OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 1.50pm. THE National Union of Mineworkers faces financial ruin if Eskom is successful in suing it for some R6,1-million for damage to property caused by its members during strike action. In a similar case Telkom is claiming R285000 from the Communication Workers’ Union, The Star reports. According to the paper […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 4.00pm. THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange ended on a sour note on Wednesday following the release of worse-than-expected producer price index figures, and a weaker US Nasdaq overnight. The overall finished 1,59% or 114 points down. Industrials were 2,24% or 179 points off, while financials ended down 1,56% or 137 points. […]
THE United Cricket Board of South Africa announced on Tuesday that it will back Bangladesh’s bid for Test status. The International Cricket Council will consider the application at their meeting in London next month. Acting UCBSA president Percy Sonn said in a statement: “We decided Bangladesh’s application is consistent with the ICC’s global (cricket development) […]
JAPAN has announced plans to send Asian experts to Africa to upgrade skills and help lift the continent out of poverty. Tokyo will help the United Nations develop a program for skills development in Africa, said Yasuaki Nogawa, deputy director general of the foreign ministry’s Middle East and Africa bureau. Nogawa said the world body […]
GARY Teichmann, former Springbok and Natal skipper, will return to South Africa next week to lead his Welsh side Newport against the Sharks as part of his benefit year celebrations. The celebrations kick off on Saturday when Newoport will play a warm-up match against Teichman’s old club College Rovers. Apart from Teichmann, the side also […]
MULTINATIONAL banking and investment group, Investec, will seek to enhance its critical mass in the UK, where it has already bought and integrated merchant banking and asset management businesses, with “one or two acquisitions”, according to the Business Report. Stephen Koseff, the bank’s chief executive, said these will be in the fund management, banking and […]
SWAZILAND’S government has retained the death penalty by hanging for capital crimes in the face of condemnation from human rights groups and neighbouring countries that have abolished the ultimate penalty. This year, the number of death row prisoners has doubled, from six to 12. But, or condemned men and women, all that stands in the […]
FORMER IBF junior featherweight world champion Vuyani Bungu has ended months of speculation by saying that he will resume his boxing career. There was a lot of speculation regarding Bungu’s future after his dismal performance against Naseem Hamed in March. He was stopped in four rounds by the WBO featherweight world champion in a fight […]
INTERNATIONAL paper group Sappi sold its Sappi Novobord operation to the Portuguese Sonae Industria conglomerate for an undisclosed sum on Wednesday. The sale, which is still subject to approval by the Reserve Bank and Competition Commission, forms part of Sappi’s drive to raise R2-billion by disposing of non-core assets. Sappi strategic developments director Robert Hope […]
NATIONAL Parks chief executive Mavuso Msimang said on Wednesday that 13 sites in the country’s national parks are to be commercialised over the next few months. Nine of these are rest camps in the Kruger National Park. Others are in the Addo Elephant National Park, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and at Golden Gate. Msimang said […]
SABC chief executive Reverend Hawu Mbatha has been sacked by the broadcaster. Although the board said it has reached “an amicable arrangement” and Mbatha will be “released” from contractual obligations, it follows a damning report which levelled the blame for the SABC’s poor operations squarely at Mbatha’s leadership. He is replaced by Cecliai Khuzwayo, the […]
REBELS in the Democratic Republic of the Congo said on Tuesday they would withdraw their troops this week from the disputed diamond city of Kisangani along with Ugandan and Rwandan forces. But Kin-Kiey Mulumba, spokesman for the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), said rebels would reserve the right to defend the town from any attack […]
TWO armed robbers have stolen two petrol tankers worth R500000 in White River in Mpumalanga. Security guard Absalom Nkosi, 28, was at his post at Shell Depot in White River when two armed men seized him. Police spokeswoman Sergeant Thabisile Gama said the men made Nkosi lie on the ground and then tied his hands […]
SUE PLEMING, Washington | Wednesday 10.30am. PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki has made an impassioned plea to rich countries such as the United States to help poorer nations like South Africa that are struggling in an “ocean of entrenched poverty.” Delivering an inaugural address at Georgetown University in the United States, Mbeki referred to comments by US […]
RETIRING ACT Brumbies skipper Brett Robinson will lead his team into Saturday’s Super 12 rugby final against the Canterbury Crusaders provided his body stands up to the rigours of contact training this week, the Brumbies coach said. Robinson, 30, was one of the form openside flankers of the competition before being sidelined by a torn […]
South African top seed Amanda Coetzer beat Spain’s Cristina Torrens-Valero 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 Sunday to win the 140,000-dollar WTA tennis event in Antwerp. Coetzer, the world number 11, beat an opponent way below her in the rankings at 80th in a match interrupted by rain. On clay made slower by the moisture, the first set […]
