Staff Reporter

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, […]

THE welfare department spent only 0,7% of its 1998 budget on poverty relief, according to a report by the auditor general quoted in the Sunday Independent. Auditor General Shauket Fakie found that the national department spent about R1,4-million of the R204-million it was allocated for poverty relief in 1998/99. The report also found that a […]

FOUR New York City police officers accused of murdering an unarmed Guinean immigrant in a hail of gunfire last February were acquitted of all charges on Friday. Officers Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss and Richard Murphy were cleared of second-degree murder and other charges in the slaying of Amadou Diallo, a street vendor from […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Bombay | Monday 2.00pm INDIA’S new cricket captain Sourav Ganguly admitted on Monday he had no immediate cure for the nation’s dwindling fortunes, and urged fans to have patience. “I don’t have a magic wand,” the stylish left-hander told reporters. “A captain is, after all, as good as the team under him. “The […]

ZIMBABWE President Robert Mugabe said his office will run the transport and energy ministry after its minister resigned over an acute three-month-old fuel crisis, state media reported on Sunday. Transport and Energy Minister Enos Chikowore quit on Friday and the state media blamed his ministry for failing to ensure adequate fuel supplies. “I have accepted […]

MALAWIAN President Bakili Muluzi has dissolved his cabinet amid allegations of corruption levelled at some of his ministers, government officials said on Monday. In a statement issued from the presidential palace in the commercial city of Blantyre on Sunday, Muluzi gave no formal reason for his action. The current cabinet stands dissolved with immediate effect, […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Pretoria | Monday 9.00am. IF there has been a legitimate criticism of star-studded Sundowns in the past it centred around the ability of Roger Feutmba and his not-so-limited company to claw out of deep holes. The often sublime skills were never in question, just the mental and physical strength when confronted with opponents […]

JUDGMENT in the trial of Lawrie Fraser has been postponed to March 23 in the Johannesburg Regional Magistrate’s Court. Fraser is charged with conspiring to kidnap his biological son, Timothy Funnell. The baby was kidnapped in Malawi on February 15, 1997, from his adoptive parents, Dr Barry Funnell and his wife Julie. Timothy, then a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Yangon | Monday 9.00am. SOUTH African James Kingston romped to a 10-shot victory in the $200000 Myanmar Open in Yangon on Sunday, firing a five-under-par 67 to clinch the crown in style. Kingston completed a wire-to-wire victory in convincing fashion to remain well clear of his nearest challenger, compatriot Craig Kamps. Myanmar’s Kyi […]

Former president Nelson Mandela arrived in Dubai on Sunday for a visit that will include a conference on Emirati economic development.

CASH-IN-TRANSIT robbers have escaped with 12 boxes of cash after killing a security guard and injuring two others. The armed gang of approximately 12 thieves attacked an armoured vehicle near Springs on the East Rand on Monday afternoon. Police spokesman Andy Pieke said the criminals, who were driving two stolen BMW’s and two bakkies, ambushed […]

TWO fires raging in southern Ethiopia for 17 days have destroyed up to 30000 hectares of forest, as well as killing animals and burning homes. The blazes are still far from under control, according to Ethiopia’s deputy agriculture minister, Belay Ijigu, who has appealed for international aid to fight the fire. He said that the […]

FIRST ROUND: At Makhulong Stadium: Classic 0 Manning Rangers 1 (Japhet Zwane 88); At Odi Stadium: Mabopane Young Masters 2 (Percy Malesa 16, Abednigo Netshodile 69) Park United 1 (Tevor Kona 90); At Galeshewe Stadium: William Pescod 0 Hellenic 3 (Ugo Robard 75, 82, Fani Madida 30); At Investec Stadium: Wits University 2 (Joshua Makgala […]

LESOTHO’s King Letsie III and his new bride flew on Saturday to Rome to start their honeymoon a week after they were married in a lavish three-day ceremony at different locations in the tiny kingdom. The young couple will spend a few days in Italy, where Pope John Paul II will bless their marriage, before […]

LEAD vocalist of popular Kwaito group Abashante, Queen “Iyaya” Sesoka, is apparently safe. On Friday night she told a Johannesburg radio station she was not kidnapped, as reported by a newspaper earlier in the day. The Sowetan newspaper earlier reported that a man claiming to be speaking from England telephoned on Thursday night to say […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Casablanca | Saturday 6.50pm. A SIX-man, fact-finding delegation from world football controlling body Fifa is in Morocco to assess the chances of the North African state hosting the 2006 World Cup. Alan Rothenberg of the United States leads a team comprising Richard Read of Australia, Youssef al-Serkal of the United Arab Emirates, Walter […]

