Staff Reporter

SUNDOWNS and Kaizer Chiefs will start their campaigns in Africa’s club tournaments with home games. Sundowns meet either Fortior of Madagascar or Lesotho Defence Force in the Champions Cup. Chiefs face Mbabane Highlanders of Swaziland in the CAF Cup. A third South African side, SuperSport United will be away to Costa de Sol of Mozambique […]

THE government plans to appoint a black chief of police within months, reports Business Day, naming the front runners as former national intelligence co-ordinator Moe Shaikh and controversial ex-Truth Commission investigator Dumisa Ntsebeza. Both of the current police chiefs, Commissioner George Fivaz and CEO Meyer Khan, have contracts that end in July, and neither is […]

ZIMBABWE’s government on Thursday awarded its civil servants pay rises of up to 90% pay in a bid to avert a strike. Acting Public Service and Labour minister, John Nkomo made the announcement after emergency talks with leaders of the 155000 government workers who threatened to strike if demands for a 150% pay hike were […]

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 […]

IN what is believed to be the first case of its kind in South Africa, a jet-skier was arrested on Thursday and charged in court for harassing a school of dolphins in Port Elizabeth. The 38-year-old woman was charged under the Marine Living Resource Act which does not allow people to disturb or harass dolphins […]

AN 11-year-old boy pointed a gun at an armed security guard on Tuesday — and was promptly shot dead. An Eskom guard at a village in the Northern Province found himself confronted by a realistic-looking gun, and fired back, instantly killing young Elias Matlamela. Police, investigating a murder charge against the unnmaded security guard, have […]

THREE men were shot during gang related violence in Belhar, Cape Town, SABC radio news reported on Thursday. The men, from the Twenty Eights gang, were attacked by members of another gang, the Sexy Boys. They were shot in the head and taken to Tygerberg Hospital. In another incident, a petrol bomb was thrown at […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Thursday 2.00pm. ZIMBABWE’s government called an emergency meeting with civil servants on Thursday after they threatened to strike if demands for a 150% pay hike are not met. Sources in the various unions among the 155000 civil servants said the government — which last month awarded cabinet ministers and parliamentarians up […]

FEMALE mountaineer Deshun Deysel (28) is to become the first black South African woman to lead an expedition to the peak of an African mountain, organisers said on Tuesday. Three Peaks 2000 said in a statement on Tuesday that the six-member team is expected to reach the summit of Mount Kenya early on Friday morning […]

FOREIGN investment in Mozambique in 1998 totalled $770-million, with most of the money going to the industrial, agro-industrial and tourism sectors, state radio said on Wednesday. The Investment Promotion Centre received 300 project applications, of which 190 have been implemented. South Africa and Portugal lead foreign investment in Mozambique, Radio Mozambique said. HIGH AND DRY […]

THURSDAY, the last day of 1998, is the cut-off date for land restitution claims. The Commission on Restitution of Land Claims reports a sudden flurry of claims, and says the office is fielding over a thousand phone calls a day. About 40 000 claims are expected, which will take five years to process.

THE Land Affairs Ministry this week strongly denied claims by former MD Helena Dolny that the department is conducting an “ethnic cleansing” against the “white left” in its ranks. Dolny, who last week resigned from the Land Bank following an investigation of alleged mismanagement at the bank, made the allegations in an interview with e.tv […]

AT LEAST 289 families have been left homeless after a fire swept through the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa outside Cape Town on Tuesday evening. Forty fire-fighters battled for several hours to extinguish the blaze. Many of the stranded families were queuing at a nearby school on Wednesday to collect relief funds and other […]

THE death toll on South African roads reached 735 by Thursday morning, 56 short of last year’s December tally of 791. On Wednesday Transport Minister Dullah Omar said that traffic law enforcement will be stepped up in all provinces with immediate effect in an attempt to curb the mounting toll. After meeting transport MEC’s in […]

THE Congolese army has sent in armoured vehicles to “crush all resistance” by anti-government militia forces near the capital Brazzaville, a military source said on Wednesday amid heavy fighting. Armoured units backing President Denis Sassou Nguesso rolled into the Pool region adjoining Brazzaville on Monday and Tuesday as part of a mounting offensive against Ninja […]

