HERVE BAR, Goma | Monday UNITED Nations peacekeepers will begin deploying this week in rebel-held parts in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as fighters from several countries pull away from front-line positions under a 1999 ceasefire accord. 200 Uruguayan peacekeepers will take up positions in southeastern Kalemi, with a “first wave” […]
MOZAMBICAN police have arrested three prominent businessmen in connection with late last year’s murder of journalist Carlos Cardoso. Mamade Abdul Satar, Ayob Abdul Satar and Vicent Ramaya have also allegedly been linked to the 1999 attempted murder of a bank lawyer, Albano Silva, as he pursued the largest bank fraud in Mozambique’s history, involving about […]
JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Monday MPUMALANGA’s chief spin-doctor, Joy Letlonkane, has been banned from Tsogo Sun’s Emnotweni Casino in Nelspruit after she was caught cheating. Letlonkane, who is chief representative and director of Mpumalanga’s communications department, was banned from the casino for six months just after Christmas when surveillance cameras caught her cheating at a […]
AN alleged “peeping Tom”, who made secret video recordings of a woman bathing in his Gordon’s Bay apartment and possibly broadcast them on the Internet, is to appear in the Strand Magistrate’s Court again. Fanie Terblanche, 28, faces charges of crimen injuria and is out on R10 000 bail. He was caught when a friend […]
A MENINGITIS epidemic that has raced through Burkina Faso since the beginning of this year has claimed 567 lives among the 3_226 people infected, according to a toll published by the west African country’s health ministry. A major meningitis outbreak in Burkina Faso killed about 4_000 people in 1996. The west African country is regularly […]
MPUMALANGA police are investigating allegations that mining giant, Anglo-American, unlawfully evicted a family from a farm in Dullstroom. Koos Shongwe, 30, a grandson of 82-year-old Marta Mthimunye who has lived at Roodekrans farm for more than 40 years, said Roodekrans (Pty) Ltd, of which Anglo-American is a shareholder, allegedly evicted Shongwe and his family without […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday THE first quarter 2001 inflation expectation survey by the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) had revealed a decline in inflation expectations, the bureau said on Friday. The bureau said the most recent decline in inflation expectations was significant, as inflation expectations could easily have risen. Although CPIX inflation increased […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday A LEADING South African lawyer says Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe failed to reassure an international jurists’ panel in a meeting last week of his commitment to the law. Advocate George Bizos, former President Nelson Mandela’s lawyer and a regular adviser to the South African government, said Mugabe refused to accept […]
THE group of 53 African states at the United Nations have publicly endorsed Secretary General Kofi Annan for a second term in office and asked him to declare his candidacy. Diplomats said Annan was so popular that if he decided to seek re-election before his five-year term expires on December 31, it would probably preclude […]
THE driver of a tour bus involved in a accident in September 1999 on the Long Tom pass – in which 27 British tourists died – has been was found guilty of manslaughter in the Regional Court after admitting that he might have stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake pedal. Titus Dube and […]
THREE miners were killed and four injured in the third accident involving fatalities in the country’s mines in less than a week in South Africa. The accident occurred at AngloGold’s Savuka mine near Carletonville, 50km southwest of Johannesburg. The rockfall occurred 2 900m underground. According to the latest government statistics, 146 people were killed in […]
A CRIME syndicate of Sudanese businessmen and tribal warlords is behind big-time poaching and atrocities against local people in the Central African Republic, says an official enquiry. Investigators found that the poachers were responsible for “savage destruction” in the Bangassou forest, a region covering 1.6m hectares. Poachers are not only carrying out “wholesale and indiscriminate […]
MASS graves crammed with the remains of people believed “executed by elements of the security forces” between 1998 and 1999 have been discovered near the Congolese capital Brazzaville, a local rights group said. The independent Congolese Observers of Human Rights (OCDH) said the dead, found 80km south of Brazzaville, were the victims of “extra-judicial executions” […]
AN outbreak of bubonic plague in eastern Zambia has killed nine people in the past two weeks, a senior health official said. About 420 people had been treated for the disease. Four patients are seriously ill and have been hospitalised in eastern Zambia. The disease, which is spread by rats, has seriously affected the small […]
MORE than 10_000 villagers who recently fled their homes to escape fighting in Angola’s civil war now suffer from a lack of medicine and shelter, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). More than 5_000 people are living on the war-ravaged streets of Kuito, 600km southeast of Luanda, after fleeing […]
South Africa’s batsmen might not relish the prospect of playing at Queen’s Park Oval, where seven of 16 innings have fallen short of 200 John Young The Proteas arrived in the Caribbean on Wednesday with good memories of South American hospitality. A cricket writer’s 30-year-old verdict still applies: “Hospitality is more than a preoccupation, it […]