DAVID SHAPSHAK, Pretoria | Saturday 7.00pm. THE Cats withstood a late onslaught beat the Northern Bulls 23-19 in their first Super 12 match at Loftus in Pretoria on Saturday, after leading 13-9 at the break. But apart from the frantic last quarter, it was game of good commitment that was undone with the same old […]

CAMEROON’S under-23 team revenged themselves on Amaglug-glug in a Group Two 2000 Olympic qualifier on Saturday. Amaglug-glug have been knocked down to second on the group log after the loss at at the Omnisport Stadium in Yaounde, Cameroon, on Saturday afternoon. Cameroon’s Patrick Suffo and Ze Meyong, fresh from the seniors national tema’s won in […]

NEW Zambia coach George Mungwa has wielded the axe as he prepares for a Castle Cup Southern Africa championship clash with Botswana next month. The successor to Ben Bamfuchile included only seven of the 22-man squad that was eliminated after the first round of the African Nations Cup in Nigeria this month. Defenders Laughter Chilembi, […]

FORMER African Footballer of the Year Rashidi Yekini from Nigeria has rejoined African Cup Winners Cup holders Africa Sports of Cote d’Ivoire. A club official said on Sunday Yekini signed a three-year contract with the Abidjan club where he spent three seasons before leaving in 1989 for Europe and the Middle East. Yekini was voted […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Luanda | Sunday 3.40pm. UNITA rebels have overrun the southern Angolan town of Chiede, according to radio reports. The reports said Chiede, which lies less than 60km from the border with Namibia, fell on Thursday, allowing Unita to disrupt regional traffic between Angola and its southern neighbor. Radio Ecclesia said army reinforcements have […]

FORMER Springbok captian Gary Teichmann is the new skipper for his Welsh side Newport, after Shane Howarth stepped down. The 31-year-old New Zealand-born fullback who turns out for Wales has only been captian for 13 matches, but said it took “a big weight off my shoulders”. Teichmann was South Africa’s most successful leader, taking them […]

DAVID SHAPSHAK, Cape Town | Saturday 9.00pm. FLYHALF Braam van Straaten kicked superbly to edge the Stormers 22-15 ahead of the New South Wales Waratahs in their Super 12 opener in Cape Town under lights on Saturday. The Stormers, who lead 13-6 at half time at Newlands Stadium, outscored the visitors by one try to […]

MALAWI’s President Bakili Muluzi on Sunday dissolved his 32-member cabinet pending a reshuffle, a senior government official said. The secretary to the office of the president and cabinet, Alfred Upindi, said the new cabinet will be appointed “soon”. In the meantime, he said, all ministerial duties will be handled by his office.

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Saturday 11.30am SOUTH Africa’s mines still hold big and profitable deposits, but the embattled industry needs to open up to black and small businessmen, a summit on the future of mining heard on Friday. Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka told delegates: “The 21st century African is not going to allow […]

HEAVILY armed ex-rebel forces in Sierra Leone forced a contingent of United Nations peacekeeping troops to back off from deployment into an eastern region, the UN mission UNAMSIL said on Friday. The troops involved in Thursday’s standoff were heading from Kenema and Daru, 240 and 270 kilometres east of Freetown, for Koidu in the diamond […]

A FOUNDING member of the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy, Roger Lumbala, resigned on Friday from its leadership, saying the movement is guilty of human rights violations and corrupt. He accused officials in the Rwandan-backed wing of the RCD, the main rebel force which has been fighting President Laurent Kabila’s government in the Democratic Republic […]

HOWARD BARRELL, Johannesburg | Friday 12.00am. HUMAN Rights Commission chair Barney Pityana co-authored a newspaper article three years ago in which he effectively prejudged the central issue into which he has now called a commission of inquiry — whether there is racism in the South African media. The terms of reference of the HRC’s controversial […]

SOUTH Africa’s James Kingston took the first round lead on thursday in the $200000 Myanmar Open after carding a course record eight-under-par 64 at the Yangon Golf Club. Kingston, a two-time winner on the Asian PGA Tour, fired a faultless round which included eight birdies to open up a three-stroke lead over India’s Jyoti Randhawa […]

GOLD production rose by 1,6% to 114,5 tons in the final quarter of last year from the third quarter, the Chamber of Mines said on Thursday. Fourth-quarter 1999 output was 3,8% lower than the 119 tons produced in the same period of 1998 said the Chamber, which represents major mining houses. Production in the quarter […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Saturday 11.00am THE death toll from floods in Zimbabwe in the wake of Cyclone Eline has risen to at least 29, with an unknown number feared killed when a bus was swept off a bridge. At the same time at least 21 people have been killed in the Northern Province since […]

THE Constitutional Court on Friday upheld a decision by the Transvaal High Court to set aside a medicines Act promulgated last year, but which did not provide for the proper control of dangerous drugs. The South African Medicines and Medical Devices Regulatory Authority Act 1998 came into force on April 30 last year, before being […]