Staff Reporter

ROB DAVIES, Johannesburg | Thursday 12.00pm. SOUTHBOUND lanes on the N1 highway near the Corlett drive offramp in Johannesburg ground to a standstill on Thursday morning as about a hundred taxis blocked lanes in a protest against government’s plans to revamp the industry. According to eyewitness reports, the taxis parked in four rows after which […]

ZIMBABWE’S president Robert Mugabe has won first prize in the first monthly draw organised by Zimbank, which is partly owned by the government. The bank did not reveal how many names were in the draw, but said in a statement that they could “hardly believe their eyes” when Mugabe’s name was the first one drawn […]

DEON POTGIETER, Johannesburg | Thursday 1.30pm. NAMIBIA’S World Boxing Organisation (WBO) junior middleweight world champion Harry Simon finds himself in an enviable position. American television giant HBO and British television channel ShowTime are involved in a tug of war over where Simon’s next defence will take place. Simon is scheduled to meet former world champion […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Thursday 1.50pm. CONGO coach David Memy has an unexpected problem ahead of the African Nations Cup Group of Death clash with title favourites Nigeria at Surulere Stadium in Lagos on Friday. He is battling to raise spirits in the Red Devils camp after they came within six minutes of holding star-studded […]

THE SABC has axed the award-winning consumer series Fair Deal. According to SABC spokeswoman Marge Murray, the series, presented by Isabel Jones, has been axed due to sponsorship problems with Absa bank. The show’s producers, Paul Zwick Productions, said however that the SABC decided that the programme does not fit into the new SABC 3 […]

POLICE investigating license fraud at three Mpumalanga vehicle testing stations were forced to abandon their probes in 1998 after systematic intimidation of witnesses destroyed their court case. Nelspruit fraud investigator Sergeant Jan Ngwenya confirmed on Wednesday that police managed to arrest five senior traffic officials in 1998 during a sting operation at the Elukwatini test […]

A NIGERIAN lawyer is threatening to sue organisers of the on-going African Nations Cup after he was beaten up by security agents and officials at the Nigeria-Tunisia match on Sunday. Austin Mamedu told the television station AIT he had been invited by organisers to the match but was caught up in a stampede when spectators […]

THE government is setting up a national disaster management centre in the wake of the devastating fires that swept through the Cape Peninsula last week. Water Affairs Minister Ronnie Kasrils says the centre will concentrate on strengthening co-ordination and our ability to manage disasters as well as taking steps to reduce community vulnerability to their […]

AT least four people were killed and seven wounded when armed robbers opened fire indiscriminately in Mogadishu’s main market in Somalia. Among those killed during the attack on Bakara market on Wednesday was Ahmed Kafi Mohamed Awale, a broadcaster at a radio station controlled by south Mogadishu warlord Hussein Mohamed Aidid. The raiders fled when […]

STEVEN MANN, Cape Town | Wednesday 6.10pm. A LAW which seeks to outlaw unfair discrimination on the basis of race, gender, marital status, disability and other grounds was passed by the National Assembly on Wednesday, amidst howls of protests from the insurance industry. Insurers say the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Bill […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kumasi | Thursday 10.30pm. SOUTH Africa became the first country to reach the African Nations Cup quarter-finals when Bafana Bafana defeated the Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0 on Thursday in a Group B match. A goal at the end of the first half by Shaun Bartlett raised his tournament tally to three after […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kumasi | Thursday 12.45pm. WITH three points in the kitty, Group B leaders South Africa are not leaving anything to chance in their encounter with unfancied Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday. “We are playing to consolidate our position in the group,” Captain Lucas Radebe said in Kumasi on Thursday. The match kicks […]

A NUMBER of financial institutions in Swaziland have cut their rates following a drop in the prime rate from 15% to 14%. The prime rate cut was announced by the Central Bank of Swaziland in a statement on Monday, and on Tuesday economists in Mbanane said a further cut in Swaziland is possible later in […]

DEON POTGIETER, Johannesburg | Wednesday 2.30pm. World Boxing Organisation featherweight kingpin Naseem Hamed and International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight world champion; Paul Ingle are both seeking replacement challengers for their respective titles on March 11 in London. Vuyani Bungu, the current number one IBF contender has been mentioned as a possible for the Ingle fight. […]

TWO Swazi men who slipped across the South African border to visit a herbalist got more than they bargained for: the muti they were given killed them off in a few minutes. Nazareth Shabangu, 42, and Mfanasibili Maduna, 21, believed they were suffering from an excess of bile that was making them ill. They illegally […]

MORE than 40000 illegal squatters in Zululand’s Dukuduku forest have created a malaria death trap by chopping down the lush trees and undergrowth of their new home. It’s getting so bad the medical authorities are thinking of calling in the army because nearby Hlabisa Hospital is overflowing with malaria cases – and the peak season […]