The Mole, a bizarre tracking device that was rejected by the British, is burrowing its way into South Africa Mail & Guardian reporters They did it in Star Trek, and now they think they can do it in downtown Johannesburg. A security and surveillance company based in Selby is planning to import a device from […]
whipping boy You’d have to be a pathetically easy touch to get excited about the modest horseracing fare on offer this weekend. A couple of grey cards at Scottsville in KwaZulu-Natal and Gosforth Park in Gauteng make up the Saturday programme and on Sunday the action, such as it is, takes place at Durbanville, in […]
David McKay Anglo American plc appears to be winning greater acceptance in its adopted country after shifting its primary listing to London during 1999. This follows a vigorous shakedown in the group’s non-resource businesses as well as signs that the long-standing and unpopular cross-holding between Anglo and De Beers is to be unbundled. These developments […]
But some organisations argue that might still not be enough to compensate the qualifying 17?000 victims of apartheid Jubie Matlou The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) estimates the costs for reparations to victims of apartheid atrocities will be R3-billion. The amount is cited in a final report the TRC will submit to the Office of […]
Pat Schwartz The subject was “What the f … [sic] is going on with theatre in South Africa”. The panel consisted of theatre luminaries, critics, a representative of the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (DACST), a university cultural officer and a web master (yes, well, you may ask). The audience was a mixture […]
David Macfarlane Vastly changed global trends in the job market, in combination with South Africa’s massive unemployment rate, now place unique pressures on individuals seeking to make themselves employable. And with the government having launched its National Skills Strategy in February at a major conference in Midrand, private-sector initiatives to help people help themselves should […]
Township tourism has vast potential to attract foreign visitors to South Africa, but amateurism and mediocre standards could have the reverse effect, reports Khadija Magardie Like their famous television namesakes, the South African version of “The A-Team” are proud of their ability “to get the job done”. But where the guys on the box relied […]
Paul Kirk One of Durban’s top policemen resigned this week after allegedly being caught attempting to extort R10 000 from a city doctor. The resignation of Superintendent Christie Marimuthu comes days after he was arrested by members of the police anti-corruption unit and formally charged with extortion. Marimuthu had allegedly called a Durban doctor into […]
A close partnership between organised labour and the government has contributed to turning Singapore into an economic success Glenda Daniels In a matter of a few years, Singapore transformed its economy from that of a developing country to a high-tech, knowledge-based system by restructuring its economy and upgrading the skills of its people. There are […]
The ANC attempted to end a Scorpions investigation into corruption in the province and instead deal with the matter ‘internally’ Justin Arenstein Former Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa’s allegations about a plot to discredit him in top political circles look set to backfire after a key witness dramatically retracted his affidavit this week. The retraction came […]
Thuli Nhlapo This week Alexandra residents who were forcibly relocated to Diepsloot Extension One last month waited in vain for a delivery of water. “The people who bring the water in a truck said we must go and ask [Nelson] Mandela to give us water because they are not paid to provide for so many […]
Why has the world No 1 lost his aura of invincibility? Because he has been left trailing in a technology war, says Bill Elliott He is known as the genius of the greens, the phenomenon of the fairways and the most awesome golfer ever. But the supposedly unbeatable Tiger Woods has apparently been cut down […]
Belinda Anderson Energy group Sasol predicts that it will earn at least R12 a share for the year, which at a share price of R60 is a price to earnings ratio of five, compared to a market price to earnings ratio of about 13. In other words, it would theoretically take investors just five years […]
Jaspreet Kindra Delegates to an international body studying guidelines for intervention in the affairs of sovereign states have expressed concerns about Zimbabwe during discussions in Maputo. Meeting last weekend at an African Round Table discussion hosted by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, delegates expressed “real anxiety” about the situation in Zimbabwe. The […]
Conservation officials have refused to allow an African elephant bull into the Northern Province Fiona Macleod South Africa has turned its back on Sahib, a mighty African elephant bull, who is stranded in a German circus and desperately in need of rescue. Sahib was two years old when he was orphaned during a cull in […]
This year’s Design Indaba showed how Africans are still merely spectators of the global consumer bandwagon Anthea Garman There were some big and unresolved debates at the Fourth International Design Indaba in Cape Town recently. The conference, showcasing an eclectic bevy of the world’s brightest designers from multiple media, found itself embroiled in discussions about […]