DAVID SHAPSHAK, Durban | Saturday 5.00pm. DEFENDING champions the Canterbury Crusaders shot to the top of the Super 12 log with a 32-24 win over the Sharks at Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday. Durban-borne Andrew Merhtens slotted 12 points as his New Zealand side, who led 15-10 at half-time, gave the Sharks their second […]
THE Chiefs clinically disposed of the Super 12’s bottom team, the Northern Bulls, 40-7 on Saturday. The Bulls’ lack of discipline soon led to penalties and inside 22 minutes Loki Crichton had kicked the third-bottom Chiefs into a 9-0 lead. Roger Randle rounded off the first half with the Chiefs’ first try after a nice […]
AUSTRALIAN umpire Barry Jarman said on Thursday he doesn’t believe the controversial fifth Test between South Africa and England in January was fixed. The Test at Centurion Park in which both teams agreed to forfeit an innings after three days of rain, was won by England, who triumphed by two wickets with five balls to […]
ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Johannesburg | Saturday 7.00pm. WHAT a bad weekend it is proving to be for Bob Save Super Bowl favourites with holders SuperSport United and Orlando Pirates losing at home in the quarer-finals. A headed goal from substitute Ernest Marumo with 11 minutes remaining at Caledonian Stadium gave relegation-threatened AmaZulu a shock 1-0 win […]
SOUTH Africa’s Elana Meyer will travel to the USA on Monday for her fourth attempt at winning the Boston Marathon, the only US city marathon still eluding Meyer. Meyer has won all the major road races on the USA circuit, and will be hoping to break the Boston hoodoo when she joins a top-class field […]
HARIM Cassim, the South African businessman alleged to be the go-between in the Hansie Cronje scandal denied any wrong-doing on Friday and said he would cooperate in an inquiry into match-fixing. Harim Cassim was alleged in newspaper reports to be the businessman who introduced the former cricket captain to London-based Indian bookmaker Sanjiv Chawla. Chawla […]
OPENER Herschelle Gibbs, named in the match-fixing scandal surrounding Hansie Cronje, says he’s relieved to have been cleared of any wrongdoing by his former captain. Gibbs was one of four players, including Cronje, named by Indian police in their investigations into match-fixing during a recent tour of the subcontinent earlier this year. But Cronje, who […]
SOUTH Deep gold mining joint venture said on Wednesday it has suffered a number of infrastructure problems that have affected production in the first quarter of the year. But a spokesman said this will not prevent the joint venture from reaching its targets for the year. “The incidents were serious in that they impacted our […]
Liberia’s most famous export is not only great on the pitch, but a good guy off it Amy Lawrence It was an average Sunday afternoon. Semi- comatose on the sofa, half an eye on the Italian football on television. It was AC Milan versus Verona, nothing special, until with a couple of minutes to go […]
The beauty of the game of cricket lies in its complexity, of which one becomes acutely aware when facing the difficulties of explaining the game to a newcomer. “It’s like baseball with two hitters,” is a familiar starting point, “except the ball bounces.” Ah, but what permutations lie behind that small qualification … The terror […]
The South African government wants Anglo American to hand over land containing substantial platinum deposits Jaspreet Kindra and Belinda Beresford The Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs has asked Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) to return the mineral rights to 24 platinum-rich farms located in the former Lebowa territory in Northern Province. Amplats, the world’s largest […]
After 24 years of vicious abuse at the hands of her husband, justice may finally be done for Anne Ribets Charlene Smith Anne Ribets is tiny and well groomed. Her appearance belies the fact that for 24 years her husband – now ex-husband – has regularly beaten stabbed and attacked her. He once allegedly abducted […]
PAUL KIRK, Johannesburg | Friday 11.00am. GOVERNMENT intelligence agencies are probing allegations that Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the minister of home affairs and president of the Inkatha Freedom Party, has been receiving large amounts of cash from illegal casinos. According to confidential documents compiled by the National Intelligence Agency, Buthelezi has more than R4-million in his personal […]
Racked by war and a famine that sucked up Live Aid funds in 1985, Ethiopia faces starvation again Jason Burke As the desert sun began to dip towards the hot horizon, Bashir Ahmed Abdi died. The three-year-old had spent his last day unconscious in a tiny hut, in the middle of a barren, red-earthed plain. […]
Barry Streek The proposed merger of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Satra) has been changed to ensure that the new body, now to be called the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), has constitutionally entrenched independence. The Democratic Party’s Dene Smuts said the amended Bill recognises the […]
hearted Donna Block SHAREWORLD I can’t go anywhere these days without someone, anyone, asking me about the stock markets. It’s like they’re having a love affair with shares and all they want is to get more and more information and get involved on one exchange or another. But love affairs, like share prices, are precarious […]