SENEGAL has jurisdiction to try Chad’s former president Hissene Habre, who has been accused of crimes against humanity. Local and international human rights groups on Tuesday filed a complaint with a Dakar court on Tuesday against Habre, whom they described as the “Pinochet of Africa.” Under international conventions ratified by Senegal, “when a complaint is […]

ORGANISERS of ticket sales for African Nations Cup matches in northern Nigeria downed tools in Kano on Tuesday in protest at ongoing distribution problems. Just hours ahead of Tuesday’s match between Burkina Faso and Senegal, the Kano section of the event’s Nigerian organising committee told reporters they are pulling out in exasperation at the national […]

THe escape of 25 dangerous prisoners from police holding cells in northern KwaZulu Natal on Tuesday has prompted an urgent review of police holding facilities in the region. Provincial police commissioner Chris Serfontein has ordered all police stations with high escape rates to immediately compile reports explaining the phenomena. The first 17 prisoners escaped from […]

THE Northern Province will need at least an extra R7m to fix roads and bridges damaged by recent storms, but there is no indication that the cash-strapped province has the money for this. On Monday premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi toured some of the affected areas by helicopter with public works MEC Collins Chabane, and said repairing […]

THE Northern Province government presented three game reserves to potential investors on Tuesday in a bid to secure R70 million in investment. Provincial MEC for finance, trade, industry and tourism, Thaba Mufamadi, urged investors at a special conference to take ownership of tourist facilities at the Manyaleti, Letaba and Andover game reserves on the border […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Wednesday 11.15am. THE expected mismatch of the African Nations Cup almost made a mockery of football hierarchy on the contintent as mighty Morocco snatched a 1-0 Group D victory over no-hopers Congo on Tuesday. It took the 1998 World Cup finalists 84 minutes to break through and the goal came from […]

ZAMBIA has sold off 234 state-owned companies out of the 280 earmarked for privatisation in just under eight years, President Frederick Chiluba announced on Friday. The number represent almost 84% of the total number of parastatals that were intended to be sold off to private enterprises when the Chiluba admininstration embarked on a massive privatisation […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kano | Tuesday 8.30pm. A LATE goal from Salif Keita sealed a 3-1 victory for Senegal over Burkina Faso on Tuesday and took them to the top of Group C in the African Nations Cup. The 85th-minute strike had an element of luck as a shot from outside the penalty area by the […]

A STUDY released by the Commission on Gender Equality on Tuesday shows that women still earn less than men, continue to occupy female-stereotypical jobs and are not being trained to take up top management positions. This is despite laws aimed at ensuring equality in the workplace and in spite of the fact that more than […]

NIGERIAN striker Kanu said he will sign a new four-year contract with English Premiership side Arsenal. Kanu has agreed the deal, thought to be around $46000 a week, and will sign up when he returns from African Nations Cup duty in his home country. The 23-year-old striker said: “It’s finalised and I know everything will […]

VOLKSWAGAEN South Africa announced on Monday evening that it has closed its Uitenhage plant in the Eastern Cape indefinitely following a three-day strike by workers. Spokesman Matt Gennrich said it is impossible for the company to continue production without its workforce, especially when there are concerns of intimidation by a few employees. Workers embarked on […]

STATE-run French radio in Paris reported on Tuesday that this month’s decision to cancel part of the Dakar-Cairo auto rally may have been due to Western intelligence agencies mistaking a wealthy Kuwaiti general hunting in the Niger desert for a terrorist threat to the race. Radio France Internationale said the security alert was prompted when […]

VIRGIN Atlantic Airways has been forced to suspend its heavily booked second weekly flight between Cape Town and London because of an appeal by British Airways (BA) to the British civil aviation authorities, according to the Business Report. Until the matter is resolved, the British civil aviation authorities have forbidden Virgin to introduce its second […]

LIBYAN leader Colonel Moammar Gadaffi’s son, Al-Saad, is leading Libya’s national soccer team in a series of friendly matches against the Ugandan national team. The Libyans will play their first friendly match against the Ugandan Cranes at Kampala’s Mandela National Stadium on Wednesday to mark the 14th anniversary of President Yoweri Museveni’s ruling National Resistance […]

THE United States will provide $300 million to owners of buildings destroyed by the bomb blast in Kenya’s capital Nairobi on August 7, 1998. The US says the grant will fund work on 60 buildings damaged by the bomb. The funds will be channelled through the US Agency for International Development. In January last year, […]

HUMAN rights activist Fatima Meer has been admitted to hospital in Durban after suffering a stroke. SABC radio news quoted physician Dr Eustace Brauns as saying Meer’s condition is satisfactory.