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER Tony Blair will visit South Africa in the New Year, mainly to meet incoming president Thabo Mbeki, and to discuss such issues as the DR-Congo war and South Africa’s failure to reach a trade agreement with the EU. Blair’s visit comes a week before the first South African-British bilateral trade talks to […]

THE Zimbabwean government has postponed general elections until at least June next year from the initial date slated for March, a cabinet minister said on Wednesday. Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, told state radio that the general elections will not be held before June next year. “Our desire would have been to […]

ZAMBIA’S cash-strapped football team are expecting an injection of government support for their African Nations Cup preparations after a stand-off between the Football Association of Zambia and the sports ministry ended with the resignation of the association’s entire executive committee this month. The team had an ill-fated training trip to the United States which they […]

THE Unita rebel movement in Angola has called for peace talks with the government next year, following a string of defeats in its south-eastern strongholds. In a statement published in Paris, Unita said peace has to go further than a simple end to hostilities. “Peace must come from a dialogue on the deep historical and […]

DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi left his country for the first time in years for a private visit to South Africa on Wednesday. Tshisekedi, a long-time foe of the late Mobutu Sese Seko, and now of his successor Laurent Desire-Kabila, heads the Union for Democracy and Social Progress. He had repeatedly been […]

SOUTH African Airways announced on Tuesday that because of dramatic hikes in fuel costs, it is to increase domestic and regional airfares by an average of four percent from January 10. SAA’s vice president for corporate affairs Victor Nosi said the sharp worldwide increase in the cost of a barrel of crude oil from a […]

TRANSPORT Minister Dullah Omar said on Wednesday that traffic law enforcement will be stepped up in all provinces with immediate effect in an attempt to curb the mounting holiday death toll on South African roads. After meeting transport MEC’s in Pretoria, he urged traffic officials to show no mercy for transgressors and to make sure […]

THE strike at Anglo American platinum mines may be over within 24 hours if strikers accept an improved wage offer. According to Amplats spokesperson Steve Calladine, mediation talks went well and Amplats tabled a significantly improved offer to the National Union of Mineworkers, which NUM representatives are taking back to their members, witH a report-back […]

EGYPT’S new soccer coach Gerard Gili has already run into trouble with the country’s vociferous media after he banned journalists from the team’s training sessions. A boycott of the side’s activities was announced by the Sports Journalists Association, whose members walked out of a press conference Gili had just begun and demanded an apology from […]

IN Gauteng, the matric pass rate improved to 57,1%, up from 55,6% in 1998, however only 37,5% of matric candidates in the Northern Province passed the 1999 exam. “We have successfully arrested the decline and turned the tide,” said an optimistic Gauteng Education MEC Ignatius Jacobs. Some 71757 candidates wrote matric in the province, earning […]

ROBBERS battled security guards in central Johannesburg on Monday, killing one guard and injuring two others. A woman passerby was also shot and wounded. The security guards confronted the robbers as they were fleeing from a hold-up inside a clothing shop. The robbers fled, shooting wildly at the passing crowd. Two of the robbers were […]

ROGER JARDINE, the arts and culture director general who quit last month, will serve in his post until the end of May instead of leaving on Thursday as scgeduled, according to an agreement with Public Service Minister Zola Skweyiya. Arts, Culture, Science and Techonology Minister Lionel Mtshali announced the deal on Monday. Mtshali said the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Wednesday 4.00pm. ENGLAND lifted their hopes of winning the third test against South Africa at Kingsmead in Durban after snatching two late wickets on Wednesday. They sent South Africa to the changing rooms for 251/4. Captain Hansie Cronje was caught behind for 1 off a ball by Andrew Flintoff in the […]

NIGERIA’S build-up to the African Nations Cup finals next month has been hit by overseas clubs refusing to release key players. Co-hosts Nigeria and defending champions Egypt are among the countries battling against time to prepare for the 16-team event starting on January 22. Nigerian coach Jo Bonfrere, who returned to the job only a […]

THE Department of Home Affairs said on Tuesday it is geared to issue hand-written birth, marriage and death certificates in the event of any computer failures linked to the change of year to 2000. In a statement in Pretoria, the department assured the public that its systems are Y2K compliant, saying there is no need […]