Staff Reporter

ALL Black great Colin “Pinetree” Meads was named New Zealand’s greatest rugby union player of the century by a rugby magazine. Meads, who played 55 tests for the All Blacks between 1957 and 1971, finished ahead of George Nepia, Wilson Whineray, Sean Fitzpatrick and Michael Jones in a public poll run over the past 12 […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Tembisa | Saturday 7.00pm. Classic (3) 5 (Tucker 18-og, Mackett 39, Zwane 42, Matsitela 50, Mthunzi 63) Hellenic (1) 4 (Young 35, 73, Madida 48, O’Gorman 72) JUST when I was giving up on the ability of the Castle Premiership to provide anything more than degrees of mediocrity, along came Classic and Hellenic […]

ANGLOGOLD has extended the deadline for acceptances of its offer for all the shares of Australian gold company Acacia Resources Limited until December 24. In a statement Anglo said acceptances for 89,6% of Acacia shares had been received by the December 17 deadline. Anglo CEO Bobby Godsell said many Acacia shareholders many not have had […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Sunday 5.45pm. THE Zimbabwe government on Sunday attacked a British newspaper report asserting that the African country was on the brink of bankruptcy. “From all perspectives, the article is inaccurate, biased and designed to do maximum damage to Zimbabwe,” Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa said in a statement published by the state-owned […]

AFRICAN qualifying matches for the 2002 World Cup begin over the weekend of April 7-9, according to a statement from world governing body FIFA. Second-leg matches in the knockout first round are scheduled for April 21-23 and the 25 victors will be divided into five groups with the winners advancing to the finals in Japan […]

SWAZILAND officials have admitted using over-age players in the recent Southern Africa youth championships in South Africa. “We cannot deny there were ineligible players and the buck stops with us because we approved the squad,” national football association president Adam Mthethwa told the Times of Swaziland. Defender Mxolisi Mthethwa admitted to the Times of Swaziland […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Johannesburg | Sunday 6.00pm. Moroka Swallows (1) 2 (Nkosi 8, Mazibuko 83) Free State Stars (0) 1 (Maboe 66) AFTER the magic provided by Classic and Hellenic in Tembisa on Saturday, it was back to the more pedestrian fare usually served up at Castle Premiership matches 24 hours later under an appropriate grey […]

DANNI Clifford, the little St Helena girl admitted to a Cape Town hospital in October, after a mercy dash from her St Helena island home for treatment for acute leukaemia, died on Friday. A spokesman for St Helena Lines said that six-year-old Danni died at 1pm at the Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic.

STEVEN MANN, Johannesburg | Sunday 11.30am. WITH just 11 days to go until biggest party the world has ever seen, some of South Africa’s largest corporates and parastatals have pledged millions of rand towards local millennium celebrations. Eskom, First National Bank, Vodacom, the Post Office and Transnet were on Saturday named as official sponsors for […]

FORMER All Black Wayne Smith was handed one of world sport’s toughest jobs on Friday when he was named to replace John Hart as coach of New Zealand’s rugby team. Smith beat the challenge of Tony Gilbert, who was named as his assistant. Hart departed after New Zealand finished fourth at this year’s World Cup, […]

SOUTH African companies will from next week shut down their Internet and e-mail connections to avoid a rash of computer viruses expected to strike on January 1. The Sunday Times listed more than 10 prominent companies, including the top commercial banks, as among those who will cut their electronic links until a few days after […]

STEVEN MANN, Johannesburg | Saturday 5.30pm. The annual holiday season carnage on South African roads continued apace on Saturday, as the death toll since the beginning of December climbed to 354. In the worst accident recorded this month thus far eight people were killed and six injured when a minibus taxi collided with a car […]

A MAN was beaten to death for urinating against a car in Cape Town’s Sea Point tourist area on Thursday, police said. Police spokeswoman Superintendent Nina Kirsten said the 26-year-old Johannesburg man was on holiday in Cape Town when the incident occurred early in the morning. The man, who was with friends, got out of […]

STEVEN MANN, Johannesburg | Saturday 5.30pm. TWO people died in the head-on collision between two passenger trains near Kaalfontein east of Johannesburg and not three as originally reported, police said on Saturday. Rescue workers rigged up a crane in the early hours of Saturday morning to lift the mangled train carriages off the track, and […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Pretoria | Friday 8.00pm. IT is surely a case of when rather than if Roy Matthews is removed as coach of SuperSport United after they lost 1-0 at home to mid-table African Wanderers at Caledonian Stadium on Friday night. This was defeat No 11 in 21 Castle Premiership matches and Matthews, a hero […]

