Staff Reporter

US ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke is heading for Africa on a tour to review the US and UN roles in a continent riven by civil strife and stalked by Aids. Holbrooke is due to arrive in the vast West African country of Mali before moving on to Angola on Thursday, Namibia on […]

MARCEL Golding, acting CEO of Midi Television, parent company of e-tv, stepped down from the board of Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC) last week, e-tv spokesperson Kanthan Pillay said on Monday. Pillay said Golding was asked to resign at a board meeting early last week. He said he could not give details on the matter.

African leaders on Wednesday appointed former South African President Nelson Mandela as the new mediator for Burundi’s fragile peace process.

SOUTH African oil and gas firm Energy Africa said on Wednesday it is well positioned to ride out volatility in oil prices in the medium term by exploiting its growing exploration portfolio across Africa. The group earlier reported turnover for the 13 months to September 30 of R430,9-million compared to R340,2-million in the 12 months […]

VODACOM announced on Wednesday that it has appointed Wendy Luhabe non-Executive chairperson of the Vodacom Group with effect from 1 January 2000. Luhabe is the founding of human rescources group Bridging the Gap. In 1997, the World Economic Forum named her one of the “Global Leaders for Tomorrow”. She was one of the founders of […]

CENTRAL Africa’s Congo River, fed by unusually heavy rains, has burst its banks, flooding the Demcoratic Republic of the Congo’s capital of Kinshasa and making 10000 people homeless, government officials said. Health Minister Mashako Mamba told a news conference that 15 of Kinshasa’s 24 districts have been hit by the floods, which started on Monday. […]

A SENIOR Northern Province detective appeared briefly in court on Wednesday for allegedly raping three young girls and indecently assaulting four others. Senior Superintendent Shimanyana Frans Lebese, 49, of Lebowakgomo near Pietersburg, was not asked to plead in the Zebediela Periodical Court and will remain in custody until December 15 for further psychiatric observation. On […]

MOTOR vehicle exports helped push total exports in October to a record high of R14,946-billion, according to an analyst quoted in The Star on Wednesday. Trade figures released by the South African Revenue Service Tuesday showed exports in October were 8,3% higher than in September. The advance was due mainly to a R688,6-billion in the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 4.15pm. PROFESSIONAL Soccer League chief executive officer Joe Ndhlela has been suspended on full pay by the PSL following his arrest on Tuesday on charges of corruption and fraud. The charges relate to when Ndhlela was a senior official at Transnet. He has been suspended from the PSL with immediate […]

THE Angolan Central Bank launched a new currency, the kwanza, on Wednesday as part of a monetary reform program to simplify small transactions. “If you want to buy something small, you have to use large packets of readjusted kwanzas,” Aguinaldo Jaime, the central bank governor, said. “That is something we want to correct.” Indeed, the […]

CABINET on Wednesday extended the term of office of the current SABC board by up to three months. President Thabo Mbeki has not yet had time to consider the list of proposed names for the new board, Minister in the Office of the President, Essop Pahad told reporters in Pretoria. Mbeki, who was expected to […]

THE son of a senior ANC leader in KwaZulu-Natal has been murdered. Vuyani Nkosi, 33, son of the provincial legislature deputy speaker, Willies Mchunu, was shot dead on Tuesday night at his home in Durban’s Chesterville Township. Nkosi, who was the ANC branch chairman Chesterville, was shot at four times and revolver cartridges were found […]

MPUMALANGA’S capital, Nelspruit, has frozen all new development projects until rates defaulters pay it the R41-million owned for basic services such as water and electricity. Nelspruit city treasurer Nantes Kruger said the council will also cut electricity to anyone owing it money before Christmas and will hand over all outstanding accounts to attorneys for prosecution. […]

WEDNESDAY marks the 161st anniversary of the emancipation of slaves in South Africa. The first slave ship arrived in the Cape in 1657. Among the initial unwilling immigrants was a group from Dahomey in West Africa. Later the majority came from countries around the Indian Ocean — sometimes as political prisoners, sometimes as criminals. Although […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday 8.15pm. ZIMBABWE’s President Robert Mugabe on Thursday marked World Aids Day by defending the country’s proposed Aids levy, which has provoked a public outcry since it was announced in October. The country said it would introduce a new tax in January to be levied at three percent of individual income […]

MOZAMBICANS look set to re-elect President Joaquim Chissano at weekend elections, but he could lose the parliamentary majority that has helped him jump start the economy after a 16-year civil war. Although opinion polls are hard to come by, local political analysts see the 60-year old Chissano as a clear favourite to win the presidency, […]

