Staff Reporter

THE African Football Confederation has chosen match officials from Senegal to handle the Super Cup showdown between Raja Casablanca of Morocco and Africa Sports of Cote d’Ivoire Sunday. Referee Ndoye Falla and assistants Mamadou Ndoye and Amadou Diop will be in charge of the match between Champions League winners Raja and Cup Winners Cup holders […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday 11.30am. ZIMBABWE needs at least $7.9-million (Z$300-million) to repair damaged roads, bridges and other infrastructure damaged, says Local Government and National Housing Minister John Nkomo. Thousands of Zimbabweans faced starvation because food distribution has been rendered virtually impossible in some areas. Opposition parties and official sources in Zimbabwe’s civil protection […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 9.00am. AMAGLUG-Glug coach Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba is “in a state of shock” after being forced to name a depleted 21-man squad for the March 12 Olympic Qualifier after last week’s shock SA Football Association order that nay player who has turned out for Bafana Bafana is not eligible for the […]

PETER CUNLIFFE-JONES, Lagos | Wednesday 10.30am. TROOPS have been sent to a southern Nigerian town following the death of hundreds of people in unrest between Christians and Muslims and President Olusegun Obasanjo was expected to make an appeal for peace on Wednesday. Obasanjo was expected to make a broadcast to Africa’s most populous nation — […]

AUSTRALIAN World Cup prop Rod Moore and utility back Christian Warner have been included in the New South Wales team to play the Northern Bulls in Saturday’s Super 12 match in Pretoria. Moore replaces Cameron Blades at tight-head while Warner was promoted to the starting team ahead of inside centre Marc Scherbina. Lock John Welborn […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday 2.00pm. ORLANDO Pirates will receive a welcome boost in their match against AmaZulu on Wednesday night with the return of Bafana Bafana midfielder Steve “Chippa” Lekoelea. Lekoelea has been out of action after being injured in the Amaglug-glug’s first-leg Olympic qualifying match against Cameroon at Vosloorus two weeks ago. […]

THE country’s trade surplus fell to R1,76-billion ($279-million) in January from R3,56-billion ($565-million) in December, according to Customs and Excise figures released on Tuesday. Imports fell to R11,8-billion in January from R12,1-billion in December. Exports fell to R13,56-billion from R15,66-billion. Economists said that even though the surplus has narrowed compared to December, it is a […]

TWENTY animal herders were massacred overnight at Brezina, about 400 kilometres southwest of Algiers. The authorities did not identify those held responsible for the attack, but said: “A major search operation has been launched for those behind this criminal act.” The attack bore the hallmarks of Muslim fundamentalist violence engulfing the north African country, but […]

THE tariffs on national toll roads will increase by an average of 6,47%, effective from March 1, the SA National Roads Agency announced on Monday. SANRA chief executive officer Nazir Alli said about R9-billion will be spent over the next few years to build new roads and upgrade existing roads. The agency manages approximately 7000km […]

FLOODING has destroyed part of Namibia’s irrigated maize crop in the south, but the country does not expect increased imports, an agricultural official said on Friday. Rains of up to 160 millimetres in the Hardap Dam’s catchment area filled the dam to 115% of capacity, leading to the sluice gates being opened and the flooding […]

BANGLADESH is likely to be granted test status making it the 10th test match playing nation, says Ali Bacher, the head of the development committee of the game’s top international body said. “It is now a mere formality,” Bacher, chief of the International Cricket Council’s development committee, told reporters at the weekend. “The development committee […]

JOHANNESBURG police have arrested an undisclosed number of heist suspects after Monday’s cash-in-transit heist near Springs in which a security guard was killed and two others were seriosuly injured. Police spokesman captain Andy Pieke said investigations were quite sensitive, but he revealed that cash trunks, several stolen vehicles and a number of guns were recovered. […]

THE South African National Editors’ Forum appears to have won a victory in its struggle with the Human Rights Commission over media racism. Sanef, together with the editors of several other publications, met with HRC chairman Barney Pityana on Tuesday morning. Subpoenas forcing the editors to appear at HRC hearings on media racism were withdrawn […]

COCA Cola will invest a billion dollars in Africa over the next three years, a top company official announced in Cairo at a conference of the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa. Coca Cola International Vice President Donald Short said the company’s development policy in Africa has recently seen sales rise 30% on the […]

RWANDAN Prime Minister Pierre-Celestin Rwigema resigned from his post on Monday amid mounting accusations of financial impropriety. “Rwigema has offered his resignation in a letter addressed to President Pasteur Bizimungu,” a senior aide to Bizimungu said. Rwigema, a Hutu, became Prime Minister in October 1995 and replaced Faustin Twagiramungu — another Hutu now in exile […]