PUBLIC sector unions and government begin their second round of wage talks on Tuesday. At the top of the agenda at the Pretoria meeting, is a new wage proposal after the 12 unions rejected a five percent salary increase offer. Unions are demanding 10%, which they say is in line with inflation. It is hoped […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 11.50am. TWO of the greatest rivals in South African soccer Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs have been united under the same sponsorship banner. Cellular network provider Vodacom has announced a “multi-million rand” three-year sponsorship the two clubs who hold two of the top-three spots on the Premier Soccer League […]
ERIK DE CASTRO, Jolo | Tuesday 2.30pm. DECLARING they wanted peace, about 100 armed Islamic rebels descended from their mountain hideout in the southern Philippines on Tuesday to negotiate on the fate of 21 mostly foreign hostages. The unexpected meeting between the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas and Moslem provincial governor Abdusakur Tan in a local town […]
SOUTH Africa’s Oscar Chalupsky won the 10km Kala Kukea memorial race at Hawaii Kai at the weekend. With the World Ocean Kayak Championships on May 28, it sets the Duzi star up well. “This was a very good warm up race for next week’s world champs and it gave a good indication of my speed,” […]
FORMER Ghanaian football captain Abedi Pele and fellow ex-international Tony Yeboah have rejected an invitation to re-join the national team. The Ghana Football Association invited the two to strenghten the Black Stars in their preparation for the 2002 World Cup qualifying series which will begin in June. In separate radio interviews in Accra on Monday, […]
A REPORT by national automobile group Naamsa, says that the sales of passenger cars in South Africa increased by 27,1% to 55385 units in first quarter of this year. Commercial vehicle sales for the same period increased by 10,2% to 27894 units over the first quarter of 1999. Heavy commercials were six percent down on […]
A TEAM of Egyptian archaeologists working in the Valley of the Mummies on the outskirts of Cairo, has discovered 100 more gold-encased bodies. Team leader Zahi Hawass said the mummies have been found intact in seven newly uncovered tombs at the ancient necropolis where 200 mummies were found last year and which is expected to […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 4.15pm. SPORTS Minister Ngconde Balfour has sided with the South African men’s hockey team in its battle against the National Olympic Committee of South Africa to get to the Sydney Games. Balfour spoke in Parliament on the eve of the decision by the International Olympic Committee whether to uphold […]
ALAN FINLAY & Reuters, Johannesburg | Monday 4.00pm. THE JSE slipped lower on Monday on the back of weaker Asian markets, worse-than-expected first quarter gross domestic product data, and Friday’s dip in US markets. The all-share finished 0,60% or 43 points lower. Industrials closed down 1,28% or 104 points and financials ended 0,74% or 65 […]
A BAN on women’s boxing in South Africa will be overturned by legislation to be introduced later this year, Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour said on Tuesday. The ban, effected by a 1954 law, was contrary to South Africa’s post-apartheid constitution which rules against discrimination in all spheres of life, Balfour said in parliament. “Our constitution […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kuala Lumpur | Tuesday 12.20pm. JAPAN has announced plans to send Asian experts to Africa to upgrade skills and help lift it out of poverty. Amongst the plans is a major IT skills injection into the continent. Yasuaki Nogawa, deputy director general of Japan’s Middle East and Africa bureau, said the country will […]
ANGLO American and Glencore have announced that mineral resource group and the world’s largest exporter of thermal coal, Billiton, will be joining them as an equal shareholder in Carbones de Cerrejon (CdelC), a coal mining operation in northern Columbia. CdelC holds the rights to mine three high grade coal reserves – Cerrejon Central, Oreganal and […]
JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Tuesday 5.40pm. A KEY Mpumalanga local government department official allegedly admitted she is an illegal immigrant from Swaziland before escaping from police custody on Monday night. Police prohibited immigrant unit commander, Captain David Chilembe, confirmed on Tuesday that police are searching for the young woman after she gave her police guard […]
STEVEN MANN, Cape Town | Tuesday 4.00pm. ALTHOUGH over a million housing subsidies have been approved since 1994 and over four million people have been given homes, South Africa still has a housing backlog of some three million units and there is no money to build them. “The current allocation to the housing budget is […]
ALAN FINLAY, Johannesburg | Monday 2.30pm. INTERNATIONAL gold prices were jolted slightly on Tuesday, after the Bank of England’s sale of 25 tons of the yellow metal at a price of $275,25 an ounce in its sixth bullion auction since July. The gold spot price fell to $275,50 from $276,15 an ounce shortly after the […]
STOCKS of export tobacco from Zimbabwe are at their lowest level in five years, a tobacco industry official said on Tuesday. But Zimbabwe Tobacco Association marketing director Pat Davis said the sector — the country’s top foreign exchange earner — could withstand the knocks caused by current political strife provided there was a return to […]