Pretoria

The decision of the Council of Arbitration for Sport to suspend American sprinter Tim Montgomery along with Chryste Gaines for doping violations means that the South African men’s relay quartet of Morne Nagel, Corne du Plessis, Lee-Roy Newton and Matthew Quinn have now become the world champions.

An application for the setting aside of an arrest warrant for an information technology consultant implicated in an alleged National Intelligence Agency hoax e-mail scam was put on ice on Tuesday. The application was removed from the Pretoria High Court’s urgent roll by consent of all the parties involved.

South African government officials at the highest level would not be drawn on Monday evening on reports that South African spy Aubrey Welken would be brought home from Zimbabwe on Tuesday. Welken was arrested by Zimbabwe Central Intelligence Organisation operatives at Victoria Falls on December 10 2004.

Newly elected Côte d’Ivoire Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny on Sunday said he is confident that the task of organising new elections as well as disarming fighters in the divided West African state will be met. Banny met South African President Thabo Mbeki on Sunday for talks.

The Titans jumped back to the top of the Standard Bank Cup table after stuttering to an exciting two-wicket win over the luckless Cape Cobras at Supersport Park on Sunday. The visitors now prop up the bottom of the log without a win in five outings. Set a small target of 171, the Titans got off to a cautious start.

A South African observer team is to leave this week for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to monitor the country’s first multiparty elections in over four decades, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday. The 128-strong contingent, which will leave on Wednesday, will be led by Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula.

South Africa’s director-general of Foreign Affairs has convened a meeting with Equatorial Guinea ambassador Juan Ncuchuma to try to secure the return of two nationals being held in that country. Aircraft crew members Sechan Pillay and Ruwayda Kalbine have been held in Equatorial Guinea for five weeks due to problems between two companies involved in a string of aviation sub-contracts.

The Pan Africanist Congress on Friday presented documents to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development requesting the release of members of its former military wing, the Azanian Peoples Liberation Army. These are soldiers who were arrested for their role in the anti-apartheid struggle, the PAC said.

National Intelligence Agency director general Billy Masetlha has bemoaned the effects of his suspension on his family, colleagues and the public. ”My family, including my aged mother and many other relatives, are deeply distressed by my purported suspension,” he said in a sworn affidavit before the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday.

Suspended National Intelligence Agency director general Billy Masetlha filed an urgent application in the Pretoria High Court on Monday in a bid to secure his legal rights in a running probe into misconduct. Masetlha was told on Thursday that the inspector general of intelligence wanted to interview him on Tuesday.

No stone will be left unturned in the search for the truth behind alleged abuses in the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday. Mbeki urged members of the country’s intelligence services to aid inquiries, led by the inspector general and minister of intelligence, into these ”disturbing matters”.

Five National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) forensic experts are to be sent to Namibia next week to help with the investigation of mass graves recently discovered in the north of that country. The team will meet their Namibian counterparts, visit the area and inspect the human remains.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has received a docket from the police on rape allegations against former deputy president Jacob Zuma. The authority now has to decide whether to prosecute. NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said: ”We intend finalising this matter as soon as possible.”

National Intelligence Agency director general Billy Masetlha’s application to have his suspension overturned was removed from the Pretoria High Court’s urgent roll on Tuesday and postponed indefinitely. Masetlha’s attorney, Imraan Haffegee, said his client will no longer pursue the matter in the form of an urgent application.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s former financial adviser Addy Moolman is finally to start serving his four-year jail sentence, the Pretoria High Court heard on Monday. Judge MF Legodi on Monday dismissed Moolman’s urgent application for bail, pending an application to the Constitutional Court about the constitutionality of his sentence.

The matric results will be announced on December 29, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said on Monday. The date was agreed to at a Council of Education Ministers meeting in Pretoria on Monday, where school uniforms, a language policy, new school premises and the Education Laws Amendment Bill were also discussed.

South Africa will host an international newspaper congress attended by more than 1 300 delegates in 2007, Print Media South Africa said on Friday. The Newspaper Association of South Africa has won a bid to host the World Association of Newspapers 60th World Newspaper Congress, as well as the 14th World Editors’ Forum and Expo Services.

The killing of Constable Francis Rasuge was an ”appalling” crime, Judge Ronald Hendricks told murderer William Nkuna as he sentenced him to life in prison on Thursday. Nkuna was convicted last month of killing Constable Francis Rasuge, even though her remains have not been found. She was last seen with him outside a hair salon in Temba on August 27 last year.