Staff Reporter

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 8.45am PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki accused the West on Monday of failing to do enough to tackle Africa’s economic and political problems. “Not enough is being done about that. There needs to be taken a decision really without equivocation,” Mbeki told CNN in his first television interview of the year, and […]

THREE French tourists, including two children, were murdered by gunmen dressed in uniforms on Monday on the road between Andara and Bagani about 40 kilometres west of Rundu in Namibia. SABC radio news said on Tuesday that the gunmen opened fire on a minibus on the same road shortly before the attack on the tourists. […]

FOUR more bodies have been found in the hold of a Liberian-registered cargo ship, the Karonga, which was unloading 8500 tons of cocoa in the port of Ilheus, bringing the total of dead stowaways to 10. The bodies of six other stowaways, believed to be Africans traveling without papers, were found on Friday on the […]

ENGLAND all-rounder Andrew Flintoff could miss the remainder of the tour of South Africa after fracturing his left foot during the second day of the fourth test on Monday. “He has a fracture of the second metacarple of his left foot,” said team physio Dean Conway. “He will definitely not bowl again in this test […]

THE leader of the political opposition in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Etienne Tshisekedi, held talks on Monday with expatriate Congolese groups in South Africa on one of his first trips outside the DRC in years. Tshisekedi, a long-time foe of the late Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko and his successor Laurent Kabila, fielded questions from […]

THE death toll on South African roads since the beginning of December passed the 800 mark on Tuesday, Arrive Alive said in a statement in Pretoria. The traffic safety campaign said 810 lives have been lost in 566 accidents. Figures show that KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest death toll with 122 fatalities. The death toll in […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 4.40pm. SOUTH Africa ended their innings on 421 all out on Tuesday, sending an embattled England in to bat the final over of the day on the third day of the fourth test at Newlands. Daryl Cullinan, who gave the crowds a sterling batting performance, joined Gary Kirsten with […]

SOUTH Africa is back at work and functioning on Tuesday after Y2K fears proved a total dud. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange opened without a hitch — mirroring markets around the world. The market surged in early trade in what dealers say is sheer relief that the much-feared Y2K was a no-show. In its round-up the […]

A 52-year-old single woman who is raising her 18 children was named as Cameroon’s mother of the year for 2000 in a contest organised by Cameroon’s social affairs ministry. Anne Oyoa, who also raises her own crops at Akono 70 kilometers south of the capital Yaounde, was chosen from more than 200 candidates who each […]

POLICE have arrested 170 members of two feuding Transkei clans after armed clashes on Sunday resulted in five deaths and five serious injuries. The feuding families, the Amevelas of Bizana and the Amadelas of Flagstaff, fought with rifles, handguns, home-made revolvers and knives in a dispute over the authority of the chief in Flagstaff, whom […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Windhoek | Tuesday 3.00pm. TWO French children were shot dead and another French national killed when men in combat gear attacked tourist vehicles in Namibia, wounding at least two other people, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday. The Namibian government is blaming Angolan rebel group Unita for the attacks. The parents of the children […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maputo | day 11.00m. MOZAMBIQUE’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that December’s presidential and general elections were in order, dismissing allegations of fraud by the country’s main opposition Renamo party. The court’s judgement was broadcast live on state radio and television after it had investigated a suit by Renamo, which has claimed fraud […]

NIGERIA’s government has set up a panel to probe the foreign exchange dealings of the four military regimes in power from 1983 until May last year. Hundreds of millions of dollars are alleged to have been illegally transferred out of Nigeria under the regimes.

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 6.30pm M-WEB, South Africa’s largest Internet Service Provider in the dial-up market, will take over the dial-up subcriber base of NetActive, which will now concentrate on e-commerce. This is M-Web’s third such deal in a month — the company obtained the subscriber bases of Club Internet and Cyberhost in December. […]

MOZAMBIQUE’S Supreme Court has concluded investigations into allegations of electoral fraud filed last month by the country’s main opposition Renamo party, state radio reported on Monday. “The court has concluded its investigations and the final verdict will be announced Tuesday morning,” said Radio Mozambique. Renamo denounced last month’s presidential and parliamentary elections as fraudulent and […]

TWO tourists died while scaling Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania as part of the new millennium celebrations, Tanzania’s tourism minister, Zakia Meghji, said. The minister identified the two as Werner Hein, 55, a German who died on Friday of heart failure, and US national Jennifer Steven, 54, who died on Sunday after collapsing on Sunday. on […]

A NEW Year’s party at Nongoma in northern KwaZulu-Natal turned into tragedy when a lone gunmen killed four partygoers and wounded two more. The six victims were celebrating at Zungu’s Tuck Shop in the Osutho area of Nongoma when a man arrived at five minutes past midnight and opened fire on them with an AK47 […]

FIVE people died and five suffered injuries on Sunday in clashes with guns and knives between members of rival tribes near Umtata, police said on Monday. Police arrested 170 people and seized rifles, handguns, home-made revolvers and knives after fighting between the feuding families, the Amevelas of Bizana and the Amadelas of Flagstaff.

