Staff Reporter

SEKUNJALO Investments, which has obtained a R92m 13% share in Siemens Southern Africa, was interested in acquiring a further 10% holding in the electronic and electrical engineering giant, Sekunjalo chief executive Iqbal Surve said this week. Siemens Southern Africa chief executive Klaus Doring said a price could not be put on the 10%. Sekunjalo, which […]

SCIENTISTS working on a primate research project near the Kenyan coast fled a protest by more than 300 naked women against plans to turn their land into a national park, newspapers reported on Wednesday. The dozen scientists carrying out a census of rare red colobus monkeys in the Mnazini area of Tana River district last […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Mbabane | Thursday A CLAIM for compensation by South African miners suffering from asbestosis may have pushed Swazilands asbestos export earnings down, the Central Bank of Swaziland said on Wednesday. The countrys asbestos export earnings declined by 37.9% in the first six months of 2000 compared to the corresponding period in 1999, possibly […]

KWAZULU-Natal Wildlife is to retrench about 600 employees to cut costs, Agriculture and Environmental Affairs MEC Narend Singh confirmed on Wednesday. Singh said 600 out of a total of 3_600 employers were to be retrenched “so more money can be directed to ground work”. He said the restructuring process began in the 1990s when the […]

EXACTLY a year after torrential floods caused over R70m worth of damage in the world renowned Kruger National Park, the park unveiled its new Riverside luxury chalets in Skukuza on Wednesday. On February 7 last year floods destroyed roads and infrastructure in the park and washed away chalets along the Sabie River in Skukuza camp. […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kinshasa | Thursday IN a sprawling mansion protected by North Korean tanks and heavily armed Zimbabwean soldiers, with a waiting room full of sleepy guards, President Joseph Kabila said on Wednesday he was ready for peace – but on his terms. The young leader, who is in his late 20s, has promised to […]

CLAIRE KEETON, Johannesburg | Thursday SOUTH Africa is the world’s largest producer of mandrax, a sedative often crushed and smoked with cannabis to create a addictive mixture which has now become the country’s “main drug problem”, authorities said on Wednesday. “The immediate evil in South Africa is the ‘white pipe’ (cannabis and mandrax),” the chairman […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday THE South African government is facing legal challenges on two fronts over its moratorium on the release of crime statistics. The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday said it was convinced the moratorium was unconstitutional, while Independent Newspapers announced it was taking Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete to court on the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday FACING legal challenges over the governments moratorium on crime statistics, Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete has now indicated the gag will probably be lifted during the second half of this year. The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday said it was convinced the moratorium was unconstitutional, while Independent Newspapers announced it […]

THE Northern Cape government has ordered residents of Schmidsdrift to take all meat and carcasses of cows that recently died to health authorities after at least 15 people were admitted to hospital after having eaten meat infected with Anthrax. The patients are being kept in an isolation ward with swollen arms and skin lesions. Five […]

A DECISION by the new administration of the debt-ridden Ivory Coast airline Air Afrique to lay off nearly 1 000 employees for two months without pay is “illegal and illegitimate” and should “be scrapped, pure and simple,” a union leader said. The airline management announced that nearly one-quarter of the airline’s 4 126-strong workforce would […]

MPUMALANGA police who allegedly set dogs on schoolchildren at an inter-school athletics meeting in Secunda apparently ignored regulations that police dogs only be used during violent crimes. Police are also accused of firing live ammunition at the stadium when they arrested seven children for drinking alcohol in public. Two children who were bitten by Secunda […]

NAMIBIAN President Sam Nujoma has decided to discontinue the use of official Mercedes Benz limousines for his transport, saying he would now use Chevrolets. The Mercedes Benz limousines will only be used for transporting visiting dignitaries and Heads of State. “I believe that the savings that all of us will collectively make through cost-cutting measures […]

CUBAN President Fidel Castro has met with South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Zuma to discuss bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries. Zuma and Cuban officials signed a preliminary accord setting up a joint Cuban-South African commission that will be formalised during SA president Thabo Mbeki’s visit to Cuba in March. One of the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday SOUTH African National Parks has resumed a programme to cull exotic Himalayan mountain goats (tahrs) on Table Mountain in defiance of a direct request by the office of the public protector, Selby Baqwa. Baqwa’s office said the parks board had acted despite a direct request that any such decision […]

SOUTH Africa’s white-dominated newspapers display “rank hostility” toward the government, a minister close to President Thabo Mbeki has charged in a speech to industry leaders. The ruling African National Congress (ANC), in a virtually unique situation among the democracies, has no representation in the mass media, Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad told the advisory […]