SARAH BULLEN, Cape Town | Wednesday 10.30am CAPE Town on Wednesday is still feeling the after shock of the St Elmo’s bomb blast after two of its larger hotels received bomb threats on Tuesday night. No bombs, however, were found. The pipe bomb blast that destroyed St Elmo’s, a popular pizzeria in Camps Bay, injured […]

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday referred the appointment of a new 12-member board for the SABC to Cabinet on Tuesday instead of mooting the choice, fuelling fuelling speculation that he is not satisfied with the candidates. The National Assembly’s communications committee’s recommendations were adopted by all parties in Parliament, except the Democratic Party, which raised […]

WESTERN Cape police commissioner Lennit Max says transforming the police service to make it representative of the communities it serves and a crackdown on corruption are among his priorities, reports Marianne Merten. The former Eastern Cape deputy commissioner on Wednesday morning officially assumed office in the province which this week was rocked by another bomb […]

PLATINUM dealers and analysts greeted warily Wednesday’s news that Russia has moved closer to unblocking platinum exports, but said the price will tumble in the medium term as metal comes onto the market. Spot platinum dipped $3 from its New York close to $437/$442 on the release of the news, but quickly recovered to $441.50/$446.50. […]

ELS, PRICE FAVOURITES FOR MILLION DOLLAR HOMEBOY Ernie Els and defending champion Nick Price are the hot favourites to win this year’s Million Dollar Challenge. Price is going for an unprecedented Million Dollar hat-trick in a field that includes 19-year-old Spanish sensation Sergio Garcia.The field includes 19-year-old Spanish sensation Sergio Garcia. Els tipped Price, who […]

THE Northern Province’s health department ordered its regional hospitals on Monday to immediately restock rural clinics with condoms after prostitutes in the area complained of shortages. The prostitutes complained that clinics ran out of condoms over a month ago, forcing sex workers to ply their trade on the busy N1 highway to Zimbabwe without any […]

SOUTH African maize futures contracts traded mixed on Tuesday, mirroring diverse views in the market on the extent and impact of recent rainfall in key growing areas. “The rains are very late. Although there is still time to plant, farmers are slowly getting concerned,” Giel van Zyl, general manager of the National Maize Producers Organisation […]

The Nelson Mandela Museum in the old Transkei parliament buildings in Umtata will be opened on February 11 next year.

RENTALS for the more than 3,5-million postboxes in South Africa will increase by an average 10% next year, the Post Office announced on Monday. Albert Michau, senior general manager for financial services, said the rental for a small postbox will increase by R10 to R130 with the rental being payable by January 1 2000, he […]

MOZAMBICAN President Joaquim Chissano assured foreign investors on Tuesday his country would remain stable even if his ruling Frelimo party lost its parliamentary majority in elections due this week. But he told a southern African investment conference in Maputo that he was still confident his party would strengthen its parliamentary position after the December 3 […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, cape Town | Tuesday 8.30pm. POLICE warned Capetonians on Tuesday to expect more terror attacks following Sunday’s blast at St Elmos pizzeria in Camps Bay, while tourism officials said foreigners had begun cancelling plans to visit the city. Justice Minister Penuell Maduna meanwhile vowed that the culprits of the pipe-bomb explosion which injured […]

BRONWEN ROBERTS, Pretoria | Tuesday 9.25am THE DEFENCE force acquired a machine that could permanently alter human aggression levels by tampering with the brain, the Pretoria High Court heard on Monday. The claim was made at the murder, drug and fraud trial of scientist Wouter Basson — who headed the past regime’s biochemical warfare programme […]

Transport Minister Dullah Omar is hosting a big Aids Awareness Concert at the Johannesburg Park Station on World Aids Day on Wednesday. The event is being organised by the South African Rail Commuter Corporation in conjunction with Intersite. Omar will sign the “Long Life Love Train”, which will be parked at one of the station’s […]

WORLD number one gold producer AngloGold Ltd said on Monday that it bought a substantial portion of the Bank of England’s third bullion auction and used the purchase to unwind part of its hedge. “We did bid at the auction and bought 300000 ounces. We have a large hedge and it suited our purposes to […]

THE National Union Metal Workers declared a dispute against Highveld Steel on Tuesday after 2000 union members were disciplined for protesting against the death of a colleague. Numsa said workers protested about safety standards after a colleague was killed in an explosion at Highveld Steel’s Middelburg plant in Mpumalanga two weeks ago. It said management […]

A NEW draft constitution for Zimbabwe was adopted by a government-appointed commission amid strong objections on Monday, leaving the contentious issue of President Robert Mugabe’s future unresolved. Cries of “No” rang out around the Harare conference centre as the chairman of the 400-member commission, judge Godfrey Chidyausiku, declared the draft adopted by acclamation. The new […]