A BLISTERING 99 by Romesh Kaluwitharana launched Sri Lanka to a series-clinching six-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the fourth one-day international in Harare on Saturday. Zimbabwe totalled 260 for four to which Sri Lanka replied with 262 for four in 44.4 overs to win with 32 balls to spare. Kaluwitharana scored his runs off just […]

Journalist and rape survivor Charlene Smith last week chose to testify in open court in the trial of the person who allegedly raped her. Rape survivors usually choose to testify in a court closed to the public. She explains her decision Two-and-a-half centuries ago, French philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville, writing on American democracy observed, “The […]

David Le Page It has been announced that the Internet, which is changing the way we work, play and seek sex, will also save the world. At least, it will slow down the United States’s generous and unstinting contributions to global warming. This is the finding of a report from the Centre for Energy and […]

The marque of the cat returns to Formula One racing, as Jaguar becomes the latest manufacturer to pursue sales through the phenomenal success of the sport, writes Paul Weaver Jaguar, after a catnap worthy of Rip van Winkle, is back in motor sport. The famous marque, which in the 1950s won a considerable reputation at […]

South Africa is about to start building the second-largest telescope in the world , writes David Le Page June 1 1998. A nervous astronomer sat in Parliament, waiting to hear then minister of arts, science, culture and technology Lionel Mtshali deliver his annual budget speech. Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), Bob Stobie, […]

Michelle Matthews ‘Die mees sentrale fi-guur in ons volk se geskiedenis is Paul Kruger. Egter nie slegs man van die verlede nie, hy is ook en wel, bowe alles, man van die toekoms. Soek in die verlede, so het hy ges, dit wat goed en skoon is, en bou daarop jou toekoms,” intones DF Malan […]

Take part in the 2000 FNB Vita Art Prize nominations. The often controversial competition was introduced in 1996 in response to the need for wider acknowledgement of South Africa contemporary art. Put yourself in line to win a holiday for two, to a local destination, by nominating any artist countrywide for the FNB Art Prize. […]

grows up Paul Allott Cricket When Mornantau “Nan-tie” Hayward, South Africa’s latest bowling discovery, first attracted the national selectors’ attention it was for one reason only. He was fast. In 1998 Hayward was picked for the tour of England, a speculative choice that showed immense potential. That potential has taken two years to develop, a […]

Peter Dickson A University of Fort Hare commission of inquiry has found evidence of misconduct by former vice-chancellor Professor Mbulelo Mzamane and his deputy for academic affairs, Professor Ntobeko Maqhashalala. Acting vice-chancellor Professor Derrick Swartz said this week that the two academics had been suspended by the university and would face disciplinary action. The move […]

Police Commissioner George Fivaz may not have been telling the whole truth when he branded Deon Mostert a liar, report Ivor Powell and Marianne Merten Deon Mostert, the man National Police Commissioner George Fivaz branded a “chronic liar”, passed a lie-detector test administered by police counter-intelligence less than six months ago. Mostert, detained last week […]

Can a computer write fiction as good as that written by a human? Judge for yourself by going to InstantNovelist.com/human.html. Posted on the site are five 500-word stories, four written by humans, but a fifth by Brutus.1, a fiction-writing program developed by the Minds and Machines Laboratory. Only 25% of site visitors have identified it. […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 11.20am. AN excellent performance from lead off-pitcher Tim Harrell helped South Africa to a 5-1 win over Guam in Randburg, bringing them closer to their Olympic dream. The game was the first in a best of five series between the two countries, with the winners going on to compete in […]

Cameron Duodu LETTER FROM THE NORTH The news that American farmers have filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Monsanto, for introducing “potentially dangerous genetically modified (GM) seeds to world markets without adequate testing”, couldn’t have come at a better time. Following so hot on the heels of the “Battle of Seattle”, the lawsuit signals that the […]

Marianne Merten Urban terror is proving a boon for personal injury lawyers in Cape Town. This week, a group of policemen lodged a civil claim for almost R500E000 against People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) for injuries the officers claim they sustained in a clash three years ago. The officers were wounded at the end […]

If the world does end on December 31, at least it will be having a good time. Christina Goumeas and Marthali Brand survey the globe’s millennial celebrations The first permanently inhabited place to see in the millennium officially is Pitt Island, part of the Chatham Islands, 850km east of New Zealand. Just 55 people, thousands […]

democracy SERGEANT AT THE BAR Politicians do not like limits placed upon their power. They have a vision, whether fuelled by greed or

Neil Manthorp Cricket Gary Kirsten-baiting season is back. It’s a national cricket lovers’ pastime that stems from an understandable desire to have Lance Klusener batting everywhere from one to nine and to have Nantie Hayward (or whoever else is flavour of the month) bowling from both ends. Paying spectators have paid for the right to […]