MORE than 100 supporters of Zambian President Frederick Chiluba have protested in favour of amending the constitution to allow him to run for a third term in office. The demonstration came one day after the Lusaka conference of Chiluba’s Movement for Multiparty Politics (MMD) voted against a possible third term, becoming the first province to […]

FORMER head of Vlakplaas, Eugene de Kock, and two other ex-Vlakplaas operatives, Jacob Kok and Wybrand du Toit, have been granted amnesty for the murders and attempted murders of unidentified ANC operatives by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Amnesty Committee. De Kock, Douw Willemse, Izak Bosch and Eugene Fourie also received amnesty for conspiring to […]

THE United Nations’ food agency needs $170m to provide aid for 1 million people in Angola, where a 25-year civil war has uprooted a third of the population. The World Food Program’s representative in Luanda, Ronald Sibanda, said the budget covered a 15-month period beginning in April. The fighting between the government and UNITA rebels, […]

NIGERIAS state-run electricity company (NEPA) has warned Nigerians to expect a “significant drop” in power supply from now until July due to a shutting down of several hydro power units in anticipation of a seasonal shortage of water. NEPA projected daily average of load-shedding (power reduction) of between 770 and 1_075 megawatts, and said authorities […]

SIX painters died when they crashed some 27m to the ground after a hoist at the ninth floor of a building in Johannesburg spun out of control. Witnesses said the bucket containing the men started swinging wildly, flinging the men out. Three painters died instantly and three others died in hospital. The sole survivor of […]

SENEGALESE authorities are throwing cars and tubs into their coastal waters to create an artificial reef that will hopefully boost the fish population. Some 40 old vehicles and tubs piled up along Dakar streets and at the port were recently dropped into the water off the capital. Authorities hope the makeshift reef will draw fish […]

THE petrol price will drop by 13 cents to the litre on Wednesday, further easing consumer worries raised by a 30% petrol increase over the best part of last year. Diesel will drop by 16 cents to the litre while illuminating paraffin drops by 25 cents, offering hope for millions of users ahead of the […]

EGYPT’S Orascom Telecom is emerging as a significant regional player as it buys up mobile phone licenses in Africa, the Middle East and Pakistan. Analysts with Cairo-based EFG-Hermes and London-based HSBC are bullish on OT’s long-term prospects, saying it has positioned itself well to profit from surging growth in mobile phone use in countries lacking […]

A BANGLADESHI court has asked Dhaka prison officials to produce a Nigerian languishing in jail here since 1992 after being sentenced to a two-month term. A High Court ruled Goddyu Ochendo should be produced this week. Ochendo, 28, and his teenage American girl Elieda MacCord were arrested in Dhaka airport in March 1992 and charged […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday SEVERAL of South Africa’s top black empowerment companies will be forming a consortium to re-capitalise Sekunjalo Investments, the listed empowerment group hit by the liquidation of Leisurenet last year, says Sekunjalo CEO Iqbal Surve. The groups would be pooling their resources to provide Sekunjalo with enough funds to become a […]

MALAWIS magistrate court has cleared former public works minister Abdul Pillane of all 10 graft charges against him. Pillane is the second official in two months to be cleared of corruption charges, which have riled President Bakili Muluzi’s administration for two years. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which was prosecuting the case, will appeal the decision, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENTS, Nelspruit | Tuesday A 10-year old Mpumalanga boy who was left paralysed and brain damaged after attempts to treat his broken arm went horribly wrong four years ago may finally see justice this week. The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said it would investigate why provincial authorities ignored repeated appeals for additional medical […]

GERMANY is to provide $370 000 in logistic support for troops of the west African force deploying along the Guinean-Liberian border. Troops from Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal will help protect the borders, to allow refugees and aid workers to move freely in the region. ECOWAS’ 15 members states authorised the deployment of the force […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday AN international anti-tuberculosis initiative, the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, has launched a campaign to develop a more effective, cheaper treatment for the disease – which cripples poor countries across the world – by 2010. The organisation, which was formed in Bangkok in October, has opened a head […]

PHILLIP NKOSI, Middelburg and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday THE ruling African National Congress has cracked the whip on on mavericks within its ranks for the third time in a week, saying the party would not tolerate defiance by individuals within our ranks as it dumped a democratically elected rebel mayor in Middelburg in favour […]

RIGHTWING leader Eugene Terre’Blanche could be prosecuted after dogs, believed to be his, attacked a man in Ventersdorp on Friday night, North West police said. Johannes Mbele, 47, was attacked by a Boerboel and a German Shepherd outside Terre’Blanche’s house in Ventersdorp. Mbele claimed the dogs came from Terre’Blanche’s yard. A security guard on duty […]