Anthony Browne Directors of BP Amoco, the world’s largest oil producer, will this week face a revolt by shareholders who want investment diverted to renewable energy. The annual meeting will vote on a groundbreaking resolution urging the firm to abandon its Northstar oilfield in Alaska and reinvest the money in solar power. The resolution was […]
MPUMALANGA’s department of education fired two high-ranking officials on Thursday for their involvement in the 1998 matric scandal in which results were fraudulently inflated to 72%. Former examination head, Gogo Ndlovana, and first education specialist, Kate Mokone, were fired upon the recommendation of Professor Papa Maithufi who headed an internal investigation into the scandal. Maithufi […]
Thebe Mabanga The Sammy Davis Jnr Entertainer of the Year for 1999, Mary J Blige, heads our way with R&B duet K-Ci and Jojo and saxophonist Kirk Whalum. In a telephonic interview from Germany, where she is on a promotional tour, Blige points out that, “In America, people give me love and appreciate my work. […]
Professor Njabulo Ndebele was this week appointed vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT) with the unanimous approval of the council. In a closely guarded selection process, Ndebele emerged as the favourite to take up the reins, as outgoing vice-chancellor Dr Mamphele Ramphele moves to her new position as one of four managing directors […]
Jesus bar Joseph, 33, a male Jew, was executed on Friday in the presence of family and friends. Rumours that he was seen alive two days later are rejected by the soldiers who conducted the crucifixion. “We know what we are doing. We do what we are told to do.” – Jerusalem correspondent Millions throughout […]
In Saron, an ANC-ruled town, the mayor and his deputy are fighting for their political lives Marianne Merten Most mornings a handful of protestors converge on the modest white municipal building next to the post office in Saron, a quiet hamlet at the foot of the Swartruggens Mountains in the Western Cape. They are there […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 10.45am. GOVERNMENT on Thursday announced a R1,5-billion lifeline to rescue the Coega port and industrial development zone (IDZ) via Portnet. Business Report reports that Public Enterprises Minister Jeff Radebe described the investment as a “catalyst” to get Coega up and running. The government also announced that P&O Nedlloyd/TCI, an Anglo-Dutch […]
Bryan Ferry, who plays in South Africa this week, is the perfect example of a rock star growing old gracefully Lindsay Baker We don’t really like our rock stars to age. Should they be allowed, at age 54, to wear leather trousers and persist in performing? As a rule, we prefer to think of them […]
Tangeni Amupadhi A member of the Namibian Cabinet accompanied by two police officers this week barred a television news team of the public broadcaster from covering an impromptu press conference of an opposition party. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Information and Broadcasting Gabriel Shihepo hauled two Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) parliamentary journalists out of the […]
Jean Spear It’s 32_C and it feels silly to be putting on snow boots. Sweat drips off bronzed, bikinied bodies, orange juice is consumed in large quantities and sunscreen is passed around the group in preparation for the great ascent. We synchronise watches and in the distance we can see K2. Well, actually, it’s K2 […]
Howard Barrell The African National Congress is showing its first public signs of embarrassment over its submission to the Human Rights Commission’s (HRC) panel on the media which has drawn a mixture of sharp criticism, threats of legal action and ridicule from a variety of newspapers. In a curious statement on Wed-nesday, the ANC reiterated […]
THE government of Botswana has delivered 81 tanker-loads of fuel to Zimbabwe, which is facing a fuel crisis. Six tankers held aviation gas, 41 contained diesel, and petrol was transported in the remaining 34 tankers. That brings the amount of fuel Botswana has delivered to Zimbabwe to more than 4-million litres. The delivery is part […]
Sarah Bullen TAKING STOCK Extensive restaurant menus tend to throw me into a panic. Decisions are not made on the spur of the moment but agonised over, in case someone orders something that looks better than my dish. Placing an order is a painfully long process that most often ends in me asking the waiter […]
Paul Kirk One of KwaZulu-Natal’s senior military intelligence operatives has dodged an order banning him from living on army premises after being accused of running a brothel from his barracks. According to a senior South African National Defence Force (SANDF) officer, Captain Dumisane Thango was banned from army premises in November 1999 after he was […]
Robert Kirby CHANNELVISION What I saw of last week’s television had a truly bizarre feel to it. It seemed the nuts had at last fully taken over the asylum. The Hansie Cronje affair alone produced far more than the permissible ratio of televisual dementia to sense. There was, however, one totally sane thing to emerge […]
A dispute between an academic and a respected university raises questions about management styles Khadija Magardie The bitter wrangle between the University of Natal and its former head of social anthropology, Professor Caroline White, may set a precedent that will erode democracy in the country’s tertiary institutions. An internationally renowned academic and writer, White was […]