THREE alleged Rastafarians are scheduled to appear in the Warmbaths Magistrate’s Court on Thursday in connection with keeping nine children in an old mineshaft. The five girls and four boys, aged between five and 13, were rescued on Friday after police responded to a complaint that there were trespassers at the old Zwartlkloof mine, 10km […]
SOUTH African Breweries Plc (SAB) said its growing international operations helped to offset a slower performance in South Africa. The company’s international division’s total volume was up 30 percent for the quarter ending June 30, a performance attributed to a good early summer in Europe.”Overall, the group’s financial performance was ahead of the prior year […]
THE High Court in London has rejected various applications brought against Thor Chemicals by about 20 former employees seeking compensation for suffering mercury poisoning while working at the Thor plant in Pietermaritzburg. The court ruled that expert evidence submitted by Thor was admissible after the claimants’ lawyers applied to have it struck out, and an […]
INTELLIGENCE Minister Joe Nhlanhla has suffered a mild stroke and his poition will be assumed with immediate effect by Justice Minister Penuell Maduna. Nhlanhla’s condition was confirmed by a spokesman in President Mbeki’s office, Joel Netshitenzhe, who said Nhlanhla is in a stable condition at a Johannesburg hospital. Doctors attending to Nhlanhla expect him to […]
SCIENTISTS have made a breakthrough that could pave the way for a treatment for the deadly Ebola disease. Researchers from the US National Institutes of Health and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, have found a protein manufactured by the Ebola virus that disrupts the cells that line the blood vessel walls. It is believed […]
FORMER Mpumalanga director general Coleman Nyathi has met with Home Affairs investigators in Pretoria in an attempt to head off a looming deportation order. Nyathi was forced to resign last week after Home Affairs hand delivered a letter warning he would be deported to Zimbabwe within 14 days unless he proved his South African citizenship. […]
British Airways said it had found no evidence of a fuel leak in one of its supersonic Concordes, which made a precautionary landing at Gander, in Canada. The Concorde, carrying 66 people from London to New York — including entertainers Tony Bennett and George Benson — was diverted to Canada two hours into its three-hour […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 10:15am NATIONAL Sorghum Breweries (NSB), one of South Africa’s first black-owned companies, has for a first time in years shown a profit. Jaishankar Ramchandran, a representative of the Indian industrial group, United Breweries (UB), NSB’s largest shareholder, said a reduction in overheads, increased productivity and capacity utilisation had resulted in […]
Former president Nelson Mandela said the late Kobie Coetsee was a great South African who had not yet been accorded his rightful place among the patriots and had contributed to the peaceful transition in the country. Coetsee, 69, a former Justice Minister who served under both PW Botha and FW de Klerk, died early on […]
THE Department of Trade and Industry has set up a special task team to assist local companies export goods into the United States market. This will kick into action once the new African Growth and Opportunities Act comes into effect. Faizel Ismail, the department of Trade and Industry’s deputy director, said that the team’s task […]
An Egyptian team is traveling to New York to participate in the latest phase of the probe into the causes of crash last October of an EgyptAir Boeing 767, an official of the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority said. All 217 people on board the aircraft were killed. The team, made up of ECAA officials, will […]
ST HELENA Bay could soon have a sponge cloth production plant as part of a project worth R100m. Norwegian company Kongsfoss Norge, is planning to move its sponge-cloth production plant from Norway to the South African west coast town, creating between 70 and 80 job opportunities. St Helena Bay was chosen as the best spot […]
Duncan Mackay ATHLETICS Though officials must fear having to act as peacemakers to Maurice Greene and Michael Johnson in the United States Olympic squad for Sydney, at least they should not have any problems from their runners for the women’s 800m, where for the first time in history one family will fill all three places. […]
THE Pietermaritzburg Regional Court has dismissed a high profile rape case against Johannesburg tycoon Jonty Sandler, who had been accused of raping a security guard at gunpoint in a Drakensburg hotel. Magistrate Fred de Beer threw out the case on the grounds that the evidence presented against Sandler in court this week boiled down to […]
An exhibition of the work of architect Roelof Uytenbogaardt is a nostalgic tribute to South Africa’s most significant urban thinker Melinda Silverman The dark, 17th-century Dutch interior of the Old Town House in Cape Town houses a reverential exhibition of the work of Roelof Uytenbogaardt, modern South African architecture’s master of lightness and space. But […]
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The Pietermaritzburg Regional Court this week dismissed a high-profile rape case against Johannesburg tycoon Jonty Sandler, who had been accused of assaulting a security guard at gunpoint in a Drakensberg hotel. Magistrate Fred de Beer threw out the case on the grounds that the evidence presented against Sandler in court this […]