A FIRE that razed a warehouse in Durban on Saturday shortly after midnight caused damage estimated at R30-million. According to a statement, police suspect a misdirected flare landed on the building, causing the fire to break out at five minutes past midnight. The fire department responded promptly and the flames were doused. However, the paper […]

SIX African stowaways were found dead in the hold of a Liberian cargo ship that docked at the northern Brazil port of Ilheus on Friday. A seventh stowaway was found alive. The vessel had sailed from the Cote d’Ivoire capital Abidjan ten days ago with a cargo of cocoa. Police says the unidentifed men probably […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lome | Monday 12.25pm DEPOSED Cte d’Ivoire president Henri Konan Bedie left early on Monday for Paris from the Togo capital Lome, where he fled into exile last week, on board Togo’s presidential plane, witnesses said. Bedie, who was ousted in a coup on December 24, was accompanied by members of his family […]

AN engineer employed in Somalia by the aid agency CARE International was shot dead in an ambush on Sunday night while driving north of Mogadishu to check on rehabilitation projects. Shueb Mohamed Hussein was ambushed by members of the Abgal clan, who later returned his vehicle, marked with CARE International stickers. Abgal leader Imam Mohamud […]

AT least 160 children lost their parents at two beaches over the New Year’s weekend, police said in a radio report on Sunday. About 150 children, aged between two and 10, were at a shelter in Durban after losing contact with their parents on packed beaches, police told SABC public radio. In East London, police […]

WINNIE Madikizela-Mandela has received a bravery award at a private ceremony in East London on Thursday. Madikizela-Mandela was awarded the Hintsa Bravery Award by Xhosa King Xolilizwe Sigcawu for the role she played in the fight against apartheid. Sigcawu described her as one of the ANC leaders who kept the fire burning inside the country […]

THE foreign ministry on Friday praised outgoing Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who resigned on Friday, for leaving a legacy of democracy. “Yeltsin leaves a legacy of democratic governance which is indicative of the progress that humanity is making,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “President [Thabo] Mbeki has fond memories of his visit to […]

PAGAD national co-ordinator Abdus Salaam Ebrahim, together with his wife Zanie and two other unnamed Pagad members will remain behind bars until Tuesday. Ebrahim was arrested in a dawn raid on his home on Wednesday for, amongst other things, the 1996 lynching of Cape Flats gangster Rashaad Staggie. His wife Zanie was arrested for allegedly […]

THE president of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Yomi Adeyemi Wilson, has rescinded his decision to quit his post. Wilson resigned last week, claiming pressure at his day job at US oil giants ExxonMobil as reason for the decision. “I am back as the president of the AFN,” Wilson said at the end of […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday 12.45pm. SOUTH Africa retain their place in the top 10 African Football Nations, but Morocco are the kings of the African game, ending the year where they began it – on top of the African rankings compiled by FIFA. Morocco were unbeaten against African opposition during 1999 under French […]

SOME 1126 new medical graduates will begin their year’s compulsory community service on Friday, the Health Department said on Wednesday. Department spokesperson Lulu Sebake said 234 interns will be posted to KwaZulu-Natal, 169 for Gauteng, Eastern Cape 145, Northern Province 143, Western Cape 118, Free State 102, Mpumalanga 80, North-West 79 and the Northern Cape […]

THE Land Bank is considering legal action against outgoing Land Bank MD Helena Dolny after she allegedly made defamatory remarks this week. At the same it is expected that Dolny will sue The Star newspaper as well as former Land Bank chair Bonile Jack who brought allegations of racism and corruption against her. Dolny claimed […]

ED STODDARD, Johannesburg | Wednesday 4.30pm. THE JSE has reason to celebrate as it ends the last day of trading on a high note and looks set to extend a recent bull rally into the new year. The bourse’s key All-Share index was up 1,28% at a fresh historic high of 8556.8 points at 1pm, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 3.45pm. HALF of the matriculants nationwide failed their 1999 exams according to final results released on Thursday. The national pass rate dropped to 48,9% from 49,3% in 1998, but Education Minister Kader Asmal said on Thursday that this was cause for “sober reflection” rather than major disappointment. At a media […]