjusted retail sales fell 5% in June to R11,5-billion under pressure from continued high interest rates. Clothing, textiles and footwear were particularly hard hit. The slowing retail sales figures follow recent trends in manufacturing production, leading economists to warn that the […]

THURSDAY, 4.30PM THE Speaker in Lesotho’s National Assembly, Dr Teboho Kolane, on Thursday ejected the remaining 18 Basutoland Congress Party parliamentarians from the assembly for seven days, for what he said was gross unparliamentary conduct. The MPs were dragged from the Assembly by police after refusing to budge when they were ordered to go. On […]