Peter Robinson CRICKET Of all the mistakes made by Shaun Pollock in his first Test match as captain (and, let’s be honest, he made a few), the worst by some distance was his failure to call the toss correctly on the first morning in Galle. A lot went wrong for South Africa in the first […]
Barry Streek A Caledon church’s decision to gamble with the odds and invest in a new casino has paid off, with the church’s empowerment trust having just bagged its first substantial pay-out of R1-million. And when the Caledon Casino, Hotel and Spa opens its doors on October 1, the Overberg Community Trust will receive 10% […]
Namibia Tangeni Amupadhi Just when it seemed as if cross-border attacks on north- eastern Namibia by Angolan gunmen had stopped, the killing has started again. At least three people were killed and close to half a dozen have been injured in the past three weeks in the Kavango region, following a month-long lull in raids […]
Ntuthuko Maphumulo Residents near Johannesburg’s Zoo Lake have teamed up with the city council to try to restore the treasured green belt to its former glory – complete with a multicoloured lighting display at the fountain in the lake. They have formed a committee to raise funds to restore Zoo Lake, which has suffered in […]
Andrew Worsdale TELEVISION I was there. At Granny Lee’s funeral in the Anglican Cathedral in downtown Johannesburg in 1989. As someone remarks in the upcoming documentary Metamorphosis: The Remarkable Journey of Granny Lee, “It was a de luxe state funeral.” I’d met him some years earlier when I used to hang out with friends at […]
researchers Nono Simelela CROSSFIRE Because the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is an issue involving the protection of innocent unborn/newborn infants, debates on the matter can be clouded by emotion and sensationalism. This is illustrated by Howard Barrell’s article “R800m to let Aids babies die” (July 21 to 27). It raises a number of […]
Deon Potgieter BOXING Realising early on in his career the importance of having an image in boxing, Charles Mailula opted to wear a cowboy hat when entering and leaving the ring. Is it merely a coincidence or perhaps an omen that when he challenges for the World Boxing Union junior featherweight world title this Saturday, […]
The Department of Correctional Services is in the dock over its treatment of HIV-positive inmates Marianne Merten and Aaron Madadasane A man who contracted HIV while incarcerated in Pollsmoor prison six years ago is suing the minister of correctional services in the Cape High Court. The Department of Correctional Services said this week it was […]
Merryman Kunene SOCCER Nastasia Tsichlas started at Sundowns as club secretary. Some might think it was a ploy by club vice-chair Angelo Tsichlas to keep his wife busy while he took care of big business at the club – but her skills were soon recognised. The small job led to bigger things and when her […]
Ivor Powell The media blackout on Judge Willem Heath’s special investigations unit came about as a result of pressures from Judge Heath’s own staff – a staff afraid of losing jobs as the government squeezed ever harder on the maverick unit. Sources close to the unit said this week a virtual palace coup has been […]
Andrew Muchineripi SOCCER To most countries in Southern Africa the Castle Cup is manna from heaven, a rare opportunity for cash- strapped football associations to make money while spending none as the brewer foots travel and accommodation bills. For South Africa it is less of a blessing because the national association is extremely wealthy by […]
Robert Kirby loose cannon I am inspired to write this article (in ebullient defence of our worthy and misunderstood presidential representative) by the quite unseemly attacks made on his character and intellect in last week’s Mail & Guardian (“Mbeki’s malaise goes deeper than Parks”). Really! When a newspaper sinks to such murky invective simply because […]
Jaspreet Kindra The Department of Public Enterprises is showing extraordinary sensitivity about possible leaks of its latest policy document on privatisation – the cause of tension between the government and its union allies. The department this week threatened to search the bags of people, when two copies of the still- confidential document circulated at a […]
With South African property about the cheapest in the world, perhaps now is the time to stop being a tenant and think of becoming an owner Ian Fife Property insiders who say that it’s time to start investing in residential property are supported by a recent world survey by Knight Frank that shows South African […]
Glenda Daniels While a lower-level employee at the African National Congress headquarters said last week she was looking for another job because she did not get an increase this year and earns only R2 600 after tax, ministers who earn about R40 000 a month got a 10% increase. Top ANC officials such as secretary […]
Thebe Mabanga IN YOUR EAR Religion provides a rich source of interesting debate on a range of moral issues and radio has wisely latched on to its pulling power. Commercial stations do not touch religion with a bargepole. You see urbanised black people spend their Sunday mornings recovering from a Saturday night of clubbing, playing […]