ALAN FINLAY, Johannesburg | Tuesday 12.00pm CELLPHONE giants Vodacom and MTN have welcomed the awarding of the preferred bid for the third cellular licence to Cell C; while Vodacom insists the consortium’s success in the industry is vital for future investment in the country. The South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority on Tuesday announced Cell C […]

THE United States has denied it is moving to ease its policy toward Libya, and says a Washington Post report to that effect is incorrect. State Department spokesman James Rubin said restrictions on US citizens traveling to Libya remain in place and that permission being granted for the Libyan UN ambassador to visit Washington earlier […]

THE Reserve Bank is expected to hold interest rates steady at this week’s monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting on Wednesday, analysts said on Tuesday. But they added the beneficial impact of the country’s investment upgrade from Standard & Poor’s last week might give it some scope to ease rates further in the near term. The […]

AUSTRIAN Airlines will next month suspend its bi-weekly flights to Cape Town. Swiss Air stopped flights to Cape Town in October and Air France suspended its flights to the city in March last year. Cape Town International Airport manager Amien Nieftagodien said the Austrian Airlines announcement is disappointing. However, Virgin Airlines had recently scheduled flights […]

ELLIS MNYANDU, Cape Town | Monday 10.00am SOUTH Africa’s newly introduced inflation target of three to 6% will not hurt economic growth over the next three years, says director-general of finance, Maria Ramos. She said if South Africa had chosen a tighter band, it would have had to raise interest rates in the near-term in […]

IN the latest in a series of family killings, a 38-year-old man has shot dead his ex-wife and her future parents-in-law in North West province. This is the fourth such killing in just over a week. Police are still searching for the man, who was already facing murder charges but was free on bail when […]

TRANSPORT Minister Dullah Omar signed an air services agreement with Yemen on Sunday, celebrating the inauguration of flights between Johannesburg and San’a, Yemen, which started in December. “The Government of South Africa has adopted a clear policy to strengthen the bonds between South African and the rest of the Indian Ocean Rim countries,” Omar said […]

FABRICE ‘Akwa’ Maieco scored a hat-trick as Angola upset the Olympic football ambitions of Zimbabwe with a 4-2 win in Luanda at the weekend. Nigeria snatched a dramatic 1-0 victory over Uganda in Lagos in another Group A match and the stage is set for a thrilling finish next month with Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Angola […]

THERE was no pre-fight medical done before World Boxing Association number one contender Henry Akinwande’s mismatched fight in Cape Town last Tuesday. While the medical is required by law, the Western Cape Boxing Commission claimed they only found out a day before. The bout which ended in the first round was in itself a disgraceful […]

ANGLO American Platinum (Amplats) said on Monday that it will hold talks later in the day with the National Union of Mineworkers to end a strike by NUM members at the Rustenburg precious metals refinery. Around 50 NUM members have picketed the refinery as part of their demands for a 12% pay rise and a […]

THE Nigerian government has decided to award its four GSM mobile phone operating licences by auction, after the collapse of a bidding process. The auction will be conducted by the Nigerian Communications Commission and supervised by an “internationally recognised competent body” to be appointed by the government. The government sacked NCC boss Emmanuel Nnama last […]

HIGH levels of human faeces have been found in the drinking water in Mpumalanga’s Lowveld, as a result of the heavy flooding in the province and neighbouring Mozambique, warned provincial deputy director of health promotion, Heila Jooste, on Monday. She said laboratory tests indicated that at least 17 of 20 communities were heavily contaminated with […]

FINANCE Minister Trevor Manuel has reduced interest rates on outstanding tax, excise duties and VAT, with effect from March 1. The South African Revenue Service said in a statement on Tuesday that interest charged on tax not paid by the prescribed date of payment will fall from 14,5% to 13% a year. The interest rate […]

SUSPECTED Wemmer Pan serial killer Cedric Maupa Maake was found guilty of five counts of murder, five counts of rape, four of armed robbery, two of attempted murder and two of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday. Judge Geraldine Borchers is still to deliver judgment on a […]

JUDGMENT continues in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday for alleged serial killer, Cedric Maake, who faces 133 charges, including 35 of murder, 28 of attempted murder and 16 of rape. He has pleaded not guilty. The crimes were allegedly committed between April 1996 and December 1997. Maake, from La Rochelle near Wemmer Pan, allegedly […]

ANGOLA is to receive 937500 zinc roofing sheets from Japan under an agreement signed in Luanda over the weekend. Angolan deputy minister in the ministry of assistance and social reinsertion Junior Joao said the zinc plates are intended for phased construction of 24000 houses for refugees. In the first phase, which started in January 1999, […]

NAMIBIA’s Ongopolo Mining has agreed to acquire troubled copper miner Tsumeb Corporation which fell into liquidation nearly two years ago, Tsumeb’s creditors said on Tuesday. “This compromise, which was accepted by 99,9 of the creditors, will be submitted to court and the sanction date will be [March 10],” liquidator Des Mathews said. Mathews said all […]