Staff Reporter

A SPONSORSHIP deal worth R500000 from Harmony Gold Mining could see gold bars handed out on Comrades Marathon race day on June 16. Apart from producing the regular 20 gold medals for the first 10 men and women across the line, the company will also donate two gold bars of 20 ounces with an estimated […]

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 […]

THE cash-strapped National Symphony Orchestra has closed down after it was unable to find the R10-million it needs to continue. NSO leader Caius Oprea said on Sunday they have been informed that the institution has run out of money. “We were told that we may even not be paid for this month, meaning that we […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Brussels | Tuesday 3.15pm. FIFA president Sepp Blatter vowed on Tuesday that there will never again be two host nations for the World Cup under his presidency as is the case for Japan and South Korea in 2002. Visiting Brussels to attend the FIFA World Player of the Year awards, Blatter said: “FIFA’s […]

EQYPTAIR CRASH EXPERTS probing the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990, which went down off the US Atlantic coast on October 31, have reached no conclusion about the cause of the tragedy. “No hypothesis for the cause of this accident has been accepted,” Jim Hall, Chairman of the National Transportation Safe Board said in a statement, […]

POET and journalist Antije Krog and stage director John Kani, were awarded the Hiroshima Prize in Stockholm on Sunday for their contributions to peace. The million kronor (about R700000) prize, to be shared by the two, was handed over at a ceremony at Stockholm’s Soeder theatre. Krog published a compilation of articles on the work […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Accra | Tuesday 8.30am. GOALKEEPER Alain Gouamene created history and saved former African Nations Cup winners Cote d’Ivoire from a humiliating defeat on Monday on the third day of the 2000 finals. Gouamene, penalty shootout hero of the 1992 cup-winning team, became the first footballer to play in seven editions of the biennial […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kumasi, Ghana | Tuesday 8.30am. AN African Nations Cup goal flow which brought 16 in five matches dried up on Monday when Algeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo drew 0-0 in a Group B clash dominated by the North Africans. The result put 1996 champions South Africa clear at the top of […]

AT least 12 people were killed in an attack by armed Islamic militants in the region of Ain Defla, west of Algiers. Several newspapers reported 13 people were killed in Monday’s attack. Three other people were wounded, two seriously, and five young girls were kidnapped. The dead, including five women, were employed at a center […]

SUSTAINED automatic weapons fire broke out near the home of Central African Republic President Ange-Felix Patasse overnight, when uniformed youth militiamen marched on the residence, witnesses said on Monday. Panic spread among residents of Bangui when twice on Sunday evening live or tracer bullets were fired and volleys of teargas grenades unleashed. The shaven-headed youths […]

THREE Cape Flats policemen were arrested over the weekend and have been charged with armed robbery. Police said Captain Daniel Stander, 34, and Sergeant Steven October, 31, were charged with armed robbery on Monday. A third policeman, Inspector Horatio Lawrence, 35, gave himself up on Sunday. They allegedly robbed self-employed members of the public in […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 7.30pm. SOUTH Africa’s cricketers, fresh from a humiliating nine-wicket defeat on Sunday, will again meet Nasser Hussain’s England in a Triangular Series one-dayer at Newlands on Wednesday. The locals have Jonty Rhodes back in the side, and his presence is likely to give the South Africans’ morale a sorely […]

THE cash-strapped National Symphony Orchestra has closed down after it was unable to find the R10-million it needs to continue. NSO leader Caius Oprea said on Sunday they have been informed that the institution has run out of money. “We were told that we may even not be paid for this month, meaning that we […]

VETERAN Western Province coach and administrator Norman Mbiko has been appointed coach of the South African National Sevens team. Mbiko, who was named as coach on Thursday, will be in charge of the team until the conclusion of the current IRB World Sevens Series, ending in France in May. Mbiko takes over from Deon Oosthuizen […]

THE Mauritian government has launched a bid to attract investments from multinationals into the country. The package of incentives include a 10-year tax holiday for investors after which the investor would only pay 15 percent annual tax on his outlay. Dividends, acquisition of equipment and vehicles are among the items which will be exempted from […]

WORLD heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis is looking to South African boxers Corrie Sanders and Francois Botha to defend his title against — should he beat American Michael Grant in New York in APril. Lewis’ business manger Panos Eliades said he might also fight New Zealander David Tau.

THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange said on Friday that its pre-open session, when orders can be entered before trade opens, will start 15 minutes earlier from January 31 following a rise in trading volumes. The bourse said in a statement that the pre-open session will now start at 8.25am. A bourse spokesman said the pressure for […]

SARAH BULLEN, Cape Town | Monday 5.00pm THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange pulled back in the afternoon after heading back down towards the 9000 mark in earlier trade. Dealers said the early fall, somewhat of a pattern of late, was largely a result of futures trade. The fall pulled bargain hunters into the market in the […]

BOBBY Skinstad, the flashy Springbok loose forward who promised so much but delivered so litte at last year’s World Cup, has been ruled out of rugby for at least eight weeks. This will cause the current Bok number eight to miss the start of the Super 12 season, leaving the Stormers without their designated captain. […]

ISSA Hayatou of Cameroon comfortably won re-election as president of the African Football Confederation (CAF) in Accra on Thursday. Hayatou defeated Angolan Armando Machado 47-4 at the 24th CAF congress to win a fourth four-year term. It was the first time he was opposed for the position. The 53-year-old former Cameroon athlete said that he […]

AMERICAN maxi Zephyrus IV smashed the record for the Cape to Rio transatlantic race by almost two days when it crossed the finish line at Rio de Janeiro on Friday, the organisers said. The 75-foot Californian yacht crossed the finish line off Copacabana Beach at 3:49am. She improved the 1996 record of 14 days 15 […]

ANDY CAPOSTAGNO, Johannesburg | Sunday 6.30pm. SWEDEN’S Mathias Gronberg overcame a three hour lightning delay to win his third European Tour event by birdying the final hole of the South African Open at Randpark. In a breathless finish Gronberg’s score of 274, 14 under par pushed him a shot ahead of Nick Price and Ricardo […]

ZAMBIAN coach Ben Benfuchile Monday blamed a ‘jinx’ referee for his team’s 2-0 defeat by holders Egypt in the opening round of the African Nations Cup in Lagos. “We did not lose to a superior side. We lost the match to the referee who is proving to be a jinx each time he officiates one […]

HOLDERS Egypt will retain the African nations cup they won two years ago in Burkina Faso, Egypt’s coach Gerard Gili said on Monday. “My boys played very well in the first half and early in the second, but lost concentration after the second goal thus allowing Zambia to come close to scoring,” Gili said after […]

AJ VENTER is likely to battle out his season in court before he can do so on the rugby pitch. Golden Lions CEO Johan Prinsloo said on Thursday that the dispute involving Venter’s choice of province this season will probably end in court. Venter wants to move from the Golden Lions to the Natal Sharks, […]

CANOEIST Shaun Manion, 22, remains in a critical condition at the Mediclinic Hospital in Pietermaritzburg after almost drowning on the first day of the Dusi Canoe Marathon. Manion, from Durban, was underwater for almost seven minutes before fellow canoeists finally reached him. He was not breathing and his heart was not beating. According to hospital […]

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, Kumasi, Gabon | Monday 10.00am. South Africa 3 (Bartlett 54, 77, Ngobe 42) Gabon 1 (Nzigou 20) THE African Nations Cup is a marathon, not a sprint, and Bafana Bafana did enough in central Ghana on Sunday night to suggest they can make a serious challenge for a trophy held by Egypt. Teams […]

AROUND 100 people have been killed including 30 soldiers and 20 civilians since the Algerian government unleashed a drive to wipe out Islamic rebels who refuse to lay down their arms. Government forces are fighting two hardline Armed Islamic Group units at Remka in the Relizane region, about 350km west of the capital Algiers. Between […]

HIJACKERS shot a man in the head and pistol-whipped his female companion before throwing the couple down a slope on Tafelberg Road in Cape Town, a few metres from the Table Mountain cableway station in the early hours of Sunday. Police said the couple Maria Beukes, 37, and her companion known only as Johnny had […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 9.15am. TWENTY-SIX people were killed and 52 injured when a another bus left the road and overturned between Queenstown and Cofimvaba in the Eastern Cape on Sunday night. The accident happened around 6pm, about 25km from Queenstown, after a white VW Golf apparently tried to overtake the bus in wet […]